*WASHINGTON:* The United States Navy is re-establishing its Second Fleet,responsible for the northern Atlantic Ocean, nearly seven years after itwas disbanded as the Pentagon puts countering Russia at the heart of itsmilitary strategy.
“Our National Defence Strategy makes clear that we’re back in an era ofgreat power competition as the security environment continues to grow morechallenging and complex,” Chief of US Naval Operations Admiral JohnRichardson said on Friday.
“Second Fleet will exercise operational and administrative authorities overassigned ships, aircraft and landing forces on the East Coast and northernAtlantic Ocean,” Richardson said.
The command, which will be based in Norfolk, Virginia, will initially have15 personnel and will eventually grow to over 200 people, officials said. Anumber of decisions, like who would command Second Fleet and what assets itwould include, have not yet been made.
In 2011, the fleet was disbanded for cost-saving and organisationalstructure reasons.
Since then, however, Russia has become more assertive, flexing its militarymuscles in conflicts like those in Ukraine and Syria, and tensions betweenMoscow and Washington have increased.
Earlier this year, the US military said in a new national defense strategythat countering Russia, along with China, would be a priority, the latestsign of shifting priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusingon the fight against Islamist militants.
In presenting the new strategy, which will set priorities for the Pentagonfor years to come, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called China and Russia“revisionist powers” that “seek to create a world consistent with theirauthoritarian models.”
Russia has increased its naval patrols in the Baltic Sea, the NorthAtlantic and the Arctic, NATO officials say, although the size of its navyis smaller now than during the Cold War era.
Since taking office last year, President Donald Trump has tried to buildstronger ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But relations have instead soured over allegations of Russian meddling inthe 2016 US presidential election, Russia’s alleged poisoning of a formerdouble agent in Britain and Putin’s support of Syrian President Basharal-Assad’s government in Syria.
The Pentagon also announced on Friday that it was offering to host aproposed NATO Joint Force Command at its naval facilities in Norfolk.
It was one of two proposed new NATO commands aimed at deterring Russia thatthe United States and Germany had offered to host. – Agencies