Expansion and contraction addresses crewmen on , upon her return from the Fleet's cruise around the world, 22 February 1909. The Atlantic Fleet was established by President
Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, at the same time as the
Pacific Fleet, as protection for new bases in the
Caribbean acquired as a result of the
Spanish–American War. The Fleet was a combination of the
North Atlantic Fleet and the
South Atlantic Squadron. The first commander of the fleet was
Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans, who hoisted his flag in the
battleship on 1 January 1906. The following year, he took his 16 battleships, now dubbed the
Great White Fleet, on a round-the-world cruise that lasted until 1909, a goodwill tour that also served the purpose of advertising the United States' naval strength and reach to all other nations of the globe. In January 1913 the fleet consisted of six first-line divisions, a torpedo flotilla, submarines, and fleet auxiliaries. The fleet was under the command of Rear Admiral
Hugo Osterhaus. • The First Division, under Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske, consisted of (flag), , and . • The Second Division, under Rear Admiral Nathaniel R. Usher with his flag aboard the , consisted of , , , and . • The Third Division, under Rear Admiral Cameron McR. Winslow, comprised (flag), , , , and . • The Fourth Division, under Rear Admiral
Frank F. Fletcher, consisted of the , , , , and . (See
United States occupation of Veracruz). • Fifth and Sixth Divisions were made up of protected cruisers, , , , and , , , and . The
Cruiser and Transport Force, under Rear Admiral
Albert Gleaves served in Atlantic waters during World War I moving the
American Expeditionary Forces to Europe.
United States Battleship Division Nine joined the
Grand Fleet in the UK. The Atlantic Fleet was reorganized into the
Scouting Force in 1923, which was under the
United States Fleet along with the Pacific Fleet. In January 1939 the Atlantic Squadron,
United States Fleet, was formed, with Vice Admiral
Alfred Wilkinson Johnson commanded. The aircraft carrier was transferred to the
Atlantic Ocean, to join three
battleships. On 1 November 1940 the Atlantic Squadron was renamed the Patrol Force. The Patrol Force was organized into type commands: Battleships, Patrol Force; Cruisers, Patrol Force; Destroyers, Patrol Force; and, Train, Patrol Force (the logistics arms).
Composition of the Atlantic Fleet in December 1941 On 7 December 1941 the Fleet comprised a number of separate components: • United States Atlantic Fleet - Commander:
Admiral Ernest J. King (Flagship: ) • Battleships, Atlantic Fleet (made up of three Battleship Divisions) - Commander:
Rear Admiral David M. LeBreton (Flagship: USS
New York) • Aircraft, Atlantic Fleet (made up of one Carrier Division) - Commander: Rear Admiral Arthur B. Cook (Flagship: USS
Yorktown) • Cruisers, Atlantic Fleet (made up of four Cruiser Divisions) - Commander: Rear Admiral
H. Kent Hewitt (Flagship: USS
Philadelphia) • Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet (made up of three Destroyer Flotillas) - Commander: Rear Admiral
Ferdinand L. Reichmuth (Flagship: ) • Patrol Wings, Atlantic Fleet (made up of five Patrol Wings) - Commander: Rear Admiral Ernest McWhorter (Flagship: ) • Submarines, Atlantic Fleet (made up of four Submarine Squadrons) - Commander: Rear Admiral
Richard S. Edwards (Flagship: ) § = Divisional flagship
Battleships, Atlantic Fleet Battleships, Atlantic Fleet was made up of three
Battleship Divisions • Battleship Division 3 (Rear Admiral
William R. Munroe) • • • § • Battleship Division 5 (Rear Admiral David M. LeBreton) • § • • • Battleship Division 6 (Rear Admiral
John W. Wilcox Jr.) • • § Of these, Battleship Division 5 was a training unit consisting of the oldest remaining battleships in service, while Division 6 was responsible for working up the two most recently commissioned battleships,
North Carolina and
Washington.
