19 Sailors from the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85) participated in a Community Relations Event (COMREL) to assist local Japanese volunteers in maintaining Yokosuka’s Nagasaka Green Space June 18, 2025.
The area was overgrown with bamboo. So, the volunteer Sailors spent more than four hours cutting down approximately 200 trees under the guidance of experienced Japanese volunteers. The team then prepared the cut overgrowth for transport to an open area and allow nature to run it’s course.
Nagasaka Green Space is approximately a 30-minute drive from the installation and near the Town of Hayama. The greenery area started as a City of Yokosuka initiative to both conserve and create a utilization project for Satoyama and the area around Sawayama Pond. The City regularly holds events including rice paddy regeneration and wooded area care through joint efforts between local organizations and U.S. Navy Sailors in addition to hands-on events to come into contact with nature.
McCampbell is forward-deployed and assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force.
Visit USS McCampbell’s official website for more information on the ship: https://www.surfpac.navy.mil/ddg85/.
