Japanese torpedo sinks USS Juneau again in 2026

SINKEX sinks – More than 80 years after a Japanese submarine torpedoed and sank USS Juneau during World War II, the US and Pacific partners staged a live-fire exercise in 2026 in which a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine struck a decommissioned USS Juneau with a to

When the torpedo hit, it sent USS Juneau to the ocean floor for a second time—more than 80 years after the ship’s first death in war.

During a recent exercise. the US and its Pacific allies and partners conducted a live-fire sinking of the decommissioned Austin-class amphibious transport dock USS Juneau. The Navy said the live-fire event was designed to practice coordinated warfighting with American allies and partners across air. sea. land. space. and cyber.

The operation was called a SINKEX and formed part of Valiant Shield 2026, a large-scale exercise that brought the US, Japan, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand together to test weapons and train in a more realistic environment.

This time, the target did not go down by accident. A Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine struck the decommissioned USS Juneau with a torpedo. Before the exercise. crews removed hazardous materials and pollutants from the ship. and officials surveyed the sinking site. which was more than 200 nautical miles offshore in the Mariana Islands Range Complex.

“This SINKEX provided an outstanding opportunity for our joint team to integrate capabilities across domains. honing the lethal precision and coordination essential for high-end maritime operations in the Pacific theater. ” said Rear Adm. Eric Anduze, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5 and Task Force 70, in a press statement.

For sailors and strategists, live-fire strikes on real, decommissioned vessels are part of naval training. The point is realism: troops get a practical understanding of how systems work on actual targets compared to simulated environments.

USS Juneau (LPD-10) entered service in 1969 and later took part in the Vietnam War and operations in the Middle East. transporting troops into combat. The Navy decommissioned the ship in 2008. Named after the capital of Alaska. the vessel was an amphibious warfare ship designed to move forces to land in conflicts.

The ship that was sunk again in 2026 also carries a name with multiple Navy legacies. USS Juneau was the third US Navy ship to be named Juneau. The second was a Juneau-class light cruiser commissioned in 1946 and active in the Korean War. The first USS Juneau was an Atlanta-class light cruiser.

USS Juneau (CL-52), commissioned in 1942, fought in some of World War II’s deadliest naval battles. During the Guadalcanal campaign in November 1942, a torpedo from Japanese submarine I-26 struck the Juneau and sank it. The ship had previously been crippled by a torpedo fired from the Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze.

That wartime loss was catastrophic. A total of 687 people were killed in action. including five brothers from Iowa who became symbols of wartime sacrifice after their ship was lost in combat. Only 10 crew members survived the attack. A research crew discovered the wreck of USS Juneau in March 2018 off the coast of the Solomon Islands.

The recent live-fire exercise. Navy training staff say. bore echoes of that earlier history while also reminding observers how quickly the relationship between the US and Japan has changed over the past eight decades since the end of World War II. Emerging threats in the Pacific region have strengthened those ties.

In the end, the choice to sink a ship called USS Juneau again is both a training tool and a marker of distance traveled—one that links the lessons of 1942 to the requirements of high-end maritime operations in the Pacific theater.

USS Juneau SINKEX Valiant Shield 2026 Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force live-fire sinking Mariana Islands Range Complex US Navy amphibious transport dock Carrier Strike Group 5 Task Force 70 Pacific training