An American missile destroyer will enter the port of Odessa for the first time
The American guided-missile destroyer USS Carney and one of the newest auxiliary landing ships USNS Yuma headed to the Black Sea to participate in the multinational naval exercise Sea Breeze 2019 off the coast of Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the 6th Operational Fleet of the US Navy, the ships began passing through the Dardanelles on Saturday, June 28.
“Carney began its entry into the Black Sea in order to strengthen regional stability at sea and participate in the Sea Breeze 2019 exercise,” the message says.
The annual US-Ukrainian exercise will involve ships from the US, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Turkish, and Georgian navies. In total, about 900 military personnel will be involved in them.
Moreover, this year the US Navy will be represented by two ships at once - the destroyer Carney, which has previously visited the Black Sea several times, as well as one of the newest auxiliary landing ships - USNS Yuma. He has already entered the Black Sea.
As the Ukrainian Military Portal notes, the US high-speed landing ship USNS Yuma will arrive in Odessa for the first time. This is the second time in history that a ship of this type has entered the Black Sea. The first took place in August 2018, when the USNS “Carson City” (T-EPF-7) arrived in Romania to participate in the exercise.
“JHSV type vessels are multi-purpose, designed to operate in shallow water ports and fairways. They can carry out humanitarian missions, transport troops, cargo and military equipment. Capable of accommodating an infantry battalion or other medium-sized units with standard equipment, including M-1 Abrams tanks,” the portal writes.
The destroyer Carney, equipped with the Aegis missile defense system, along with the US Navy destroyers Donald Cook, Porter and Ross, is permanently stationed in Europe at the Spanish naval base in Rota.
These ships, together with Aegis ground-based missile defense bases in Poland and Romania, are part of a program to build a European phased adaptive missile defense system.
Exercise Sea Breeze 2019 will begin on Monday, July 1, in Odessa. The exercises will take place at sea, on land, in the air and under water. This year, for the first time, participants in the event will practice the river element.
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