U.S., Japanese naval forces stage show of strength

SAGAMI BAY, Japan — Japan and the United States staged a naval show of strength off Tokyo Bay on Sunday as they flashed a pair of powerful, flat-deck warships perhaps just days before the U.S. Navyplans to challenge disputed Chinese claims to territory in the nearby South China Sea.

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the JS Izumo, the largest warship Japan has built since World War II, highlighted a seagoing review by Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force that included 36 warships and dozens of military aircraft.

Shortly after the ceremony, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the first serving Japanese leader to board a U.S. aircraft carrier when he flew to the Ronald Reagan by helicopter.

Although the Japanese fleet review is held every three years, it held added significance this year because of mounting tensions over artificial islands China has built in the South China Sea, as well as new defense legislation in Japan that eases decades-long restrictions on Japan’s military.

The Ronald Reagan arrived this month at its new homeport in Yokosuka, Japan. The ship recently completed a year-long modernization program and is considered one of the most powerful ships in the U.S. Navy. Its recent transfer to Japan is part of the U.S. “rebalance” to focus more on Asia.

The Izumo was commissioned this year. Although designed primarily to host helicopters for anti-submarine warfare and other duties, the Izumo’s long flat deck and overall design have led many to believe that Japan eventually could use the ship to carry fixed-wing aircraft.

Japanese officials have emphatically denied that.

Nonetheless, Abe last month succeeded in a long-sought goal to allow Japan’s military — including its maritime self-defense force — to aid U.S. or friendly forces when they come under attack.  That previously was  forbidden under Japan’s pacifist Constitution.

Japan currently is embroiled in a tense dispute with China over ownership of a tiny group of islands in the East China Sea. And Abe has supported U.S. demands that China halt its island-building program in the South China Sea.

U.S. officials have said in recent weeks that they plan to send U.S. warships within the presumed 12-mile territorial limit around the new islands. The patrols would be intended to demonstrate U.S. commitment to “freedom of navigation” in the region.

Photo, Note About Titanic Iceberg Emerge

(NEWSER) – A photo of what could be history's deadliest iceberg is up for auction after spending nearly a century on a wall in the offices of the law firm that represented the Titanic's owners. There are other photos in existence of the iceberg believed to have sunk the huge liner, but this one comes with some telltale testimony, the Telegraph reports. It was taken by the chief steward on a German liner the day after the Titanic sank, and he wrote that he saw red paint on the side of the iceberg at the time—paint believed to have been scraped off the ship, CNN reports.

"On the day after the sinking of the Titanic, the steamer Prinz Adalbert passes the iceberg shown in this photograph. The Titanic disaster was not yet known by us," the steward writes. "On one side red paint was plainly visible, which has the appearance of having been made by the scraping of a vessel on the iceberg." The BBC reports that this is the first time the steward's testimony has surfaced. The note and photo will be sold as one lot by British auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son on Oct. 24, and they are expected to fetch upward of $20,000.