Turkey Confirms U.S. Destroyers Are Headed For The
Black Sea Amid Russia-Ukraine Crisis
Two U.S. Navy
destroyers will enter the Black Sea as a Russian military buildup around
eastern Ukraine continues to grow.
BY JOSEPH TREVITHICK APRIL 9, 2021
USN
JOSEPH TREVITHICK View Joseph Trevithick's Articles
Turkish
authorities have confirmed that two U.S. Navy warships are set to head
into the
Black Sea soon. There is no official word yet on which vessels
will heading into that body of water, but there are reports that the Arleigh
Burke class destroyers USS Donald Cook and USS Roosevelt are
the ships in question. All of this comes as the Russian military continues to
pour forces, including additional
naval assets, into the southwestern portion of the country along
the border with Ukraine, fueling fears that a new crisis between
Moscow and Kyiv, or worse, might be about to erupt.
Turkey’s
Foreign Ministry disclosed
today that it had received a formal notice about the impending
transit of the two warships from the Mediterranean Sea into the Black Sea via
the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, both of which are Turkish territorial
waters. Under the 1936 Montreux
Convention, countries that do not have a Black Sea coastline must
give advance notice about the deployment of naval vessels in and out of that
body of water. That agreement also places restrictions on how many warships
countries outside of the region can have there at once, via limits on the total
displaced tonnage of the vessels, and how long these deployments can last.
"A
notice was sent to us 15 days ago via diplomatic channels that two U.S.
warships would pass to the Black Sea in line with the Montreux
Convention," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Apr. 9, 2021, according
to Reuters. "The
ships will remain in the Black Sea until May 4."
CNN had
reported on Apr. 8 that the Navy was considering sending
warships into the Black Sea sometime in the coming weeks.
The U.S. Navy has declined to confirm what
warships are now headed into the Black Sea or what they will do once they
arrive there. "U.S. Navy ships maintain a regular presence in the Black
Sea and abide by the Montreux Convention. As a matter of policy, we do not
discuss future operations or ship schedules," Navy Lieutenant Commander
Matthew Comer, a spokesperson for U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa
(NAVFOREUR-AF) and U.S. 6th Fleet, told The War Zone.
Turkish
television channel NTV did
report, citing sources within the country's Foreign Ministry, that
the USS Donald Cook and USS Roosevelt were
the ships now bound for the Black Sea. These two destroyers are both
forward-deployed in Europe, operating from Naval Station Rota in Spain. They
have each deployed to the Black Sea on multiple occasions in the past, with
the Donald Cook having been in that body of water as recently
as February.
If it is
true that these are the ships the U.S. Navy is sending, it's hard not to see
their return in the current context as, at least in part, a signal aimed at
Russia. Having a pair of Burkes in the Black Sea would offer
additional assets to help monitor Russian activity and be in a position to
better respond to various contingencies if they were to suddenly emerge.
At the same
time, it's worth pointing that any major conflict involving both Russia and the
United States in this region would turn the Black Sea into an anti-ship
missile shooting gallery, where Russian forces would have a major
advantage, at least initially. Russia's anti-ship, as well as other anti-access
and aerial denial capabilities, in the region have
grown since it seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in
2014. The Kremlin has since deployed significant numbers of additional combat
aircraft, as well as surface-to-air and ground-based anti-ship missile units to
bases there. This is in addition to the modernized Black Sea Fleet that largely
calls Crimea home. These vessels are packed with a wide array of anti-ship
missiles, too. Its Kilo class diesel-electric submarines are
also a major threat to American warships in the enclosed body of water.
When Donald
Cook, together with the USS Porter, another Arleigh
Burke class destroyer forward-deployed in Spain, arrived in the Black
Sea earlier this year, they were greeted by
an aggressive Russian response. This included being buzzed by
an Su-24
Fencer combat jet and nearby drills involving Su-30SM
Flankers armed with anti-ship missiles and coastal
defense missile batteries in Crimea.
This
reality is almost certainly one of the reasons why Navy destroyers based in
Spain have been equipped with specialized electronic warfare systems that are,
at least in part, designed to defend against anti-ship missiles. You can read
more about the AN/SLQ-62 Transportable Electronic Warfare Module-Speed To Fleet
(TEWM-STF) system here.
These ships have other special modifications, as well, including the SeaRAM
point defense systems.
It's also
interesting to note that 15 days ago, when Turkey said the U.S. government
formally notified it of its latest plans to send warships into the Black Sea,
would be March 25, two days after the conclusion of a major Russian military
exercise in the southwestern portion of the country. Significant numbers of
troops that had taken part in those drills then stayed in the area afterward,
reportedly drawing
the attention and concern of U.S. officials.
USN
USS Donald Cook during an SM-2 missile-firing drill. Note
the SeaRAM system on the rear pedestal. This modification is unique to U.S.
destroyers forward-deployed to Rota, Spain.
In
addition, On March 26, four Ukrainian soldiers were
killed in a recent spike in fighting between that country's
military and separatists who occupy areas in the eastern portion of the country
that is known collectively as the Donbass. Those groups, who have been fighting
the government in Kyiv since 2014, have
significant ties to Russian intelligence agencies and receive
direct support from actual elements of the Russian military.
By March
27, there were clear indications that Russia was conducting a major military
buildup along its borders with Ukraine. Russian authorities have since
confirmed these deployments, which
are still ongoing, though they claim they are part of series of
readiness drills across the country.
On March
30, The New York Times reported that
U.S. European Command (EUCOM) had raised an internal alert level regarding the
security situation in Ukraine from "possible crisis" to
"potential imminent crisis." The latter level was reported to be the
most serious on the watch list's scale.
"The fact that they [the Russians]
haven't been transparent is only causing more instability, more
insecurity" Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said today. "We're
watching this very very carefully."
"It is a big build-up... the biggest
one that we've seen since 2014," he continued. "We don't think that
the Russian have been totally transparent about what they're doing."
What
exactly might be driving the current Russian military buildup near Ukraine
remains murky, whether or not an actual escalation in the conflict between
Russia and Ukraine is indeed in the offing. A water
crisis in Crimea, as well as domestic political issues in Russia,
especially surrounding the imprisonment and worryingly
poor health of Alexei
Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin
and anti-corruption
activist, appear to be among the factors.
The
impending arrival of U.S. Navy warships in the Black Sea is all but certain to
draw a response of some kind from the Russian government. Russian officials
have already begun to blame NATO, as well as Ukraine, for the spike in tensions
in the region. This kind of rhetoric reflects misinformation
and disinformation tactics the Kremlin has
regularly employed in the
past to deflect and distract from its own malign
activities.
How all of this might impact the continued
evolution of the situation on the Ukraine-Russia border remains to be seen.
Contact the author:
joe@thedrive.com
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