Do the British rush in where Americans fear to tread? The Sunday Times of London reports this morning that the U.K. Ministry of Defense has decided that two ships attached to the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier strike group will pay a visit to the Black Sea, next month, before heading to the Western Pacific to provoke China. One Type 45 destroyer armed with anti-aircraft missiles and an anti-submarine Type 23 frigate will peel off from the Royal Navy’s carrier task group in the Mediterranean and head through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea, according to senior naval sources, The Times reports. The QE itself will stay in the Easterm Mediterranean (the Montreux Convention prohibits aircraft carriers from entering the Black Sea) but its F-35B stealth fighters will provide air cover for the two ships “should they be threatened by Russian warships, submarines or aircraft.” It’s not clear if the deployment decision was made before or after the U.S. canceled the deployment of two U.S. Navy destroyers into the Black Sea last week but The Times plays it up as a divergence from the U.S.
The British military has been very active in the Black Sea. The Times reports that RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint eavesdropping aircraft have flown eight missions over Ukraine to monitor Russian military communications since the start of the month. Four RAF Typhoon fighter jets will fly to Romania from RAF Lossiemouth this week to take part in NATO air policing patrols over the Black Sea, and hundreds of soldiers will head to Ukraine in the summer for a joint exercise, dubbed Cossack Mace, with the country’s border guard paramilitary force.