The USS Truxtun and the USS Taylor will be the only two ships in the US Navy close to the Russian Black Sea fleet, but why is the ship being positioned so close to Ukraine in the first place?
In a related report by The Inquisitr , a former Ukrainian president is warning that World War 3 might be around the corner if Russia does not back down from flaunting its nuclear missile arsenal . The situation in the Crimea has also become very tense on the high seas ever since the Russian Black Sea fleet used megaphones to issue an ultimatum for Ukraine’s military forces in the area.
Fortunately, the ultimatum did not lead to open fighting, but the Russian Black Sea fleet did sink a ship… just not one of its enemies. The Russian anti-submarine warship Ochakov was scuttled on purpose in order to prevent Ukrainian navy ships from going out to sea from a nearby base. The sunken ship lies at the mouth of the bay, which is also guarded by 10 Russian warships.
But tensions are still rising due to the recent actions by the the Russian Black Sea fleet leader, Admiral Alexander Vitko , who is claimed to have committed crimes by Ukraine’s government. He met with the Ukrainian forces and asked them to defect to Russia so they could “help protect Ukraine from extremist gangs.” The Admiral was enraged when the Ukrainian base commander told him off, saying, ”Comrade admiral, we didn’t see any extremist gangs here until you came with your men.”
Considering that Putin and Obama have been publicly exchanging adversarial words, you would think the USS Truxtun and the USS Taylor might be heading to the Black Sea because of the situation with the Russian Black Sea fleet. But according to Navy Lt. Shawn Eklund , the repositioning of the USS Truxtun has nothing to do with recent events:
“USS Truxtun’s operations in the Black Sea were scheduled well in advance of her departure from the U.S.”
As it turns out, the USS Taylor is still moored in Turkey after accidentally running aground last month. The USS Truxtun is scheduled to conduct joint exercises with Romanian and Bulgarian forces. The ship is part of the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group, which entered the Mediterrenean recently and its various ships are training with various regional navies.
[Image via United States Navy]