The United States navy’s guided missile destroyer the USS Mitscher arrived in Cyprus on Monday, the American embassy in Nicosia announced.

The ship is one of the US’ fleet of Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyers, and is named after Marc A Mitscher, a US navy admiral who served as commander of the fast carrier task force in the Pacific theatre of World War II.

The fast carrier task force was the US navy’s main striking force between January 1944 and the end of the war.

Mitscher was described by the embassy as a “pioneer of naval aviation”, who played a crucial role in the Battles of Miday and Leyte Gulf, two key battles in the war’s pacific theatre.

“The USS Mitscher deployed on July 25 … from Norfolk, Virginia to deter adversaries, underpin American security, and protect economic prosperity. The sailors of the USS Mitscher will enjoy shore leave while in Limassol,” the embassy said.

Marc Mitscher

The ship’s arrival is one of a growing number of US navy ships docking in Cyprus, with the USS Arleigh Burke’s arrival last week the most recent prior to Monday.

In addition to deepening naval ties, Cyprus was earlier this year authorised to buy military hardware directly from the United States government after joining three programmes run by the country’s department of defence.

The country was incorporated into the US defence security cooperation agency’s foreign military sales (FMS) programme, its excess defence articles (EDA) programme, and will be allocated resources under the US’ ‘Title 10’ security assistance provisions.