U.S. ships respond to Korea sinking - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

U.S. ships respond to Korea sinking

Three U.S. warships and one Military Sealift Command salvage ship are on station off the Korean peninsula helping with search and rescue efforts after a South Korean patrol ship sank on Friday.

The Japan-based cruiser Shiloh, destroyers Curtis Wilbur and Lassen and the salvage ship Salvor — carrying a team from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 1 — were ordered to help with the search after the South Korean government asked the U.S. for help, a Pentagon official told Navy Times.

Although Shiloh and Curtis Wilbur both carry the Aegis ballistic missile defense system, the official stressed that the American warships were there because South Korea asked for “support for search, recovery and salvage efforts.”

The official asked not to be identified because of the delicacy of the situation involving North and South Korea.

The U.S. ships were already at sea when the South Korean patrol ship Cheonan sank on Friday as part of the international exercise Foal Eagle, the official said. The cause of the sinking is still not clear.

The South Korean news media reported Monday that as many as 22 ships, including the four American vessels, were searching and patrolling the waters above where the 1,200-ton Cheonan lay in two pieces, a bow and stern section. The South Korean navy rescued 58 sailors, including the ship’s captain, after Cheonan sank Friday, but 46 remained missing.

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