{"id":17900,"date":"2020-12-02T19:52:53","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T19:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/02\/navy-bringing-back-us-atlantic-fleet\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:48:13","slug":"navy-bringing-back-us-atlantic-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2020\/12\/02\/navy-bringing-back-us-atlantic-fleet\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy bringing back US Atlantic Fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Citing a changing geopolitical world, Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite<\/a> said Wednesday that U.S. Fleet Forces Command will be renamed as U.S. Atlantic Fleet<\/a>, a nod toward the increasing concern Navy leaders have about Russian ships operating off the East Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Norfolk-based command will \u201crefocus\u201d naval forces on controlling maritime approaches to United States and its allies, Braithwaite told a Senate Armed Services readiness and management support subcommittee hearing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Atlantic Fleet moniker was dropped in 2006<\/a>, but Braithwaite said that bringing back Atlantic Fleet will also involve a renewed Navy effort to confront the Russian navy, whose ships have inched closer and closer to U.S. shores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Atlantic Fleet\u2019s return follows the reestablishment of U.S. 2nd Fleet in August 2018, a command tasked with countering similar Russian threats in the North Atlantic and high north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy secretary also told lawmakers of plans to reconstitute U.S. 1st Fleet<\/a>, which will oversee naval operations around the nexus of the Indian and Pacific oceans in South Asia, essentially halving the massive swath of territory currently overseen by the Japan-based U.S. 7th Fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\t