Harbinger of war in Ukraine: What does the appearance of "Mount Whitney" in the Black Sea mean?

A few days ago, the flagship of the US 6th Fleet, the command ship Mount Whitney, entered the Black Sea, accompanied by an URO destroyer, to participate in some exercises. Comments from numerous analysts and military experts immediately poured in and began to explain what the Americans really needed here. Let's try and we insert our "five cents".

To begin with, it is necessary to say a few words about Mount Whitney itself, as it is a very unusual ship. The current flagship of the US 6th Fleet was launched in 1970 and entered service in 1971. He took part in operations on two oceans, the Atlantic and the Indian, operated in the Caribbean, but ended up in the Mediterranean. In 2005, Mount Whitney became the new flagship of the 6th Fleet, replacing the former, which was the landing ship dock. Now it is based in Italy, in the port of Gaeta. We, Russians, are especially interested in Mount Whitney because it regularly appears in the Black Sea water area when something sharply anti-Russian happens there, being, in fact, a messenger of trouble.



Let's remember the brightest episodes. In 2008, the flagship of the US 6th Fleet headed for the shores of Georgia at the very moment when the so-called "Olympic war" was going on, caused by Tbilisi's aggression against South Ossetia. "Mount Whitney", according to the official statements of the Americans, delivered some "humanitarian cargo" to the Georgian port of Poti. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, expressed doubts about the purely "humanitarian" nature of this mission.

At the same time, in October 2008, the US Navy command ship wanted to enter the port of the still Ukrainian Sevastopol, but was met with anti-NATO protests from the "ungrateful" local population. "Mount Whitney" nevertheless achieved its goal, but the crew were ordered not to descend from its side in order to avoid misunderstandings.

In 2011, the command ship was used in the Mediterranean for its intended purpose in carrying out aggression against sovereign Libya, after which this country actually ceased to exist. Let's remember this moment for the future.

On February 4, 2014, the flagship of the US 6th Fleet entered the Black Sea just as the events leading to the coup d'etat were unfolding in Ukraine. On February 21, President Viktor Yanukovych was forced to flee Kiev, and on February 22 a resolution was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, according to which he was recognized as having withdrawn from his official duties, and early presidential elections were scheduled. Maidan won.

So what do we see? Mount Whitney always appears in the Black Sea when something against Russia happens in the Black Sea countries. And now the flagship of the 6th fleet entered the Black Sea again, accompanied by a "bodyguard" in the form of an URO destroyer. What kind of trouble does he bring us this time?

Let's take a closer look at this unusual ship. Mount Whitney itself does not constitute a particular military threat. Its armament is purely symbolic and is represented by several artillery installations and large-caliber machine guns, as well as a short-range air defense system. Against aviation, navy or coastal anti-ship complexes, this is not serious. Only the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer equipped with guided missile weapons, the Porter, attached to the flagship for escort, could pose a threat. But the real strength of Mount Whitney lies elsewhere.

This is a representative of a rare class of Blue Ridge-class control ships. Even the US Navy has only two of them. It is designed to transmit and receive large amounts of protected data anywhere in the world via HF-, UHF-, VHF- and SHF-communication channels. This is the most advanced command ship in the world, allowing the Pentagon to quickly collect, transmit and analyze information for military and other purposes. In the digital age of technologies Mount Whitney gives the American command additional trump cards. And why would the United States need such a specialized ship in the Black Sea? To participate in ordinary exercises?

It is not excluded, but another explanation is possible. Let's remember our reflections that the situation in Ukraine is directly pushing Kiev to some kind of active hostilities against the DPR and LPR. With their help, the “servant of the people”, which is rapidly losing public confidence, can increase its popularity and shift attention from internal problems to an external enemy in the person of Russia, which will be forced to intervene in one form or another. This assistance can be both hidden, in the form of sending "vacationers", or open - a large-scale counter-attack in the Donbas, or even in other directions, including Kiev itself.

In this context, the dispatch of an American headquarters ship to the Ukrainian coast gets a completely adequate explanation. The Pentagon will be able to receive all the most operational intelligence information, as well as share it with Kiev. Thus, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will have an additional trump card, and Washington will have direct evidence of the participation of the Russian military and the use of our weapons in the events in Donbass.