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July 13, 2006

Navy ship leaves port
amid Israel violence

By Chris Amos
Navy Times staff writer

The fleet ocean tug Apache cut short a visit to an Israeli port today for precautionary reasons after Israeli military forces launched attacks across Lebanon in response to the kidnapping of two soldiers.
The decision to get underway was not caused by a specific threat against the ship, said Cmdr. Darryn James, a 6th Fleet spokesman.
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Apache left the port of Haifa at 1:30 p.m. local time, James said.
The ship, which normally does diving and salvage work, had completed one week of a planned two-week exercise with Israeli naval forces, and was docked at Haifa as part of a scheduled port call, James said.
Lt. Chris Corvella, spokesman for 6th Fleet, said he was unaware of any plans to cancel the remaining week of training.
Apache, a Military Sealift Command ship that has a crew of 16 merchant mariners and is homeported in Norfolk, Va., is on a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and Africa, Corvella said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report