A five-vessel battle group of the U.S. Sixth Fleet arrived Sunday in Haifa Bay to carry out joint training exercises with the Israeli navy.
The American unit consists of the 80,000-ton aircraft carrier Eisenhower, the cruiser Belknap, which is the flagship of the Sixth Fleet, and three missile-carrying destroyer escorts.
The battle group is under the command of Vice Adm. Kendall Moranville, commanding officer of the Sixth Fleet.
He described the joint exercises as “routine, scheduled several months ago as a result of an agreement by the United States and Israeli governments for combined training by the two fleets.”
The American ships will remain in Israel for two weeks during which their complement of 7,000 seamen and pilots will have shore leave
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