WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States Navy is re-establishing its Second Fleet, responsible for the northern Atlantic Ocean, nearly seven years after it was disbanded as the Pentagon puts countering Russia at the heart of its military strategy.

“Our National Defense Strategy makes clear that we’re back in an era of great power competition as the security environment continues to grow more challenging and complex,” Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said on Friday.

“Second Fleet will exercise operational and administrative authorities over assigned ships, aircraft and landing forces on the East Coast and northern Atlantic Ocean,” Richardson said.

The command, which will be based in Norfolk, Virginia, will initially have 15 personnel and will eventually grow to over 200 people, officials said. A number of decisions, like who would command Second Fleet and what assets it would include, have not yet been made.

In 2011, the fleet was disbanded for cost-saving and organizational structure reasons.

Since then, however, Russia has become more assertive, flexing its military muscles in conflicts like those in Ukraine and Syria, and tensions between Moscow and Washington have increased.

Earlier this year, the U.S. military said in a new national defense strategy that countering Russia, along with China, would be a priority, the latest sign of shifting priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist militants.

In presenting the new strategy, which will set priorities for the Pentagon for years to come, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called China and Russia “revisionist powers” that “seek to create a world consistent with their authoritarian models.”

Russia has increased its naval patrols in the Baltic Sea, the North Atlantic and the Arctic, NATO officials say, although the size of its navy is smaller now than during the Cold War era.

Since taking office last year, President Donald Trump has tried to build stronger ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

FILE PHOTO: Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson poses after speaking to reporters on the pier of the USS Coronado, a littoral combat ship, at the Changi Naval Base in Singapore, May 16, 2017. REUTERS/Himani Sarkar

But relations have instead soured over allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Russia’s alleged poisoning of a former double agent in Britain and Putin’s support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria.

The Pentagon also announced on Friday that it was offering to host a proposed NATO Joint Force Command at its naval facilities in Norfolk.

It was one of two proposed new NATO commands aimed at deterring Russia that the United States and Germany had offered to host.</s>Amid heightened tensions with Russia, the US Navy announced Friday the re-establishment of the US Second Fleet which will be responsible for Naval forces along the East Coast and in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

The areas are seen as critical to counter the rising threat of Russia and the new US defense strategy that focuses more on great power rivalry, according to multiple US defense officials.

The Defense Department also announced that the US has offered to host and lead NATO's newly proposed Joint Force Command for the Atlantic at Norfolk, Virginia.

A US Navy official said that "the return to great power competition demands that we focus on the Atlantic." Re-establishing the second fleet "ensures dedicated reinforcement of the region and demonstrates a capable and credible deterrence effect" against adversaries, the official said.

A Navy official said the fleet will eventually involve 250 personnel and be led by a three-star admiral.

The Second Fleet was disestablished in 2011 for cost-savings and a changing strategic environment. The Second Fleet was originally formed following World War II as the Second Task Fleet and was re-designated in 1950 as the Second Fleet with the primary mission of supporting NATO.</s>(CNN) — Amid heightened tensions with Russia, the US Navy announced Friday the re-establishment of the US Second Fleet which will be responsible for Naval forces along the East Coast and in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

The areas are seen as critical to counter the rising threat of Russia and the new US defense strategy that focuses more on great power rivalry, according to multiple US defense officials.

The Defense Department also announced that the US has offered to host and lead NATO’s newly proposed Joint Force Command for the Atlantic at Norfolk, Virginia.

“NATO is refocusing on the Atlantic in recognition of the great power competition prompted by a resurgent Russia,” Pentagon spokesman Johnny Michael told CNN.

The Trump administration’s new national defense strategy prioritized countering Russia and China and a US Navy official told CNN that, “the return to great power competition demands that we focus on the Atlantic.”

Re-establishing the second fleet “ensures dedicated reinforcement of the region and demonstrates a capable and credible deterrence effect” against adversaries, the official said.

US officials have expressed concerns about Russia’s increasing naval capability, particularly with regard to its submarine fleet, as well as the Russian’s navy increased presence in the Atlantic.

“They have launched a new submarine that I can safely say is closing the gap on some of our technologies,” Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer told Congress last month. “But, we are hard at work, also, to make sure that gap does not close and that the rate of the gap does not increase.”

NATO and US officials have said that Russian submarine activity is at its highest levels since the Cold War. Officials are concerned that Russian submarines could pose a threat to US attempts to reinforce Europe by sea should a conflict take place between NATO and Russia.

