USS Ross (DDG-71) transits the Mediterranean Sea on May 4, 2015. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated to include a June 1, 2015 U.S. 6th Fleet video of a Sukhoi SU-24 Fencer flyby near USS Ross.
The Pentagon is pushing back against anonymously sourced reports in state controlled Russian media that guided missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG-71) was chased from Russian controlled waters in the Black Sea by Russian fighters over the weekend, U.S. officials told USNI News. Read More
Chinese frigate Weifang leaves the Black Sea on May 14, 2015. Photo by Yörük Işık
On Thursday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) frigates Linyi and Weifang left the Black Sea along with a Russian Navy guided missile corvette to begin the first ever round of Chinese and Russian naval exercises in the Mediterranean. Read More
Chinese frigate 547 Linyi passing through Bosphorus on May 4, 2015. Photo by Nurderen Özbek via Bosphorus Naval News
Two People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) guided missile frigates entered the Black Sea on Monday in a first for the PLAN, according to photos of the ships crossing the Bosporus Strait obtained by USNI News. Read More
Undated photo of two Tupolev+Tu-22M Backfire bombers. Finnish Defense Forces Photo
A series of so-called snap drills by Russia’s Northern Fleet and its Western Military District will include deployments of high-end ballistic Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems (NATO Reporting name: SS-26 Stone) to Russia’s exclave in Kaliningrad and Tupolev Tu-M22 Backfire bombers to the exclave and Crimea, according to Tuesday Russian state media reports. Read More
Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems (NATO Reporting name: SS-26 Stone) during a practice parade in Moscow in 2010. via Wikipedia
PENTAGON — Since Russia has taken control of the Crimean region of Ukraine, it has moved a significant number of anti-air and anti-surface missile systems onto the peninsula that could hit targets in most of the Black Sea region, the supreme commander of NATO and U.S. European Command (EUCOM) told reporters in a Wednesday afternoon briefing. Read More
Then Vice Adm. Phil Davidson as commander of U.S. 6th Fleet on a USS Nitze (DDG-94) on Dec. 23, 2013. US Navy Photo
During Adm. Phil Daivdson’s last nine months as the commander of the America’s naval arm in Europe and Africa, tensions with Russia rose to a high not seen since the end of the Cold War. Read More
USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) arrives at Naval Station Rota, Spain on Feb. 11, 2014. US Navy Photo
The forward deployed U.S. destroyer that was buzzed by Russian fighters in April has returned to the Black Sea, according to photographs of the ship crossing through the Bosphorus. Read More
USNI News polled its writers, naval analysts, and service members on what they consider the most important military and maritime stories in 2014. Read More
Undated photo of a Peshmerga fighter.
Many are asking why the Turks are not doing more to enable the Kurds and their feared Peshmerga forces to more effectively attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL) military forces. Surely the Turks see this through the ancient ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend” lens? Read More
USS Ross pierside in Istanbul, Turkey. US Navy Photo
The guided missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG-71) has departed Istanbul bound for its homeport after completing operations in the Black Sea, Navy officials told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
