U.S., Allies, Partners ensure safe, secure passage of global commerce
FORUM Staff
In late November 2023, the United States Navy’s USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group transited the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf, demonstrating how regularly scheduled transits enable the U.S., Allies and Partners to assure economic prosperity via safe and secure sea passageways.
“Our passage through this important strait and continued presence in the area plays a critical role in maintaining the freedom of navigation that is key to regional security and stability,” U.S. Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, the strike group commander, said of the U.S. Central Command naval operation. About one-fifth of the world’s energy supplies transit the Strait of Hormuz annually.
Ensuring the security of vital maritime chokepoints worldwide is a key part of efforts by the U.S., its Allies and Partners to safeguard global commerce. The regular and routine execution of freedom of navigation (FON) operations supports the long-standing U.S. national interest in freedom of the seas. U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) activities under its FON Program are deliberately planned, reviewed for legal correctness and professionally conducted.
The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower passed through the Strait of Hormuz with the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, the guided-missile destroyers USS Gravely and USS Stethem, and the French Navy destroyer FS Languedoc. A French Navy E-2C Hawkeye and French Air Force Rafale fighters provided air support.
Miguez commended crew members’ professionalism, “especially in evolutions like a strait transit, where detailed planning, precision navigation and the proficiency of our warfighting teams are on full display.”
The Middle East includes the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of Aden and parts of the Indian Ocean. The region comprises 21 nations and three key chokepoints.
In recent months, the U.S, its Allies and Partners have conducted routine operations to secure chokepoints and sea routes and to challenge excessive maritime claims worldwide. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command forces, for example, have ensured freedom of navigation in waters spanning from the Indian Ocean to the Malacca and Singapore straits to the northern Philippines and the Sea of Japan.
Also in late November, the USS Hopper, a guided-missile destroyer, asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law, by challenging attempts by nations such as the People’s Republic of China to restrict innocent passage.
“Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations,” the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement. “The United States challenges excessive maritime claims around the world regardless of the identity of the claimant.”
U.S. forces operate in the South China Sea daily, as they have for more than a century, in coordination with Allies and Partners committed to a Free and Open Indo-Pacific that promotes security and prosperity.
In fiscal year 2022, U.S. forces operationally challenged 22 excessive maritime claims by 15 claimants worldwide, according to DOD’s annual FON Report.
Many like-minded nations conduct FON operations and continue to reaffirm support for the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as the legal framework for the exercise of activities in the oceans and seas.