Russia has also recently sent a spy ship up the east coast of the US and Russian Vladimir President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia is seeking to develop an underwater nuclear armed drone.

A US Navy official told CNN that the fleet will eventually involve 250 personnel and be led by a three-star admiral.

The Second Fleet was disestablished in 2011 to save costs amid a changing strategic environment. The Second Fleet was originally formed following WWII as the Second Task Fleet and was redesignated in 1950 as the Second Fleet with the primary mission of supporting NATO.</s>The United States Navy will re-establish the Second Fleet to oversee Naval forces in the northern Atlantic Ocean as part of its new military strategy aimed at countering Russia.

“Our National Defense Strategy makes clear that we’re back in an era of great power competition as the security environment continues to grow more challenging and complex,” Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson announced Friday, according to the BBC.

“That’s why today, we’re standing up Second Fleet to address these changes, particularly in the north Atlantic,” he said.

Richardson announced the return of the combat organization that oversaw naval forces in the North Atlantic throughout the Cold War while he was on board the USS George H. W. Bush in Norfolk, Virginia.

“Second Fleet will exercise operational and administrative authorities over assigned ships, aircraft and landing forces on the East Coast and northern Atlantic Ocean,” Richardson said, according to Reuters.

The Second Fleet will also oversee maritime, joint and combined operations and training for those operations.

Who will command the fleet and which naval assets have been assigned have not yet been announced.

Initial accounts said the fleet will be staffed with 15 people to start.

Also on Friday, the Pentagon said it has offered to host a proposed NATO Joint Force Command at Norfolk.

“NATO is refocusing on the Atlantic in recognition of the great power competition prompted by a resurgent Russia,” said Pentagon spokesman Johnny Michael, according to CNN.

The Second Fleet was disbanded in 2011, during the Obama administration, as a means to reduce costs. At its peak, the Second Fleet was made up of 126 ships, 4,500 aircraft and 90,000 personnel.

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However, when Defense Secretary James Mattis presented the nation’s new strategy, which sets the stage for all policy decisions, he said China and Russia were “revisionist powers” that “seek to create a world consistent with their authoritarian models.”

“The re-establishment of the US Second Fleet is part of a wider strategy of re-orientating the U.S. armed forces towards a world of renewed big power competition and away from the counter-insurgency campaigns they have been fighting over recent decades,” noted Jonathan Marcus, a defense and diplomatic correspondent for the BBC.

“In this case, the focus is Russia — a response to its stepped-up naval activity of recent years. The new headquarters will give more coherent command arrangements for U.S. warships operating in the Atlantic,” he said.

Administration officials have voiced concerns over a more bellicose Russian attitude toward naval power in the Atlantic.

“They have launched a new submarine that I can safely say is closing the gap on some of our technologies,” Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told Congress last month. “But, we are hard at work, also, to make sure that gap does not close and that the rate of the gap does not increase.”

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below.</s>The Navy is reactivating the Second Fleet to patrol the northern Atlantic Ocean amid increased tensions with Russia.

“The return to great power competition and a resurgent Russia demands that NATO refocus on the Atlantic to ensure dedicated reinforcement of the continent and demonstrate a capable and credible deterrence effect,” said Johnny Michael, a Pentagon spokesman.

The fleet will complement a new NATO command based in Norfolk, Virginia, which “will be the linchpin of trans-Atlantic security,” Michael said.

Russia has strengthened its patrols in the northern Atlantic Ocean, along with the Baltic Sea and the Arctic, according to NATO officials.

“We have seen a much more assertive Russia,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier this year.

The Second Fleet will oversee ships, aircraft and landing forces patrolling the northern Atlantic and the East Coast. It also will conduct joint operations with NATO allies.

The Navy disbanded the Second Fleet seven years ago in an effort to cut costs.

But the Navy recommended reactivating the fleet in a study in the wake of two deadly ship collisions last year that killed a total of 17 sailors.</s>The amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima sails past the Statue of Liberty as it enters New York Harbor, November 10, 2016. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Carla Giglio
• The US Navy is reactivating Second Fleet to oversee the North Atlantic Ocean and the East Coast.
• The decision comes as the Pentagon reorients itself to prepare for a potential great power conflict.
• The specific focus on the Atlantic stems from what US officials see as resurgent Russian naval activity.

Growing tensions with Russia have led NATO and its members to make a number of changes to their military posture on the ground in Europe, and now the US is reactivating its Second Fleet to oversee the northern Atlantic Ocean and US East Coast.

