Navy Presence and Local Preference

The U.S. Navy is already (successfully) navigating rocky waters with the forward basing of the U.S.S. George Washington (CVN-73) in Yokosuka, Japan due to the historic aversion the Japanese public has towards nuclear ships. Regardless of the validity of these positions, the fact remains that Japan is a critical strategic ally of the U.S. in the Pacific. While the protests over such basing may be small, they reflect a relatively consistent history. As a result, the agreements between Japan and the U.S. require notice before a nuclear ship may use Japan's ports. Thus, incidents such as this one risk causing friction for the more critical and visible CVN basing:

TOKYO — Japan lodged a protest with the United States after an American nuclear submarine made an unannounced visit in southern Japan, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.
The submarine Providence arrived in the White Beach Naval Facility on the southern island of Okinawa on Monday without prior notice, a requirement under a bilateral agreement, and stayed there for two hours, the ministry said.

Sure, it's a quick drop-in, and sure, the Navy says it was an internal miscommunication. This is understandable. However, especially as the U.S. Navy is on a campaign to improve its image around the world in order to promote stability and improve its access, these kinds of slips are more severe than bureaucratic foul-ups - and in this case, nobody can claim that the requirement wasn't well-known and long-standing. How will the Navy's organization cope with the requirements of new partners if it has trouble coping with Japan?

Not a sign of structural problems, to be sure. Not even a sign of a serious problem. But the kind of problem that, while easily dismissed in eras where frontline Naval units served purely military functions, matters more when Naval presence is a diplomatic as well as military issue. If, of course, the stopover was an emergency, it's possible that the USN would choose to just accept the diplomatic consequences rather than divulge this; however, a two-hour stay would seem to indicate that this is unlikely.

Image of the USS Providence (SSN-719) from USN's navy.mil