USS Cole to Enter Black Sea On Friday

The U.S. is sending the guided missile destroyer USS Cole into the Black Sea on Friday as part of an ongoing presence mission in the region since Russia seized the Crimea region of Ukraine in March.
The ship will be the first U.S. ship in the Black Sea following the conclusion of a NATO naval exercise — Sea Breeze 2014 — in mid-September.
USS Ross (DDG -71) — the last U.S. ship in the region — left the Black Sea on Sept. 12.
Since the forced annexation of Crimea, NATO ships have spent more time in the Black Sea in the last six months than in any other time in recent memory.
Notably, France and the U.S. have had a near consistent presence in the Black Sea.
French signals intelligence ship, Dupuy de Lôme (A759), has moved in and out of the region for months. The French have also rotated at least two frigates in and out of the Black Sea.
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