USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE 3), left, conducts an underway replenishment with RFA Fort Victoria (A 387), a Fort-class combined fleet stores ship and tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary of the United Kingdom, while USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) follows in the East China Sea, on Aug. 28. Fort Victoria and The Sullivans, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, are currently on deployment to the 7th Fleet Area of Responsibility as part of the United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group. As the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed fleet, 7th Fleet employs 50-70 ships and submarines across the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans. U.S. 7th Fleet routinely operates and interacts with 35 maritime nations while conducting missions to preserve and protect a free and open Indo-Pacific Region.