Aircraft, Atlantic Fleet • • • • Carrier Division 3 (Rear Admiral Arthur B. Cook) • • The aircraft carriers
Yorktown and
Long Island were directly attached to Aircraft, Atlantic Fleet, as was the newly commissioned
Hornet, which was in the process of working up.
Cruisers, Atlantic Fleet • Cruiser Division 2 (Rear Admiral
Jonas H. Ingram) • • • • § • Cruiser Division 7 (Rear Admiral
Robert C. Giffen) • • • • § • Cruiser Division 8 (Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt) • • § • •
Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet • Destroyer Flotilla Three • Destroyer Squadron 7 • Destroyer Squadron 9 • Destroyer Squadron 11 • Destroyer Flotilla Four • Destroyer Squadron 2 • Destroyer Squadron 8 • Destroyer Flotilla Eight • Destroyer Squadron 27 • Destroyer Squadron 30 • Destroyer Squadron 31
Patrol Wings, Atlantic Fleet • Patrol Wing Three •
VP-31 •
VP-32 • Patrol Wing Five •
VP-51 •
VP-52 • Patrol Wing Seven •
VP-71 •
VP-72 •
VP-73 •
VP-74 • Patrol Wing Eight •
VP-81 •
VP-82 Submarines, Atlantic Fleet • Submarine Squadron One • Submarine Division 11 • Submarine Division 12 • Experimental Division 1 • Submarine Squadron Three • Submarine Division 72 • Submarine Squadron Five • Submarine Division 51 • Submarine Division 52 • Submarine Division 53 • Submarine Squadron Seven • Submarine Division 31 • Submarine Division 4 • Submarine Division 71
Other elements of the Atlantic Fleet During
World War II "Transports, Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet" was part of this command (ComTransPhibLant). Smaller units included the Antisubmarine Development Detachment, Atlantic Fleet (ASDEVLANT) located at
Quonset Point, Rhode Island. The detachment was responsible for the study and development of
antisubmarine gear during
World War II. The Commander of the detachment was known as COMASDEVLANT. Admiral King was appointed Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet, on 20 December 1941. Rear Admiral
Royal E. Ingersoll was designated, with the rank of vice admiral, to relieve him as Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet. He took command on 1 January 1942, and was advanced to the rank of admiral on 1 July 1942. To carry out this mission and other tasks CinCLant had in the meantime been reorganized, as of 1 March 1941, into ten task forces (commanded by flag officers) numbered from one to ten and named according to their intended employment.
Task Force One was the Ocean Escort Force, TF2—Striking Force, TF3—Scouting Force, TF4—Support Force, TF5—Submarine Force, TF6—Naval Coastal Frontier Forces, TF7—Bermuda Force, TF8—Patrol Wings, TF9—Service Force, and
Task Force 10,
1st Marine Division (commanded by a Brigadier General). Of many significant engagements,
Captain Daniel Gallery's capture of the
German submarine U-505 stands out. The capture was so top secret (because of the enigma code books captured) that the ship's flag was kept by the Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, and not handed over to Navy authorities until after the war.
