Fleet Movements in the Med - Updated

As we transition from Georgia to Poland to a lot of threatening political rhetoric from Russia as it expresses its displeasure with how events have unfolded, news reports from Russia tend to indicate the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is preparing to deploy to the Mediterranean Sea, specifically the Syrian port of Tartus.

The “Admiral Kuznetsov”, part of the Northern Fleet and Russia’s only aircraft carrier, will head a Navy mission to the area. The mission will also include the missile cruiser “Moskva” and several submarines, Newsru.com reports.

President Assad in meetings in Moscow this week expressed support to Russia’s intervention in South Ossetia and Georgia.

Syrian President al-Assad is visiting Moscow and is reportedly negotiating arms and mutual defense initiatives, including a Russian Naval base in the port city of Tartus. This would give Russia a Navy base in the Mediterranean Sea. This should not be a surprise, although the timing and speed that Russia is moving is notable. When Putin first assumed power, one of his first stated goals was to return Russia to prominence in the Mediterranean Sea, indeed what many may not remember is that the Kursk incident occurred during preparations for a major Naval deployment to the Mediterranean Sea. To put it mildly, things did not go according to plan.

On Wednesday, news reports highlighted that the USS McFaul (DDG 74) and USCGC Dallas (WHBC 716) departed Crete loaded with humanitarian supplies. Piecing together news reports, it appears these two ships will be followed by the USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) later this month.

Interesting note, there are several rumors the Polish frigate ORP General K. Pulaski (272) (formally USS Clark (FFG-11)) and a Canadian frigate will accompany the USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20). The rumor about a Canadian frigate is interesting, with the HMCS Ville de Quebec (FFH 332) escorting food shipments off Somalia for the World Food Program, it raises the question whether the Canadian Navy will send either the HMCS Iroquois (DDH 280) or HMCS Calgary (FFH 335) once HDMS Absalon (L16) joins Task Force 150 at the end of the month.

There are some reports in Turkey, and specifically McClatchy in the US, who have raised the issue of the 1936 Montreux Convention which governs access by Turkey of warships in the Black Sea. We have done a bit of research, and McClatchy sources appear misinformed. The USS McFaul (DDG 74) and USCGC Dallas, and even the USS Dallas (SSN 700) had already received permission by Turkey to access the Black Sea for an exercise that has been long planned. The exercise actually included Russia, but was called off when the conflict in Georgia began. Other ships of SNMG1 were given permission as well, which may be why the rumors of the Polish and Canadian frigate are running in the media. The USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) did not ask for permission then, which may be why there is some discussion whether the USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) has been given permission yet.

However, one thing is clear, the issue of the 1936 Montreux Convention is largely overblown at this point, and in reality, isn't helping Turkey right now. The intent of the 1936 Montreux Convention was to keep big warships out of the Black Sea, but it was set at a time when displacement was a major determination of how powerful a ship is. Clearly it means very little today, the USS McFaul (DDG 74), if not the USS Dallas (SSN 700), represent the most powerful pair of naval vessels of war in all of eastern Europe. The 1936 Montreux Convention does little to prevent their access, and instead creates a political issue to allow the barely armed USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20), or the unarmed USNS Comfort (T-AH 20).

While now is probably not the right time for Turkey to reevaluate the 1936 Montreux Convention, clearly it is something Turkey may want to take a look at in the future. Ironically, the last time a nation violated the 1936 Montreux Convention was in 1991 when the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov transited the straits. If the Admiral Kuznetsov does deploy to the Mediterranean Sea, it will be interesting to see if Russia does it again.

Update: Fucking McClatchy, these people are working hard to be Debka quality... which is pretty bad IMO.

They change their article with the facts. The USS Dallas returned today. Check the google cache, McClatchy has rewritten their articles today, but was reporting USS Dallas had approval by Turkey to move into the Black Sea yesterday.

Cached version:
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:rWBGtxSVWMgJ:www.mcclatchydc.com/251/v-print/story/49307.html+%22Months+earlier,+Turkey+approved+the+US+military+sending%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

New version:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/v-print/story/49307.html

These are the same people pushing the news about the Montreux Convention being a big deal, which appears to be another load of McClatchy crap with NATO now moving a bunch of warships in the Black Sea.