A US warship arrives on Crete island with escalating the confrontation between Turkey, Greece

The Voice of America said that a US warship has joined other ships from the European Union and Russia, raising concerns among some in Greece about what the military buildup could mean.

Military experts described "USS Herschel Woody Williams" as a floating military base, the second of a new class of large ships that the US Navy is now using as transport and support centers for rapid military operations.

The ship, which is 230 meters long, the size of some skyscrapers, was anchored off Naples, Italy, in a routine logistical stopover before being sent to Crete, where it was on standby, while Greece and Turkey were still on the brink of confrontation.

Greek and Turkish battleships are gathering in the region, since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered a research ship to head to the eastern Mediterranean to survey gas and oil.

Greece says the seabed off the coast of Crete and other islands in the region belongs to it, a claim Turkey has repeatedly rejected.

US officials did not provide details of the orders that "Herschel Woody Williams" received, or how long it would stay in Souda Bay in Crete.

But its presence comes at a time when France, last week, also deployed two frigates in the eastern Mediterranean, a move that caught the attention of Russia, which rushed to move one of its frigates.

T/S

ANHA