{"id":36134,"date":"2019-05-08T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T10:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/08\/the-pacific-fleet-has-drawn-a-red-line\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:58:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:58:50","slug":"the-pacific-fleet-has-drawn-a-red-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/navy-league\/2019\/05\/08\/the-pacific-fleet-has-drawn-a-red-line\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pacific Fleet has drawn a \u2018red line\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 In the lead-up to the summer of 2017, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2017\/11\/01\/navy-crews-at-fault-in-fatal-collisions-investigations-find\/\" target=\"_blank\">17 sailors died in two collisions<\/a> with commercial tankers, communication channels had broken down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The staff of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/navy-league\/2018\/04\/10\/in-japan-a-hard-hit-fleet-is-steadying-on-a-new-course\/\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Navy\u2019s 7th Fleet<\/a>, based in Yokosuka, Japan, was bending over backward to keep ships that were behind on maintenance and training underway, despite repeatedly sending warnings up the chain of command that all was not well, according to the fired 7th Fleet commander, retired Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/navy-league\/2019\/05\/05\/heres-how-the-japan-based-7th-fleet-has-changed-since-17-sailors-died-in-accidents-2-years-ago\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fitz-medal.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Here\u2019s how the Japan-based 7th Fleet has changed since 17 sailors died in accidents 2 years ago<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The accidents led to wholesale changes in leadership for the 7th Fleet based in the region, including a new commander, Vice Adm. Phil Sawyer, who was tasked with returning his fleet to a high state of readiness in the world\u2019s most dangerous seas.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the time news broke that a second destroyer in as many months had collided with a commercial ship, killing 10 sailors aboard, it was clear 7th Fleet had hit a breaking point. Aucoin\u2019s staff had routinely recommended against tasking, the admiral recounted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usni.org\/magazines\/proceedings\/2018\/april\/its-not-just-forward-deployed\">an opinion piece<\/a> in the U.S. Naval Institute\u2019s Proceedings magazine, but were routinely rebuffed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But that regime has changed, according to Vice Adm. Phil Sawyer, who spoke to Defense News in March from aboard his command ship Blue Ridge while on patrol in the East China Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/navy-league\/\" target=_blank><b>Click here for more stories, videos and interviews from Sea-Air-Space!<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sawyer, who was elevated to 7th Fleet faster than expected due to Aucoin\u2019s relief, is tasked with implementing a new rotational presence model in the western Pacific \u2014 based on a readiness cycle for his 11 Yokosuka-based cruisers and destroyers \u2014 that closely resembles the one applied to ships based in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prior to the accidents, ships in Japan were routinely operating under waivers for lapsed certifications in warfare areas such as damage control, navigation and flight deck operations. In this new model, ships don\u2019t go on missions until they are trained and certified to perform them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s incumbent upon me that before I put my ships out on operations, that they are fully trained and certified to do that mission,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cAnd my entire team knows that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo if a ship was being tasked to do something and it wasn\u2019t fully trained and certified, it just wouldn\u2019t even get that far. Because at every level of my staff, including the [combined task forces] out here, they know that there\u2019s not even going to be a conversation about assigning someone who isn\u2019t trained and certified. It\u2019s a red line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the unlikely scenario where such an order came from his office, U.S. Pacific Fleet would backstop it, Sawyer continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLet\u2019s just say we\u2019re in the implausible situation where action came up to me and I said: \u2018I recognize that we are not trained and certified, but we are going to go do it.\u2019 [U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. John] Aquilino gets to see a similar data set to what I see, and he and I talk once a week. He\u2019s the only guy who can put an operational waiver in for a ship to go do something that it\u2019s not trained and certified to go do,&#8221; Sawyer added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo, one: I\u2019m very confident it would never come up from my staff. Two: It wouldn\u2019t get past me. And three: If it did, the final guy would be Adm. Aquilino, and it\u2019s very clear it\u2019s a red line for him, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/the-drift\/2019\/02\/09\/we-need-to-talk-about-the-fitzgerald-the-drift-vol-xvii\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"171\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Fitzmain3.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">We need to talk about the Fitzgerald: The Drift Vol XVII<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">It is difficult to say the main factors that caused the collision between Fitzgerald and the ACX Crystal are anything but clear.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>\u2018Different than what it was\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The changes to 7th Fleet weren\u2019t introduced solely because Sawyer and Aquilino took lead jobs immediately following the accidents and accountability actions, Sawyer noted. Rather, the changes are etched in instructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis isn\u2019t just our policy, there are instructions out there that govern this,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cI\u2019m very confident and comfortable that the team out here understands it. And it\u2019s not just because the teams out here get it \u2014 it\u2019s codified in instructions. It\u2019s just different than what it was in years past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In years past, the situation was very different. In his op-ed, Aucoin described a situation where he routinely pushed back on requests for forces from U.S. Pacific Fleet and U.S. Pacific Command, and he was routinely ordered to deploy his ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was often the case that operational missions (more often than not of the \u2018short-notice\u2019 variety) came down from [U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Pacific Fleet] with warning orders or that \u2018requests for forces\u2019 were met with a \u2018not recommended\u2019 response from C7F,\u201d Aucoin wrote, using an acronym for the 7th Fleet commander. \u201cMore often than not, we would be directed to fill and execute the mission through a follow-on task order or voice order directing the by-name identified ship to execute the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn a few cases, we were able to argue for changes that allowed ships to complete training or maintenance. In many other cases, our arguments and recommendations were either overruled or ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The accidents led to a full-scale decapitation of the command structure in 7th Fleet, with Aucoin, his task force and the strike group commanders being relieved of command, and Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Scott Swift being very publicly passed over for promotion to head Pacific Command in favor of Adm. Phil Davidson, who led the review of the accidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the conditions that existed prior to the accidents are in the past now, Sawyer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re watching much more closely the training and certification,\u201d he reiterated. \u201cAnd if they are not really trained and certified to do the mission we ask them to do, we\u2019re just not going to send them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The regime in the Pacific has changed, and so have the standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":55715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":93,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"7":{"categories":["your-navy","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-navy"}}},"categories":[45,160,29,162,11,16,93,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361],"class_list":["post-36134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-digital-show-daily","category-global","category-naval","category-navy-league","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FEJSLCOYAFDXNHM6QKPLKLMJIE","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/navy-league\/2019\/05\/08\/the-pacific-fleet-has-drawn-a-red-line\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Pacific Fleet has drawn a \u2018red line\u2019 - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The regime in the Pacific has changed, and so have the standards.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Pacific Fleet has drawn a \u2018red line\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The regime in the Pacific has changed, and so have the standards.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/navy-league\/2019\/05\/08\/the-pacific-fleet-has-drawn-a-red-line\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-08T10:00:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T22:58:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David B. 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