Destroyer McFaul heads back home from missions

NORFOLK

The destroyer McFaul returns this week from a deployment to the Mediterranean and Black seas that included the delivery of relief supplies to Georgia after its conflict with Russia.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, which has a crew of about 275, left Norfolk on May 26.

Cmdr. Timothy Schorr said in a phone interview that his ship spent about six weeks in the Black Sea on three different occasions - twice for military exercises with foreign navies, and once to deliver water, baby food and hygiene products to Georgia, a nation of 4.4 million people.

"There was some uncertainty about what kind of reception we were going to get," Schorr, the commanding officer, said about Operation Assured Delivery. "When we actually got to Georgia, it was very much a routine security environment. We ended up not having to enforce any out-of-the-ordinary port security measures."

Fighting broke out between Georgia and Russia on Aug. 7 over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. The McFaul, then operating in the eastern Mediterranean, received orders to load up with supplies at the U.S. Navy base in Souda Bay, Greece.

Schorr said the McFaul transited the Turkish straits on Aug. 22 and anchored off the port of Batumi, Georgia, two days later. A floating crane moved 27 tons of relief supplies from the McFaul's flight deck to a barge that delivered them ashore.

About 70 crew members attended receptions in Batumi, Schorr said. The entire crew had port calls in each Black Sea nation except Russia - Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine.

Despite the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, Schorr said the ship didn't have serious security issues.

"Even the interaction we had in the Black Sea with the Russian naval forces was non-threatening, very professional, very cordial," he said.

The U.S. Navy has recently renewed its commitment to working with Black Sea nations, and increased its presence there, but an international agreement called the Montreux Convention limits foreign warships from spending more than 21 days at a time in the Black Sea.

Kate Wiltrout, 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com