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The guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke pulled into Kenya’s second largest city of Mombasa on Wednesday, the latest ship to take the helm of the long-standing maritime initiative called Africa Partnership Station, U.S. Navy officials said in a news release.

The Arleigh Burke, based in Norfolk, Va., replaces the USS Nashville in APS.

The APS concept started in November 2007 and is designed to provide security training to participating African nations; helping them learn skills and methods to combat regional problems such as drug smuggling, piracy, illegal fishing and human trafficking.

Training teams from the ship will work with African partners in such areas as search and rescue; small-boat maintenance; hydrology; and visit, board, search-and-seizure exercises, according to the Navy news release.

The Arleigh Burke is the second APS-assigned ship to visit South and East Africa, and is scheduled to make additional stops in Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles and South Africa.

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