After completing its activities with the Peruvian Navy, the U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington entered Ecuadorian waters to begin joint exercises and activities with the Ecuadorian Navy. As has happened throughout its Southern Seas 2024 deployment, the ship and its escort group were welcomed by Ecuadorian ships and patrol vessels, while overflights were recorded by aircraft from its embarked air group.
Throughout June, after crossing the Strait of Magellan, the USS George Washington has been conducting various joint activities with the navies that patrol the South Pacific waters. These included Chile and Peru recently, and since June 26, the Ecuadorian Navy has joined them.
As has happened throughout the carrier’s deployment in South American waters, the USS George Washington, along with the USS Porter (DDG-78) and the logistical ship USNS John Lenthall, has been conducting various joint PASSEX-type exercises, in addition to embarked activities and simulated visit, board, search, and seizure operations, as well as protocol acts.
The most recent activities of the carrier, on its itinerary that will end when it arrives at Naval Base San Diego, and then on to Japan, began on June 26 when it entered Ecuadorian jurisdictional waters to conduct combined activities with Ecuadorian Navy personnel and its assets.
Among the assets observed by the Ecuadorian naval force was the Esmeralda-class corvette Loja (CM 16) and one of the Stan Patrol 5009 class patrol vessels Isla Isabela (LG-31), which were some of the ships that welcomed the carrier and its escort group. In terms of naval aviation, the landing of one of the Ecuadorian Naval Aviation’s AB-206B helicopters on the USS George Washington was noteworthy, as well as flights conducted by Beechcraft King Air aircraft.
*Photographs: United States and Ecuadorian Navy.
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