The US aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman has been stationed this week in the northern Aegean Sea in part to ensure it can carry out flight operations from there if tensions escalate in the region due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a US official familiar with the carrier situation.
“In the event of a further escalation,” the Navy could be ordered to send more combat air patrols into the Black Sea, the official said.
“If Russia tried to cross the Turkish Strait and Turkey asked for NATO support.”
In this way, the carrier’s planes could be used to conduct combat air patrol over the Black Sea and the Dardanelles Strait, according to the official.
Turkey administers the transit permit in the Black Sea for warships and there is concern about Russia’s future plans in that area.