The Second Fleet was deactivated in September 2011 after 65 years of service as part of a cost-saving and organizational-restructuring effort; many of its personnel and responsibilities were folded into US Fleet Forces Command. The announcement of its reactivation came during the change-of-command ceremony for US Fleet Forces Command, to which the Second Fleet commander will now report.

Second Fleet's return is part of a shift by the US toward preparing for potential great-power conflict — and to counter Russia in particular.

"Our National Defense Strategy makes clear that we're back in an era of great-power competition as the security environment continues to grow more challenging and complex," Adm. John Richardson, the chief of US Naval Operations, said on Friday.

"Second Fleet will exercise operational and administrative authorities over assigned ships, aircraft and landing forces on the East Coast and northern Atlantic Ocean," Richardson said. It will also plan and conduct maritime, joint, and combined operations and train, certify, and provide maritime forces in response events around the world.

French sailors watch the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush as it transits alongside the French navy frigate Forbin, October 25, 2017. US Navy/Mass Comm. Specialist 3rd Class Matt Matlage

The fleet will be activated on July 1 and initially be staffed by 11 officers and four enlisted personnel, eventually growing to 85 officers, 164 enlisted personnel, and seven civilians, according to a memo announcing the change obtained by US Naval Institute News.

Issues such as the rank of the commander and relationship with joint commandant commands remain to be decided.

Also unclear is the future of Fourth Fleet, which is the naval branch of US Southern Command set up in 2008, largely to host Coast Guard law-enforcement detachments. Prior to 2008, the Second Fleet was responsible for operations in Central and South American waters.

The 'fourth battle of the Atlantic'

Prior to the 2014 seizure of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine by Russian forces, Navy forces on the US side of the Atlantic Ocean were mainly focused on humanitarian and disaster relief missions as well as drug interdiction.

But Russian naval activity has increased considerably in recent years, with several NATO officials describing it as being at the highest levels since the Cold War. (Though Cold War-era intelligence reports indicate that activity is still far short of Cold War peaks.)

Russia's navy is also smaller than it was during the Cold War, but Moscow has pursued ambitious modernization efforts, focusing primarily on the Black Sea and Northern fleets. The latter force, based in and around the Kola Peninsula in the Arctic, represents a significant military force a short distance from NATO territory in Norway and contains Russia's sea-based nuclear forces.

A Russian navy vessel sails the Neva River during the naval parade for Russia's Navy Day in St. Petersburg, July 2017. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press

In 2016, US Navy Adm. James Foggo III, who is now chief of Naval Forces Europe, described tensions between Russia and the US as the "fourth battle of the Atlantic," following the surface and submarine battles of World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.

"Once again, an effective, skilled, and technologically advanced Russian submarine force is challenging us," he said. "Russian submarines are prowling the Atlantic, testing our defenses, confronting our command of the seas, and preparing the complex underwater battlespace to give them an edge in any future conflict."

The US Navy has increased its patrols in the Baltic Sea, the North Atlantic, and the Arctic. US Navy ships have also been more active in the Black Sea to "desensitize Russia" to a US military presence there. US and Russian ships have also operated in close quarters in the eastern Mediterranean, where Russian forces are assisting the Bashar Assad regime in the Syrian civil war.

US sailors from Virginia-class attack sub USS California load an MK-48 inert training torpedo at Naval Station Rota, Spain, January 13, 2017. US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael C. Barton

The Navy is also renovating hangers in Iceland to house P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft there to monitor the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap, a choke point for ships moving between the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans — though that doesn't necessarily mean a permanent presence will be reestablished there.

NATO is making changes to its command structure in response to increased tension with Russia and to prepare for potential military operations on and around the continent.

In March, Germany announced that the proposed NATO logistics command — which would work to streamline the movement of personnel and material around Europe — would be based in the southern city of Ulm.

The other new command the alliance wants to establish would oversee and protect the North Atlantic. In the event of conflict with Russia, it be responsible for keeping sea lanes open for US reinforcements heading to Europe.</s>The United States Navy is re-establishing its Second Fleet, responsible for the northern Atlantic Ocean, nearly seven years after it was disbanded as the Pentagon puts countering Russia at the heart of its military strategy.

WASHINGTON: The United States Navy is re-establishing its Second Fleet, responsible for the northern Atlantic Ocean, nearly seven years after it was disbanded as the Pentagon puts countering Russia at the heart of its military strategy.

"Our National Defense Strategy makes clear that we're back in an era of great power competition as the security environment continues to grow more challenging and complex," Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said in a statement on Friday.

