American Navy destroyer USS Carney enters the Black Sea
The American destroyer USS Carney entered the Black Sea, as reported by twitter user Yörük Işık, who tracks the movement of warships across the Bosporus.
As noted by Yörük Işık, the US Navy will “boost the patrols in the Black Sea amid tensions in the region”. This is the fourth such deployment of the destroyer.
The USS Carney reported on Facebook that on January 3rd it left the Italian port of Brindisi, where it stayed for the New Year. The ship began its fourth patrol on December 2, 2017. It left its homeport in the Spanish town of Rota.
The USS Carney was launched on July 23, 1994. Its length is 153.92 m and its width is 20.1 m. It can reach speeds up to 32 knots (59.26 km / h). The crew includes 337 people, including 23 officers.
In late November 2017, the US destroyer USS James E. Williams entered the Black Sea. According to the US Naval Institute news site, the ship was to visit the port of Odessa. In early December, an American destroyer took part in a joint training with Ukrainian naval forces in the Black Sea. Launching from Ukraine, Two Ukrainian Ka-27 helicopters took part in the maneuvers. The aim of the exercises was to train in cooperative maneuvers with the ship in accordance with NATO standards, as well as to enhance the level of joint work and "deepen cooperation."
Russia raised concerns over these joint US-Ukrainian naval exercises. The first deputy chairman of the Defense Committee of the Federation Council of Russia, Franz Klintsevich, said that such exercises are a "provocation," which Russia regards as "an unfriendly move by the US."