USS Mahan Arrives in Cyprus

The embassy said the ship is in Cyprus for a “liberty port call”, the US navy’s term for a stop-off to give sailors free time, though it did not specify at which port the ship has docked.

The ship is named after naval theorist Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan and is the fourth to bear his name. Mahan served during the American civil war and later worked as the president of the US’ Naval War College.

The ship’s arrival is one of a growing number of US navy ships docking in Cyprus, with the USS The Sullivans’ arrival in May the most recent prior to Tuesday.

In addition to deepening naval ties, Cyprus was earlier this year authorised to buy military hardware directly from the United States government after joining three programmes run by the country’s department of defence.

The country was incorporated into the US defence security cooperation agency’s foreign military sales (FMS) programme, its excess defence articles (EDA) programme, and will be allocated resources under the US’ ‘Title 10’ security assistance provisions.

It is the inclusion into the FMS programme which will allow the government to purchase military hardware directly from the US government, with the country previously having only been able to buy US military hardware from private companies.

Source: Cyprus Mail