A few hundred thousand tons of naval hardware is now converging on the Eastern Mediterranean, which itself creates the risk of a dangerous incident between NATO and Russia. On the NATO side, a French task force led by the carrier Charles de Gaulle and an Italian task force led by the carrier Cavour, joined up with the USS Harry S Truman strike group for joint operations. “Bringing these NATO carrier strike groups together for ‘tri-carrier operations’ offers a unique opportunity for sailors and naval aviators to operate together in relatively close proximity,” reported The War Zone. “Although Neptune Strike [the NATO exercise that concluded last week—ed.] was framed as not being run in direct response to Russian activity in relation to Ukraine, it ultimately will have sent a powerful signal anyway, especially coupled with the fact that USS Harry S. Truman was originally stationed in the Mediterranean to help reassure allies and deter aggression.”
At the same time, a number of Russian warships are also heading towards the same waters. The War Zone notes that the Northern Fleet cruiser Marshall Ustinov has reportedly passed through the Strait of Gibraltar in the last day or so, after apparently participating in an exercise off the coast of Ireland. The Pacific Fleet flagship Varyag is also reported to have recently transited the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. Both, along with other Russian ships, are reported to be heading to the Black Sea, where the third Russian cruiser, Moskva, is the flag ship of the Black Sea Fleet. The possible joining up of all three cruisers in the Black Sea has sparked speculation that they may be deploying for possible action against Ukraine, perhaps as a blocking action designed to complicate further NATO maritime movements. The three ships are all equipped with long range anti-ship and anti-air missile systems.
