Battleship berths untroubled by protests

Press, 25 August 1986, Page 10

Battleship berths untroubled by protests

NZPA-AP Sasebo, Japan The United States Navy battleship New Jersey arrived in Japan yesterday to colourful but orderly protests by anti-nuclear activists who say she is carrying into port nuclear weapons in defiance of Japanese policy. The police said that by early afternoon they had arrested five protesters, all members of the extremist Battle Flag Faction, as they took part in a protest march. Fifty-one Maritime Safety Agency patrol ships formed a phalanx around the 58,000-ton New Jersey to escort her into Sasebo.

Dozens of other ships, carrying members of the Japan Socialist Party, the socialist-affiliated General Council of Labour Unions (Sohyo), the Leftist Battle Flag Faction, and other groups circled the warship, waving red banners denouncing the visit. 42 protest vessels and five ships carrying Rightists welcomed the battleship. A plane circled overhead broadcasting a message from the Alliance for Victory Over Communism that said, “The city of Sasebo welcomes the New Jersey.” Critics say that the New Jersey’s Tomahawk cruise missiles are equipped with nuclear warheads, which would violate Japan’s principle of not allowing nuclear arms into the country. Japan also bans the possession

and production of nuclear arms.

Tomahawk missiles have three attack modes, two of which are conventional and one nuclear. But the United States refuses to disclose what mode the Tomahawks are in and which of its ships are nuclear-armed.

The United States Navy says the visit is for rest and replenishment. Police in riot gear were deployed in Sasebo streets surrounding the United States naval base and on Sasebo’s main roads.

Other warships belonging to the New Jersey’s battlegroup that also have Tomahawk missile capability made hastily announced calls at other ports in Japan, sparking protests by activists around the country. The nuclear-powered cruiser Long Beach and the frigate Thatch entered the United States Navy base at Yokosuka, south of Tokyo. The destroyer Merrill called at Kure, near Hiroshima. The Long Beach and the Merrill are capable of launching Tomahawk missiles. Two other nuclearpowered warships, the aircraft-carriers Carl Vinson and Enterprise, have visited in the last three years. They met raucous but peaceful protests during their brief visits. The New Jersey, based in Long Beach, California, is conducting operations in the western Pacific under control of the US 7th Fleet.