WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Bonhomme Richard is scheduled to conduct joint force operations with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Units and prepare for readiness exercises.
"Forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) departed Sasebo, Japan for a regularly-scheduled patrol in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility," the release stated.
Despite objections from Beijing, the US Navy routinely patrols the South China and conducts what it calls freedom of navigation exercises to ensure free movement in maritime shipping routes.
Bonhomme Richard is forward-deployed to the US 7th Fleet area of operations, which covers 48 million square miles of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, from the International Date Line to the India-Pakistan border, and from the Kuril Islands in the north to the Antarctic in the south.
