YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) - The U.S. Navy provided five high-capacity pumping systems to Japan's Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Group Nuclear Asset Management Department to assist in the efforts to cool the core of the damaged No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant March 17.

The five pumps came from the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Emergency Ship Salvage Material (ESSM) locker located in Sasebo, Japan.

The pumps were picked up from the Air Mobility Command (AMC) terminal at Fukuoka International Airport on the evening of March 16 and flown via U.S. Air Force C-17 to Yokota Air Base. One U.S. Salvage Engineer and one Navy Master Diver from Commander, Task Force-73 staff in Singapore accompanied the pumps to Yokota where they met up with Japanese Civil Defense personnel to provide training on the equipment. The pumps were then transported by the Japanese to the reactor site the next day.

The two U.S. salvage experts from Singapore will not travel to Fukushima to assist in the effort.

According to the ESSM website, www.supsal.org, the ESSM system is a series of facilities located within the continental United States and at other sites around the world "that provide ship salvage, pollution control, and underwater ship husbandry equipment on an emergency or as required basis."

The U.S. Navy continues missions in support of Operation Tomodachi in response to the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunamis that hit northern Japan March 11.

For more news from Commander, Naval Forces Japan, visit www.navy.mil/local/cnfj/.