US Navy destroyer USS Carney exited the Black Sea on January 13 after making a port call in Ukraine and taking part in an anti-submarine warfare drill a Romanian frigate and a Turkish submarine.
Carney spent a total of eight days in the Black Sea.
“Our time in the Black Sea provided the opportunity to continue working closely with our NATO allies and partners,” said Cmdr. Peter Halvorsen, commanding officer of the Carney. “We’re building strong relationships here, which are vital to peace and stability and help to improve our interoperability.”
Carney first spent three days in Odessa, Ukraine. While in port, Carney sailors, in keeping with the US Naval tradition, volunteered to provide guided ship tours and donated knit hats for approximately 30 orphan children from a local orphanage.
Carney’ crew also hosted a reception dinner for Ukrainian Vice Adm. Ihor Vorenchenko, commander of the Ukrainian Navy.
Subsequent to the port visit, Carney conducted deck landing qualifications (DLQs) for Ukrainian pilots flying KA-27 Helix helicopters. The DLQs provided Carney’s flight crew with experience directing a different type of aircraft.
Carney then participated in combined anti-submarine warfare exercise with the Romanian frigate Regele Ferdinand (F-221) and the Turkish Ay-class submarine TCG Batiray (S-349).
“It’s always a pleasure to work with our NATO allies,” said Lt. Zachary Zarow, Carney’s operations officer. “Training with a real-life submarine is a great opportunity for our anti-sub warfare (ASW) team, and coordinating an ASW exercise between multiple ships and aircraft builds our operational capacity.”
The forward-deployed destroyer is on a routine patrol conducting naval operations with allies and partners in the US 6th Fleet area of operations.