According to data compiled in a report by Stars & Stripes, US warships more than doubled their presence in the Black Sea in 2021 compared to the year before.
The report said US warships spent about 182 collective days in the Black Sea in 2021. Last year, Stars & Stripes reported that the US Navy spent 82 days in the Black Sea in 2020.
While the 2021 numbers were significantly higher than the previous year, they were still lower than 2014, when the US-backed coup in Kyiv led Russia to take Crimea. In 2014, US warships spent about 210 days in the Black Sea. But two years after the coup, the number was down to 58.
The recent increase of US and NATO activity in the Black Sea is viewed as a major provocation in Moscow and was part of the reason why Russia sent more forces to its bases in western Russia and on the Black Sea in Crimea, what the West portrays as a troop buildup along Ukraine’s border.
Besides the naval presence, the US and its allies have also been deploying spy planes and bombers to fly over the Black Sea. Russian jets typically intercept the Western planes and escort them out of the area.
Russian Baltic Fleet’s missile ships wipe out aerial targets in drills
https://tass.com/defense/1392871
Six Russian Landing Ships That Left The Baltic Sea Have Entered The Mediterranean
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44049/six-russian-landing-ships-that-left-the-baltic-sea-have-entered-the-mediterranean
Those six landing ships are ostensibly in the Med for exercises with the Russian Med fleet. But they can also go into the Black Sea and conduct amphibious landings in Ukraine if they have to.
Virtually the whole Russian navy is at sea getting ready to conducting exercises off the coast of Ireland, in the Arctic, in the Med, in the Baltic Sea and in the Pacific. The US has responded with a “snap” exercise in the Med.
Mr. Stevenhack, are we going to stumble into a potential war?…It feels like it, to me and it is very concerning… I’m just wondering if I should get our bunker stocked and ready to go…
“Stumbling” is probably how it would go. Right now, it appears that both sides are just taking “due diligence” and moving their pieces into place *in case* someone does something stupid.
Anyway, if you’ve ever seen a US fallout map, other than northern Nevada and southeastern Oregon, there is no place in the US that won’t get hit with considerable fallout. So without a bunker, which 99.9999% of the population don’t have, survival is going to be iffy.
The smart move is to have an arrangement to fly to the Southern Hemisphere, say Brazil or Argentina, at the first sign of serious conventional fighting between either the US and Russia or US and China. If one has the money for that, of course…
Thanks for your in-depth reply Mr. Stevenhack. We have some underground spots here at home. I’m not big on travel so, we’ll rough it out here if things head in that direction, which I certainly hope they do not….
all those US and nato vessels in the Black Sea are sitting ducks
…..and would/could be knocked out within a day if Russia wanted it that way……
More like 30 minutes.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union when Ukraine became a sovereign country it has been a NATO objective to drive the Russian fleet out of its base at Sevastopol. NATO would not have dared to try that against Stalin.