Cold War On 1 January 1946, Commander Minesweeping Forces, Atlantic Fleet (ComMinLant) was activated to command minesweepers assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. The Commander, Mine Forces, Atlantic was responsible for all Fleet mine warfare operations. Units under his command were divided into Minesweeping Squadrons (MineRon)s. Between 1947 and 1985, the fleet commander's post was a concurrent appointment with the Commander-in-Chief of
United States Atlantic Command. The
Commander-in-Chief Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANTFLT) was traditionally a navy four-star admiral who also then held the positions of Commander-in-Chief
United States Atlantic Command (CINCLANT) and
NATO's
Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT). But after a major reorganization of the U.S. armed forces structure following the
Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, CINCLANFLT was separated from the two other billets. The admiral commanding the Atlantic Fleet was designated as the Deputy Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Command until 1986. Major crises the Atlantic Fleet was involved in during the Cold War included the 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis and the
1965 United States occupation of the Dominican Republic. The
Cuban Missile Crisis meant that from 16 October 1962 a temporary command organization, for the newly required forces was necessary. The Commander in Chief, Atlantic Command (CINCLANT), Admiral
Robert Dennison, became the unified commander. He also retained control of all naval components involved in tactical operations, as the Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet. The responsibility for Army and Air Force components was assigned to the Continental Army Command (CONARC) and the
Tactical Air Command under the designation of Army Forces, Atlantic (ARLANT), and Air Forces, Atlantic (AFLANT). The commander of the Army
XVIII Airborne Corps was designated Joint Task Force Commander to plan for any joint operations that might become necessary. Over-all direction was exercised by the President and the Secretary of Defense through the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who named the
Chief of Naval Operations as their representative for the quarantine. From the late 1960s, nuclear ballistic missile submarines of the fleet began to make thousands of deterrent patrols. The first patrol in the Atlantic Fleet
area of operations was made by . In 1972, Commander, Anti-Submarine Warfare Force, Atlantic Fleet (Task Force 81) was headquartered at
Quonset Point Naval Air Station. Under ASWFORLANTFLT was Hunter-Killer Force, Atlantic Fleet (Task Force 83), with
Carrier Divisions 14 and
16 (Wasp and Intrepid, respectively), as well as the Quonset ASW Group (TG 81.2) with
Fleet Air Wing 3 and surface units. More information on Anti-Submarine Warfare Force, Atlantic Fleet's, activities during the Cuban crisis can be found at the National Security Archive's document collections. The
Commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic was formed on 1 July 1975, incorporating a number of previously separate smaller commands – mine warfare vessels/units, service vessels, and frigates, destroyers and cruisers, along with associated destroyer squadrons and cruiser/destroyer groups. As part of a reorganization announced in July 1995 of the Atlantic Fleet's surface combatant ships into six core battle groups, nine destroyer squadrons, and a new Western Hemisphere Group, was reassigned to
Destroyer Squadron 24. The re-organization was to be phased in over the summer and take effect 31 August 1995, with homeport shifts occurring through 1998. In September 1995 the following ship assignments were intended to apply at the end of the transitional period: •
Western Hemisphere Group (to be homeported at
Naval Station Pascagoula and
Naval Station Mayport): , , (to move to Pascagoula in FY 98), ,
Conolly,
Scott, DDG-993,
Moosebrugger,
Dewert,
McInerney,
Boone,
Doyle,
Aubrey Fitch and
Stark. • Cruiser-Destroyer Group 2/Washington Battle Group: CGN-37, CG-60 •
Carrier Group 2/Stennis Joint Task Group: , •
Carrier Group 6/Kennedy/America Joint Task Group: , , and until
Gates was transferred to the Western Hemisphere Group •
Cruiser-Destroyer Group 8/Eisenhower Joint Task Group: , •
Cruiser-Destroyer Group 12/Enterprise Joint Task Group: ,
2000s In February 2000,
U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command was established in
Puerto Rico, and the Western Hemisphere Group became
Naval Surface Group 2. After the
September 11 terrorist attacks, the Atlantic Fleet sent aircraft carriers and cruisers towards New York, on the fleet commander's own initiative. Admiral Natter quickly ordered Aegis guided missile cruisers up Chesapeake Bay to provide an anti-aircraft shield over Washington DC, and USS George Washington (CVN 73) to New York with a hastily sortied complement of fighter aircraft. On 1 October 2001, the
Chief of Naval Operations designated Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANTFLT) as concurrent Commander,
