US Navy's LCS USS Charleston conduct drills with Timor Leste Navy.

According to information published by the U.S. Department of Defense on December 8, 2021, Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) and Timor-Leste Defense Force (F-FDTL) partnered in the 27th annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) maritime exercise in the territorial waters surrounding Port Hera.
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Sailors give a tour of an MH-60S Sea Hawk to members of the Timor-Leste Defense Force from the flight deck aboard Independence-variant LCS USS Charleston (Picture source: U.S DoD)

The CARAT exercise series, celebrating its 27th anniversary, is designed to address shared maritime security concerns and strengthens partnerships between region navies.

The sea phase of the engagement focused on naval force capabilities and featured cooperative evolutions that highlighted the ability of the U.S. and Timor-Leste to work together toward the common goal of ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Charleston and embarked “Blackjacks” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21 focused on embarkation, navigation, engineering, damage control, and visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS).

The evolutions provided a full spectrum of individual skill enhancements to develop members to monitor and enforce maritime zones as well as prepare members for support operations.

The CARAT Timor-Leste harbor phase will take place, Dec. 10-15. The harbor phase will include personnel from the F-FDTL, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy.

USS Charleston (LCS-18) is an Independence-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She is the sixth ship to be named for Charleston, the oldest and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina.

Charleston was built by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama. Ceremonial laying of the keel was held at the Austal USA shipyards in Mobile on 28 June 2016. Charleston was commissioned on 2 March 2019 and she has been assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron One at her homeport of San Diego.