Security

U.S. Warships Run the Gauntlet with Georgia Aid (Updated)

The U.S. Air Force flew its first planeful of medical supplies to Georgia more than a week ago. Now the U.S. Navy is getting in on the humanitarian action, sending a flotilla of at least three American ships plus some friends via the Black Sea to deliver more aid to Georgia. What’s interesting is the […]

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The U.S. Air Force flew its first planeful of medical supplies to Georgia more than a week ago. Now the U.S. Navy is getting in on the humanitarian action, sending a flotilla of at least three American ships plus some friends via the Black Sea to deliver more aid to Georgia. What's interesting is the mix of ships involved.

As we speak, the USS Kearsarge assault ship is sailing alone in Latin America, totally unescorted, on its own humanitarian mission. Captain Walter Towns said he feels "pretty secure." The Georgia flotilla, by contrast, is stacked with heavily-armed warships. The vanguard includes the Burke-class destroyer McFaul (pictured)and the armed Coast Guard cutter Dallas. (Another Dallas, a nuclear submarine, is also in the area.) Trailing behind is the command ship Mount Whitney with, reportedly, Polish and Canadian frigates as escorts. The naval aid effort isn't taking any chances.

And for good reason. Russia's Black Sea fleet dominated the waters off Georgia from the early days of the fighting, and now it's been announced that the sole Russian aircraft carrier, Kuznetsov, is headed to the eastern Mediterranean. In 1991 Kuznetsov illegally sneaked through Turkey's Bosporus Strait that connects the Med to the Black Sea. "It will be interesting to see if Russia does it again," Galrahn writes over at Information Dissemination.

Update 14:33 EST: Uh-oh: "Russian forces took up positions Thursday at the entrance to Georgia's main Black Sea port city of Poti, excavating trenches, setting up mortars and blocking a key bridge with armored personnel carriers and trucks," the AP reports.

(Photo: Navy)

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