Thank you, Mark Maps!

That link to Jeffhead is terrific.

So, the USS McFaul should be approaching Poti just about now. She is joined by a Spanish Aegis destroyer, followed soon by a Coast Guard cutter, and Polish and German frigates.

Allowing for the Montreaux Convention 8 day warning of intention to enter the Dardanelles, that makes 7 days to get fitted out and underway.

This strongly suggests to me that the Russian flotilla that participated in the emergency action to stop Saakashvili’s “clean fields” (is that right supercargo?) worst genocide in European history was actually loaded, boilers on and ready to go when the first rocket landed on Tskhinvali.