The U.S. Navy’s Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyers USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) and USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) docked in Tomakomai, Japan, on February 4 for a taste of Japanese culture.
Namely, the ships’ staff, accompanied by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and local citizens will take part in the annual Sapporo Ice Festival.
The participation includes a number of events such as community relations projects, snow carving contests and sports competitions.
The Sapporo Snow Festival, is an annual seven-day winter event, which attracts about two million people to Sapporo to see a large number of snow and ice sculptures.
John S. McCain and Curtis Wilbur left Yokosuka, Japan, to conduct joint training exercises on February 1 off the coast of Japan.
During the exercises, the Arleigh-Burke class destroyers tested their tactical surface warfare capabilities, heavy engineering coordination, casualty-control communication and system link drills, followed by simulated ballistic-missile defense and anti-submarine warfare exercises.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, February 6, 2014; Image: US Navy