The United States is sending a third ship to the Black Sea at the end of the month with humanitarian aid for Georgia, the Navy said Thursday. The USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet, will join the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul and the Coast Guard cutter Dallas in delivering relief supplies to Georgia, the Navy said. The Mount Whitney “is currently on-loading humanitarian relief materials in her home port of Gaeta, Italy and will proceed to Georgia later this month,” the fleet said in a statement. “The ships will deliver thousands of blankets, hygiene kits, baby food, and infant-care supplies to save lives and alleviate human suffering,” the statement said. The McFaul departed from Crete on Wednesday for the Black Sea and was expected to arrive in Georgia within a week. The Dallas was scheduled to follow it from Crete. “The Russians have been informed along the way about our activities and our intentions,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. U.S. military transport airplanes also have been delivering relief supplies to Georgia on a daily basis over the past week. Whitman estimated the value of the aid provided since the August 7 start of the conflict between Russia and Georgia at $10.7 million.
