{"id":1896,"date":"2026-06-27T06:04:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896"},"modified":"2026-06-27T06:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:04:34","slug":"pacific-fleet-commander-on-building-relationships-during-30th-rimpac-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896","title":{"rendered":"Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<section>\n<p>HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) &#8211; The U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet is hosting the world\u2019s largest maritime exercise in and around the Hawaiian islands with more than 30 nations, and its commander says the 30th iteration comes at a significant time as the United States marks 250 years as a nation.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1894\">Aloha Stadium steel begins journey to recycling<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Adm. Stephen Koehler shared some of his priorities in an exclusive interview with Hawaii News Now\u2019s Annalisa Burgos on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, currently docked across from the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier in Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n<h2>RIMPAC: building relationships through training<\/h2>\n<p>Koehler says the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, which runs through July 31, is more than just a show of combat power \u2014 it\u2019s a sharing of cultures and democratic values.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is where sailors come together and have an opportunity to build relationships and then across multiple navies we get this opportunity to operate together and continue to be a better maritime force,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><b>RELATED POST: <\/b><b>RIMPAC maritime exercise kicks off with 31 nations, 25K service members<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPearl Harbor is full behind us with multinational ships,\u201d he added. \u201cWhen you look across the exercise that really began as kind of a humanitarian disaster response exercise bringing a bunch of nations together. Now we have complex capabilities by all different scopes and scales of nations, and we bring all of these 30 nations in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s an opportunity for them to get what they need out of the exercise,\u201d Koehler added. \u201cWhether that be high-end war fighting and employing missiles and those things to humanitarian and disaster response to amphibious exercises which we\u2019ll do off this ship. All of those things are available for countries to participate in and all of it make it better for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Pacific Fleet priorities and the China challenge<\/h2>\n<p>As Pacific Fleet commander, Koehler oversees 200 ships, 1,500 aircraft, and 150,000 personnel \u2014 60% of the Navy\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n<p>But China\u2019s navy now surpasses America\u2019s in number of ships. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve built a global-sized navy. It\u2019s on par and larger numbers of ships than the United States Navy at the moment,\u201d Koehler said. \u201cWe have a global responsibility. And so as we look across that, there are opportunities for us to continue to engage with allies and partners like we have to be present and ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As head of Pacific Fleet, Koehler says he works to \u201cbuild and maintain combat credible forces\u201d so they can respond all over the globe where needed, \u201cemploy that capability\u201d to deter conflict, assure and work with allies and partners, and \u201cbuild out our posture and our capabilities in the Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1892\">Lahaina hosts first Little League tournament in 18 years<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Which is why boosting shipbuilding and working with allies are more important than ever. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cAs we\u2019ve seen in the administration here, they\u2019re pushing very hard for an increase in shipbuilding,\u201d Koehler said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re blessed with here at the Pearl Harbor shipyard is what I think is the best performing shipyard certainly in my claimancy, and you know we are getting ships and submarines out on time. That\u2019s in a repair capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn an overarching shipbuilding capacity, I think we need a bigger fleet. I think we need more ships. I think we have to continue to build out the industrial base to do that. And the best way to do that is to put the demand signal and provide competition.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Global demands and Indo-Pacific readiness<\/h2>\n<p>When asked if the Middle East conflict has pulled focus away from the Indo-Pacific, Koehler says having \u201cthe adaptability and flexibility of sending [forces] where the national command authority wants is my job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that Pacific Fleet is able to juggle multiple priorities, including the Balikatan exercise in the Philippines, Pacific Partnership exercise throughout Vietnam, Malaysia, Timor-Leste and Fiji, and the Valiant Shield exercise in the Western Pacific. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<h2>Red Hill, environmental stewardship and rebuilding trust<\/h2>\n<p>When asked about managing the fallout and cleanup of the Red Hill fuel crisis, Koehler says environmental stewardship is a priority under his leadership at Pacific Fleet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Navy here, Pacific Fleet remains committed to the permanent closure of Red Hill and all of the transparency that we continue to work with the populace of Hawaii, Department of Health, EPA, all of those things are partners in ensuring this is done correctly and so that commitment remains,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Navy says it remains committed to rebuilding trust with Hawaii communities while maintaining its mission across the Pacific.<\/p>\n<p>Catch more of HNN\u2019s exclusive interview with Adm. Koehler Saturday at 7 a.m. on Sunrise on K5.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1890\">Settlement talks set for state, family of Peter Boy Kema in wrongful death case<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The commander of U.S. Navy\u2019s Pacific Fleet says the 30th Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise comes at a significant time as the United States marks 250 years as a nation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise - Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The commander of U.S. Navy\u2019s Pacific Fleet says the 30th Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise comes at a significant time as the United States marks 250 years as a nation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-27T06:04:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"headline\":\"Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-27T06:04:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896\"},\"wordCount\":805,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/d8e74f832c6fe756cd79fe4d8c2c24fa.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896\",\"name\":\"Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise - Hawaii Moving Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/d8e74f832c6fe756cd79fe4d8c2c24fa.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-27T06:04:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/d8e74f832c6fe756cd79fe4d8c2c24fa.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/d8e74f832c6fe756cd79fe4d8c2c24fa.avif\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1896#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hawaii Moving Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise - Hawaii Moving Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise - Hawaii Moving Insider","og_description":"The commander of U.S. Navy\u2019s Pacific Fleet says the 30th Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise comes at a significant time as the United States marks 250 years as a nation.","og_url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896","og_site_name":"Hawaii Moving Insider","article_published_time":"2026-06-27T06:04:34+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0"},"headline":"Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise","datePublished":"2026-06-27T06:04:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896"},"wordCount":805,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/d8e74f832c6fe756cd79fe4d8c2c24fa.avif","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896","name":"Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise - Hawaii Moving Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/d8e74f832c6fe756cd79fe4d8c2c24fa.avif","datePublished":"2026-06-27T06:04:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/d8e74f832c6fe756cd79fe4d8c2c24fa.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/d8e74f832c6fe756cd79fe4d8c2c24fa.avif","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1896#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pacific Fleet commander on building relationships during 30th RIMPAC exercise"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/","name":"Hawaii Moving Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}