The U.S. Navy command is increasing the number of warships deployed in the Black Sea, a source in the Russian Navy Staff told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
“The U.S. frigate USS Taylor passed through the Black Sea straits and entered the Black Sea on Tuesday,” the source said.
He recalled the earlier arrival of USS Donald Cook, a destroyer
equipped with the Aegis missile defense system, in the Black Sea.
“Black Sea voyages have not been very lucky” for USS Taylor, the
source continued. It was sent to the Black Sea together with the U.S.
Sixth Fleet command class ship USS Mount Whitney in the period of the
Sochi Olympic Games. USS Taylor ran aground while mooring in the Turkish
port of Samsun on Feb. 12 and her screw touched the ground. The
frigate was towed away from the Black Sea and underwent repairs in the
Greek port of Souda.
The previous Black Sea visit of USS Taylor lasted from Feb. 5
through March 9, which was eleven days longer than the maximum
permissible period of stay of warships from non-Black Sea littoral
countries in violation of the Montreux Convention.
