WASHINGTON — The second of at least three US Navy ships deployed to Sudan’s Red Sea coast has arrived, a US official confirmed to Al-Monitor on Tuesday, as the Pentagon remains ready to facilitate a potential evacuation of American citizens from the country.
The arrival of the USS Lewis B. Puller support ship off Port Sudan came after USS Truxtun reached the area on Monday. The US Navy's Fifth Fleet is also dispatching the USNS Brunswick to the Red Sea.
The Pentagon deployed the ships in anticipation of potential orders by the Biden administration to help evacuate American citizens who reached the coastal city after fleeing violence that broke out across Sudan last week.
The Biden administration was one of the first foreign governments to retrieve its diplomatic personnel from Khartoum when American special operations forces launched an evacuation of the embassy overnight on Saturday.