Navy revives fleet to protect East Coast from Russians

The U.S. Navy has reacti- vated a fleet responsible for overseeing the East Coast and North Atlantic — an escala- tion of the Pentagon’s focus on a resurgent Russia and its expanding military presence.

2nd Fleet, deactivated in 2011 to preserve funds for new ships, will resume oper- ations in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 1, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson told reporters Friday.

“This is a dynamic response to the dynamic security envi- ronment,” Richardson said aboard the carrier George H.W. Bush. “So as we’ve seen this great power competition emerge, the Atlantic Ocean is as dynamic a theater as any and particular the North Atlan- tic, so as we consider high-end naval warfare, fighting in the Atlantic, that will be the 2nd Fleet’s responsibility.”

Navy officials had previously recommended reactivating the fleet as part of broader force structure reviews following last year’s deadly row of collisions among ships at the Japan-based 7th Fleet.

In a separate statement, Richardson invoked Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ national defense strategy as key guidance to reestablish the fleet, which will extend halfway across the Atlantic until it meets the area of responsibility for Italy-based 7th Fleet.

Mattis’ framework, released in January, said “long-term strategic competitions” with Russia and China are the top Defense Department priorities as the Pentagon seeks to pivot away from brushfire counterinsurgencies that have consumed funding and exhausted resources since Sept. 11, 2001.