Giant US Assault Ship Makes Port Call in Norway Ahead of Allied Drills

The 258-metre USS Kearsarge has arrived barely two weeks after the massive Cold Response drill, billed as the largest in Norway since the Cold War-era, and will take part in an upcoming Easter exercise in the northern part of the country.

The American assault ship USS Kearsarge of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit has docked in the port of Tromsø in northern Norway ahead of upcoming drills.

The huge 258-metre ship arrived barely two weeks after the massive Cold Response exercise and less than a week after a contentious surprise visit by the nuclear submarine USS Albany, which sparked polarising reactions. This is the first time in history a warship of this size has ever visited the city.

"They come to facilitate the conditions to carry out joint training with Norwegian forces just over Easter, so that together we get good and increase the operational ability to defend our values ​​and interests", Lieutenant Colonel Ivar Moen from the Armed Forces' operational headquarters described the purpose of the visit to broadcaster NRK.

In the coming weeks, 800 US soldiers will participate in winter training in Inner Troms. Most of the drills will take place on land, but there will also be activity at sea and in the air.

According to the military, this exercise was planned long before the conflict in Ukraine erupted.

Karsten Friis, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Foreign Policy (NUPI), argued that it is logical to maintain and even increase exercise activities in light of Russia's demilitarisation campaign in Ukraine in support of the Donbass republics, which is portrayed as an "invasion" in the West.

"If we stop doing things because of [the conflict in Ukraine], life will be dictated by Russia. Russia's activity cannot put a damper on our activities. But neither do we have to act in a way that is unnecessarily provocative", he said. "Sailing far east in the Barents Sea can be provocative, but not necessarily exercises on land in Inner Troms".

Ståle Ulriksen of the Norwegian Defence College ventured that Russia will probably claim this visit and the drill to be a provocation, but suggested that there is no real danger.

In recent years, exercise activity in northern Norway has escalated both at sea and on land. Norway saw a series of drills described as the largest since the Cold War-era, culminating in Trident Juncture 2018 and Cold Response 2022.

Norway also receives forces from the US Marine Corps on a rotary basis, with the Værnes Air Station serving as a storage facility for the US military. This policy has sparked questions about whether it contradicts Norway's historic approach to foreign military bases in peacetime.

Meanwhile, Norwegian-Russian relations, which date back hundreds of years to the Viking Era, have over the recent decade deteriorated amid reciprocal military buildups in the north, numerous fighter jet interceptions, spying accusations, and expulsion of diplomats.