HMCS Charlottetown: to Libya also JTF2, SF unit

Canada is sending one of its warships to the Mediterranean to help Canadians trapped in violence-wracked Libya to get out of the country.

HMCS Charlottetown is slated to depart Halifax Wednesday. Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the combat ship included a Sea King helicopter and the government was prepared to go beyond simply getting the remaining 100 to 200 Canadians still in Libya out.

"The intention here is obviously to provide ... for the continued support of all efforts to remove Canadians ... from Libya as well as support, if need be, certain humanitarian efforts," he said.

JTF2, Canada's elite special forces unit, has been sent to the region. Mr. MacKay would not comment on JTF2's movements but did note that some Canadian troops are embedded within the operations centre with British and other allied forces.
A gunman opened fire inside a bus carrying U.S. servicemembers at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, today, killing two members of the U.S. Air Force, a U.S. official said.

One of the dead was the bus driver. Two other American servicemembers were reportedly seriously injured in the incident.

The servicemembers were not based in Germany but were transiting through,German police arrested a 21-year-old suspect from Kosovo at the scene. He was identified as Arif Uka from the northern city of Mitrovica.

USS Barry (DDG-52) A highlight of this exercise [FLEETEX 2-94] was a covert SEAL team extraction in shallow water only a few miles off the Carolina coast, successfully validating the littoral combat characteristics of the DDG-51 class

HMCS Charlottetown (FFH 339)
Class and type: Halifax-class frigate
Displacement: 3,995 tonnes (light)
4,795 tonnes (operational)
5,032 tonnes (deep load)
Length: 134.2 m
Beam: 16.5 m
Draught: 7.1 m
Propulsion: 2 × LM2500 Gas turbines
1 × SEMT Pielstick Diesel engine
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h)
Range: 9,500 nautical miles (17,595 km)
Complement: 225 (including air detachment)
Armament: 24 × Honeywell Mk 46 torpedoes
16 × Evolved Sea-Sparrow SAM
8 × RGM-84 Harpoon SSM
1 × 57 mm Bofors Mk2 gun
1 × 20 mm Vulcan Phalanx CIWS
6 × .50 Caliber machine guns
Aircraft carried: 1 × CH-124 Sea King.

Foreign countries should refrain from military intervention in Libya as opponents of Muammar Gaddafi's rule do not want such interference, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu of Turkey said on March 2..

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had earlier ruled out any NATO role in Libya, where Gaddafi's brutal response to an uprising against his rule has led to fears over bloodshed and a humanitarian crisis. But Davutoğlu's remarks are the clearest expression of Turkish opposition to foreign military action in Libya, which came as the US sent two amphibious assault ships towards the North African country.