To counter these threats, the Navy reactivated its 2nd Fleet in 2018 to focus on threats from Russia \u2014 including those under the ocean \u2014 and more recently it has held exercises to improve its ability to fight enemy submarines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is where the fight is \u2026 where the competition is,\u201d retired Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, then the commander of U.S. 2nd Fleet, told reporters in September 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnti-submarine warfare is a primary mission for everybody in the United States Navy, regardless of what you wear on your chest,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent years, Navy leaders have cautioned about increased Russian undersea activity in the Atlantic Ocean, and have warned that the continental United States is no longer a sanctuary<\/a> safe from such threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOver the past several years, we\u2019ve realized that there is a persistent proximate threat in the western Atlantic, primarily from Russian Federation Navy Forces, that has drawn a lot more attention due to the challenges that poses to our homeland defense,\u201d Rear Adm. Brian Davies, commanding officer of Submarine Group 2 and deputy commander of the 2nd Fleet, told Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSpecifically, Russian submarines now have advanced cruise missiles that have the range and accuracy to strike military and civilian targets throughout the U.S. and Canada and as a result, we put a lot more focus in the area of theater undersea warfare,\u201d Davies said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the Russian submarine fleet is dramatically smaller than it was at the height of the Cold War, it still has 11 ballistic missile submarines and 17 nuclear-powered attack submarines, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative. These ballistic missile submarines are capable and technologically on par \u2014 at least in some ways \u2014 with the U.S. submarine fleet, said Bryan Clark, a retired submarine officer and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got this numbers challenge from the China side, the capability challenge from the Russian side, which in some ways demands different approaches to anti-submarine warfare, but it creates for both cases a big problem,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bryan McGrath, a former destroyer captain who runs the FerryBridge Group, a defense consulting firm, noted that while the Chinese fleet is not as technologically advanced nor as capable as the Russian fleet, they do have a \u201cridiculously capable shipbuilding base\u201d that\u2019s churning out submarines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The undersea threat has become critical now, given the investment Russia and China have made into expanding their submarine forces, McGrath said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBottom line for why now is that both of our major competitors are putting money, resources and technology into this domain,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the U.S. 2nd Fleet was dissolved in 2011 amid the war on terror, undersea warfare was put on the backburner. But the command was resurrected in 2018<\/a> in response to greater levels of Russian activity in the North Atlantic and Arctic, including undersea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the same reason, NATO\u2019s Joint Force Command Norfolk was stood up and the command reached full operational capability<\/a> in July 2021. According to Lewis, who was also the commanding officer of JFC Norfolk, the command \u201ccreates a link between North America and Europe and helps to further develop the desired 360-degree approach for our collective defense and security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6589339.jpg.jpg\")
Why the Navy re-established the 2nd Fleet<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sub2_web.jpg.jpg\")