US Navy’s Tomahawk-armed warship sails to Black Sea for NATO drills off shores of Bulgaria

The USS Porter, an 8,900-ton Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, is on her way back to the Black Sea, the US Navy’s 6th Fleet reported. The warship, armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles and an array of anti-aircraft weapons, will join the US-led Sea Breeze exercise, to be held in Bulgarian waters. 

The annual naval drill, which kicks off several hundred miles away from Russia’s Crimea peninsula, will involve 27 warships, nine aircraft and 2,413 sailors from ten NATO countries, including the host nation Bulgaria, as well as Belgium, Greece, Italy, Spain, Romania, US, Turkey, France, and non-member Georgia.

The last time the Porter sailed into the Black Sea was in April of this year.