Two U.S. Naval Ships—the USNS Burling­ton, a Spear­head-class ex­pe­di­tionary fast trans­port (EPF) ship; and the USS Lassen, an Ar­leigh Burke-class guid­ed-mis­sile de­stroy­er/DDG—will be in the Port of Port of Spain, this week.

Ac­cord­ing to an of­fi­cial state­ment from the U.S. Em­bassy in Port of Spain, both ves­sels will be here for main­te­nance and fu­elling. 

In ad­di­tion, the USS Lassen will be in Trinidad and To­ba­go wa­ters to par­tic­i­pate in a pass­ing ex­er­cise (PAS­SEX) with the Trinidad and To­ba­go Coast Guard. 

FILE - This September 2020 photo shows the Spearhead-class expeditionary fast-transport vessel, USNS Burlington (T-EPF-10), departing its hub port in Virginia, USA. [Image courtesy U.S. NAVY/LASHAWN SYKES]

“A PAS­SEX is an ex­er­cise be­tween two navies to en­sure they can com­mu­ni­cate and co­op­er­ate in times of hu­man­i­tar­i­an re­lief,” the re­lease from the U.S. Em­bassy ex­plains.

The USS Lassen par­tic­i­pat­ed in the just-con­clud­ed UNI­TAS LXI­II, Brazil, which is the world’s longest-run­ning, an­nu­al multi­na­tion­al mar­itime ex­er­cise. 

The USNS Burling­ton has vis­it­ed Trinidad and To­ba­go be­fore—ear­li­er this year in April 2022, and last year in Sep­tem­ber 2021—for port vis­its.