[FreedomWatcher]

"Cape St. George, a guided-missile cruiser, and Gonzalez, a guided-missile destroyer, were conducting maritime security operations in the area as part of Combined Task Force 150, a maritime coalition task force currently led by Royal Netherlands Navy Commodore Hank Ort..."

Did anyone miss the fact that our United States Navy was operating under the command of a foreign government? Who authorized this?

[buccaneer81]

Did anyone miss the fact that our United States Navy was operating under the command of a foreign government?

Happens all the time in Colorado Springs. A Canadian general is in command of NORAD from time to time. In fact, I believe this was the case on 9-11.

[robowombat]

This is part of ongoing NATO and US coalition ops in the Indian Ocean. Unseen by the MSM a large part of the navies of the NATO states and Japan have been patrolling a large block of the NW Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea since a few months after 9-11. The operation is divided into task elements and just as in NATO naval ops some times US warships are a segment of a task element commanded by a British or Dutch or German flog officer. The French, naturally, insist on operating a separate self contained task force, which it must be said is a large one. This maritime interdiction operation has stopped a lot of AQ movement from SW Asia onto west Africa or points east.

[tanknetter]

Did anyone miss the fact that our United States Navy was operating under the command of a foreign government? Who authorized this?

It's not unusual at all with joint operations. Sound like there's one CG and one DDG assigned to a combined forc - not a big deal.

[Junior]

The U.S. isn't always in charge in coalition arrangements.

[Arthalion]

It's a NATO task force, and it has a rotating command. Like all military task forces, our commanders have the treaty-bound right to refuse participation in any order or exercise that contravenes the will or laws of the United States. It's really not a big deal.