Fleet Forces Command (CFFC). In October–November 2002, the title of Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet was amended to Commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (COMLANTFLT). In the CNO Guidance for 2003, Admiral Vernon Clark stipulated that the terms
Carrier Battle Group and
Amphibious ready group would be replaced by
Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) and
Expeditionary Strike Groups (ESGs), respectively, by March 2003. Cruiser-Destroyer and Carrier Groups (CARGRU) were also redesignated, as Carrier Strike Groups (CSG), and aligned directly under the numbered fleet commanders. The two sets of staffs were formerly under the administrative authority of their respective air and surface
U.S. Navy type commands. This realignment allowed key operational leaders authority and direct access to the personnel required to more effectively accomplish the navy's mission. The numbered fleet commanders are now responsible for the training and certification of the entire Strike Group. The organizational structure to support the carrier strike groups focuses more on placing Strike Group commanders under the authority of the certifying officer, or the numbered fleet commander. Under this new division of responsibility, the air-side type commander gains authority over the air wing, and the surface-side type commander gains authority over the carrier itself and the rest of the ships of the battle group. On 23 May 2006, the Chief of Naval Operations renamed COMLANTFLT to Commander,
U.S. Fleet Forces Command (COMUSFLTFORCOM or CUSFFC), ordered to carry out the missions currently performed by COMFLTFORCOM (CFFC) and serve as primary advocate for fleet personnel, training, requirements, maintenance, and operational issues, reporting administratively directly to the CNO as an Echelon 2 command. The previous title CFFC was disestablished at the same time. CUSFFC previously served as the Naval component of the
US Joint Forces Command (
USJFCOM) until the disestablishment of USJFCOM in August 2011. CFFC is also assigned as the supporting service component commander to Commander,
United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) as well as to Commander,
United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM).
Enterprise entered an ESRA in 2008, but the refit took longer than expected. Thus on 11 September 2009, it was announced that the carrier strike group deployment schedule would be changed to accommodate the delay in the return of the
Enterprise from its current overhaul. This resulted in extending both
Carrier Strike Group Eleven's 2009–2010 deployment and
Carrier Strike Group Ten's 2010 deployment to eight months.
Enterprise returned to Naval Station Norfolk on 19 April 2010 after completing its post-overhaul sea trials, signifying the beginning of its pre-deployment training cycle. On 24 July 2009, Admiral
John C. Harvey, Jr. relieved Admiral
Jonathan W. Greenert as Commander.
2010s News reports in July 2011 said that in connection with the disestablishment of the
United States Second Fleet, Fleet Forces Command would take over Second Fleet's duties on 30 September 2011. Effectively this meant
Task Force 20 (TF 20), under a deputy commander of the fleet, took over that mission. Task Force 20 was succeeded by
Task Force 80 effective 1 October 2012, with TF-80 being under the command of the director of the Maritime Headquarters, Fleet Forces Command. The
Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC),
United States Naval Observatory (USNO),
Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), Naval Oceanography Operations Command, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Professional Development Center, were all realigned under
U.S. Navy Information Dominance Forces on 1 October 2014. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2015, the Optimized Fleet Response Plan will align carrier strike groups to a 36-month training and deployment cycle. All required maintenance, training, evaluations, plus a single eight-month overseas deployment, are scheduled throughout this 36-month cycle in order to reduce costs while increasing overall fleet readiness. This new plan streamlined the inspection and evaluation process while maintaining a surge capacity for emergency deployments. The ultimate objective is to reduce time at sea while increasing in-port time from 49% to 68%. While initially to be used by U.S. Navy carrier strike groups, the Optimized Fleet Response Plan will be adopted for all fleet operations. Accordingly, the carrier will be the first carrier to deploy under this new O-FRP cycle, replacing the previously scheduled
Eisenhower in the deployment lineup. Additionally, the Carrier Strike Group Eight command staff will deploy with the
Truman while the
Eisenhower will serve as the new flagship for
Carrier Strike Group Ten. On 2 December 2020, Secretary
Kenneth Braithwaite announced that U.S. Fleet Forces Command will be renamed back to
United States Atlantic Fleet to focus more on the growing maritime threats coming from the Atlantic. The renaming of the command has been placed on hold, pending further review of the U.S. military footprint, resources, strategy and missions, from the global force posture review. == Structure 2013 ==