US deploys 8 ships near quake-hit Japan

Washington: The US has deployed as many as eight naval ships around Japan, while another five are on their way to the region to contribute in the massive relief and rescue operation currently underway following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that rocked the country last week.

"We currently have eight ships stationed east of Honshu -- five more on the way," Defence Department spokesman Colonel David Lapan told reporters.

Lapan also said that radioactive material from one of the reactors had forced some of the US planes and their naval escorts to change positions.

The 7th fleet temporarily repositioned its ships and aircraft away from the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant on Monday after detecting low-level contamination in the air and on its aircraft operating in the area.

As a precautionary measure, the US 7th Fleet ships conducting disaster response operations in the area moved out of the downwind direction from the site, the Pentagon spokesman said.

On Monday, SH-60 helicopters assigned to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 14 and Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Light (HSL) 51, based from Naval Air Facility Atsugi, conducted surveys of the at-sea debris field, and took part in search and rescue missions along the coastline, the Pentagon said.

"USS Tortuga with two heavy-lift MH-53 helicopters is steaming towards Tomokomai on the eastern coast of Hokkaido.

There it will load about 300 Japan Ground Self Defense Force personnel and 90 vehicles, and deliver them to Aomori, on the northern end of Honshu," Lapan said.

USS Blue Ridge, USS Essex, with the embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, USS Harpers Ferry and USS Germantown are transiting to the area from Southeast Asia.

US Navy's P-3 Orion aircraft from VP-4 in Kadena AFB, Okinawa, are flying missions to survey and assess the debris field at sea, Lapan added.

Marines and sailors of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, embarked aboard ships, continue to move toward Japan.

As many as 2,200 marines and sailors are expected to be off the coast of mainland Japan within the next several days.