"Second Fleet will exercise operational and administrative authorities over assigned ships, aircraft and landing forces on the East Coast and northern Atlantic Ocean," Richardson said.

It was not immediately clear what ships and other assets would make up the new Second Fleet.

In 2011, the fleet was disbanded for cost-saving and organizational structure reasons. Since then, however, Russia has become more assertive, flexing its military muscles in conflicts like those in Ukraine and Syria.

Earlier this year, the U.S. military said in a new national defence strategy that countering Russia, along with China, would be a priority, the latest sign of shifting priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist militants.</s>WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - The United States Navy is re-establishing its Second Fleet, responsible for the northern Atlantic Ocean, nearly seven years after it was disbanded as the Pentagon puts countering Russia at the heart of its military strategy.

"Our National Defense Strategy makes clear that we're back in an era of great power competition as the security environment continues to grow more challenging and complex," Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said in a statement on Friday.

"Second Fleet will exercise operational and administrative authorities over assigned ships, aircraft and landing forces on the East Coast and northern Atlantic Ocean," Richardson said.

It was not immediately clear what ships and other assets would make up the new Second Fleet.

In 2011, the fleet was disbanded for cost-saving and organizational structure reasons. Since then, however, Russia has become more assertive, flexing its military muscles in conflicts like those in Ukraine and Syria.

Earlier this year, the U.S. military said in a new national defense strategy that countering Russia, along with China, would be a priority, the latest sign of shifting priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist militants. (Reporting by Idrees Ali Editing by Alistair Bell)</s>Washington, May 5 (IANS) The US Navy has said it is re-establishing its Second Fleet to bolster the American and NATO presence in the Atlantic Ocean amid increasing tensions with Russia.

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson made the announcement on Friday during a change of command ceremony in Norfolk, Virginia. He said the fleet, which was disbanded in 2011 for cost-saving and structural reasons, would oversee forces on the US East Coast and North Atlantic, the BBC reported.

He said the National Defence Strategy, published earlier this year, made it clear that the era of great power competition had returned. Countering Russia and China was a a priority, according to the strategy.

“Our National Defence Strategy makes clear that we’re back in an era of great power competition as the security environment continues to grow more challenging and complex,” Adm. Richardson said in the announcement.

“That’s why today, we’re standing up Second Fleet to address these changes, particularly in the north Atlantic.” The fleet will be based in its previous home — Norfolk.

He said that the fleet would “exercise operational and administrative authority over assigned ships, aircraft and landing forces”.

According to the NATO officials, Russia has increased naval patrols in the Baltic Sea, the North Atlantic and the Arctic. Its submarine activity “was at its highest level” since the Cold War.

Ties between Russia and the West have deteriorated amid allegations of Russian meddling in 2016 US presidential elections, Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal, for which the UK blames Russia.</s>The U.S. Navy announced Friday that it will revive the Second Fleet, a command structure that was disbanded in 2011 as a cost-cutting measure. The revived fleet will be headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, and will be responsible for Naval operations in the northern Atlantic and the eastern coast of the U.S. Details of its size and leadership structure have not been announced, but its primary purpose is clear – to counter a growing threat from Russia.

Admiral John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations, explained the decision as part of recent U.S. strategic shifts, saying that “we’re back in an era of great power competition.” In its 2018 strategy plan, the Department of Defense stated, fairly remarkably, that “inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in U.S. national security.” The plan highlighted Russia’s increasing aggression, including a desire “to shatter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” as a primary concern.

NATO, too, says Russia has been increasing naval patrols in the North Atlantic and Arctic. That is a dramatic reversal of the situation when the Second Fleet was disbanded. In 2011, the future of U.S.-Russia relations seemed bright, after the Obama administration declared a ‘reset’ in 2009.

The Second Fleet, formed in 1950, had played a major role in America’s persistent conflict with the Russia-led U.S.S.R. The fleet was involved in both the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and the invasion of Grenada by the United States in 1983, proxy conflicts in the Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.

According to Military.com, re-establishing the Second Fleet may also help the Navy execute management reforms after a pair of deadly collisions that appeared to expose weaknesses in Navy personnel, equipment, and training. That’s because the part of the Navy responsible for those functions, Fleet Forces, absorbed the functions of the Second Fleet after its disbanding, and should now be able to focus more fully on overall management.
The United States Navy re-establishes the United States Second Fleet, which was disbanded in 2011, citing recent heightened tensions between NATO and Russia.