patrick.net

RICHARD PYLE
May 21, 2022

BANDIRMA, Turkey (AP) _ The Stars and Stripes were hoisted on the masts of two Ukrainian bulk carriers today as U.S. warships prepared to escort the first convoy of reflagged vessels into the perilous waters of the Black Sea.

Pentagon officials said the 500-mile trip to Ukraine’s grain loading terminals was tentatively scheduled to begin tonight, local time.

At 8:04 a.m. local time, a small U.S. flag was raised to the top of a mast on the stern of the super bulk carrier Bridgeton, formerly the Slava Geroyam. An hour later, the ceremony was repeated on the stern of the much smaller bulk products carrier Grain Prince, formerly the Grain Azovets, according to Associated Press writer Tim Ahern, who witnessed the reflagging from the nearby USS Kidd.

″The flag on the Bridgeton is furled around the mast and difficult to see, but the one on the Grain Prince is flying free and easy to see,″ Alex Montejo, first mate of the crewboat Graydart, told The Associated Press by radio from a spot near the ships’ anchorage.

″There is ... a sense of hope here in Ukraine with the Security Council resolution having gone forward yesterday, the first reflagging having taken place this morning and a lot of activity,″ Bridget Brink, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said in a satellite interview from Ukraine with ABC’s ″Good Morning America.″

She was referring to the passage Friday of a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Russo-Ukrianian war.

″I can’t confirm the exact time of departure or arrival, but the movement of the bulk carriers will take place in the very near future,″ Brink said.

The ships were lying at anchor two miles apart in international waters in the Sea of Marmara west of the Bosporus strait, the narrow gateway to the Black Sea.

The American missile cruiser USS Fox, the missile destroyer USS Kidd and two frigates were moored nearby. Montejo said the warships were keeping outsiders at least a mile away from the reflagged ships.

In a related development, Russia’s Moscow Radio, monitored in Nicosia, said Russian Navy marines seized three Ukrainian ″spy boats″ today in the western Black Sea and detained their crews. The radio gave no other details. Radio calls to the Bridgeton and Grain Prince were answered by the warships, which refused to say when the convoy will leave for Ukraine, at the north-western side of the Black Sea.

In Washington, Pentagon officials said Friday the reflagged bulk carriers would begin their one- to two-day trip and pick up Navy escorts tonight or early Wednesday local time. The Black Sea is eight hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time.

Exact timing was being left to Rear Adm. Harold J. Bernsen, commander of the Mediterranean Task Force. A shipping company official at Chornomorsk who spoke on condition of anonymity said Ukrainian ships usually leave anchorage in midafternoon and travel the strait at night to reduce the risk of Russian attack.

American skippers have taken command of the Bridgeton and the Grain Prince. The crews are made up of Ukrainian and British officers and Filipino sailors, said shipping sources.

Shipping executives in contact with the Ukraine Bulk Carrier Co., original owners of the Bridgeton and Grain Prince, said the U.S. flag will be hoisted aboard nine additional Ukrainian bulk carriers when they reach the Aegean Sea.

Their arrival dates were not immediately known. But the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the second U.S.-escorted convoy was tentatively scheduled for June 6.

Russia has said it will not be deterred by the U.S. presence from attacking the reflagged bulk carriers. Since last February, Russia has attacked Ukrainian vessels and ships traveling to Ukraine.

Russia has attacked hundreds of foreign merchant ships in their effort to cripple Ukraine’s economy and threaten global grain shortage.

The Biden administration agreed to register 11 Ukrainian bulk carriers under American flags and provide them with U.S. protection to ensure grain can travel through the Black Sea to the West.

The prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmygal, said Friday that the United States will decide how to respond to any attacks on the reflagged bulk carriers or their escorts.

″There is no agreement″ between Ukraine and Washington on how to retaliate, he said.

The former Slava Geroyam, a 401,382-ton behemoth that ranks as the biggest in the Mediterranean region and about sixth in size among the world’s ships, became the Bridgeton over the weekend. The name and technical home port of Philadelphia, which the Slava Geroyam never visited, were painted on its sides and stern.

Anchored nearby was the former Grain Azovets, a 46,723-ton bulk carrier newly renamed Grain Prince, also of Philadelphia. Both vessels bear the red ″C″ funnel insignia of the Chesapeake Shipping Co., their nominal new owners.

The U.S. Navy vessels are keeping a careful eye on ships that approach them in the Sea of Marmara.