Destroyer USS Truxton heads for Black Sea amid heightened tensions over Crimea
(Stars and Stripes) A U.S. guided-missile destroyer is bound for the Black Sea in
what the Navy calls a routine visit unrelated to events in Ukraine.
Yea, right. Even if this visit and exercise were scheduled well before the Ukraine tensions,
I am sure the Sixth Fleet Commander and the Chief of Naval Operations were well aware
of "signals" this sortie will send, well before the combatant made way from Greece.
Barry
Destroyer USS Truxtun heads for Black Sea
amid heightened tensions over Crimea
The guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun departs Naval Station Norfolk for a The guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun fires its
scheduled deployment to Greece. Truxtun is now heading for the Black Sea MK45 5-inch gun at a simulated target.
for exercises with allied navies amid heightened tensions with Russia over Ukraine. SABRINA FINE/U.S. NAVY
Stars and Stripes
Published: March 6, 2014
Scott Barnes/U.S. Navy
NAPLES, Italy — A U.S. guided-missile destroyer is bound for the Black Sea in what the Navy calls a routine visit unrelated to events in Ukraine.
The USS Truxtun, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer with about 300 sailors on board, departed Greece early Thursday, said a spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa in Naples.
The ship is scheduled to train with Romanian and Bulgarian naval forces for an unspecified period of time, conducting joint maneuvers and landing aircraft on ships. The spokesman, Lt. Shawn Eklund, said the visit is unrelated to Russia’s recent incursion into Ukraine.
“Truxtun’s operations in the Black Sea were scheduled well in advance of her departure from the U.S.,” he said.
The Truxtun is part of the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group, which recently entered the Mediterranean and is training with regional navies before continuing to the Middle East. The group also includes Carrier Air Wing 8, the destroyer USS Roosevelt and the cruiser USS Philippine Sea.
The destroyer will join the USS Taylor as the only two U.S. vessels inside the Black Sea during a period of heightened tensions. The Taylor, a guided-missile frigate, remains moored in Samsun, Turkey, after it ran aground in February.
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is at the center of the country’s operations in Ukraine, where Russian soldiers continue to surround Ukrainian military bases.
Other U.S. warships remain in the region on scheduled deployments. A group of amphibious ships with an embarked Marine expeditionary unit also recently entered European waters. The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, which counts roughly 4,000 sailors and Marines, is training with regional navies before continuing to the Middle East.
