Sixth Fleet

The Sixth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy operating as part of United States Naval Forces Europe. The Sixth Fleet is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy. The officially stated mission of the Sixth Fleet in 2011 is that it "conducts the full range of Maritime Operations and Theater Security Cooperation missions, in concert with coalition, joint, interagency, and other parties, in order to advance security and stability in Europe and Africa." The current commander of the Sixth Fleet is Vice Admiral Thomas E. Ishee.

The Sixth Fleet was established in February 1950 by redesignation of the former Sixth Task Fleet, which in turn was the 1948 redesignation of U S Naval Forces, Mediterranean. Since that time, it has been continually engaged in world affairs around the Mediterranean, and, on occasion, further afield. It was involved in numerous NATO maritime exercises, the U.S. Lebanese intervention of 1958, confrontation with the Soviets during the Yom Kippur War (also known as the October War) of 1973, clearance of the Suez Canal after 1973, several confrontations with Libya during the 1980s (including Operation El Dorado Canyon), and maintenance of task forces in the Adriatic during the wars in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Most recently it launched airstrikes on Libya again during the Libyan Civil War of 2011.

History

The United States has maintained a naval presence in the Mediterranean since the early 19th century, when U.S. Naval forces first engaged the Barbary pirates to prevent them from interfering with commercial shipping. The earliest unit was the Mediterranean Squadron.

On 1 February 1946, U.S. Naval Forces, Northwest African Waters ( NavNAW), was redesignated U.S. Naval Forces, Mediterranean. The force was responsible to U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean in London, and had as its flagship a destroyer tender, anchored at Naples, Italy. In 1946, President Truman dispatched the battleship to the Eastern Mediterranean, ostensibly to return the body of Münir Ertegün, former Turkish Ambassador to Washington, back to Istanbul. However, perhaps a much stronger motive was to demonstrate U.S. power in view of Soviet threats to Turkey and Iran. The cruiser relieved the tender as flagship and began operating with the fleet. In June 1946 , flying the flag of Vice Admiral Bernhard Bieri, Commander, Naval Forces Mediterranean, was despatched to Trieste.

On 5 September 1946, , flying the flag of Rear Admiral John H. Cassady, Commander Carrier Division 1, and accompanied by , , and , visited Piraeus, the port of Athens. , escorted by USS ''Fargo'' and , visited Greece in December 1946.

The title of Naval Forces Mediterranean was changed to Commander Sixth Task Fleet and then, in 1950, Commander, Sixth Fleet. Sixth Fleet's NATO guise was the principal player in Exercise Longstep during November 1952. In 1957, a naval exercise, Operation Deep Water, took place within the Allied Forces Southern Europe area of responsibility. It was conducted by Naval Striking and Support Forces Southern Europe (STRIKFORSOUTH), commanded by Vice Admiral Charles R. Brown USN, who also commanded the Sixth Fleet. STRIKEFORSOUTH was effectively the NATO designation for the U.S. Sixth Fleet, though additional NATO headquarters personnel would eventually be assigned, while maintaining American control over its nuclear weapons on board U.S. aircraft carriers as mandated by the Atomic Energy Act of 1946.

Sixth Fleet supported American land forces during Operation Blue Bat in Lebanon in 1958.

On 20 January 1967, following France's withdrawal from the NATO Military Command Structure, and the removal of NATO troops from France, Sixth Fleet Headquarters was moved from Villefranche-sur-Mer, France to Gaeta, Italy.

During the Cold War, the Sixth Fleet had several confrontations with the Soviet Navy's 5th Operational Squadron, notably during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. During the Yom Kippur War Elmo Zumwalt describes part of the Sixth Fleet buildup as follows:

On 25 October JCS directed TG 20.1, and escorts, to ome under the command of..ComSixthFleet as TG 60.3 and proceed to join TG 60 south of Crete. Additionally, and escorts (TG 60.2) and TF61/62 he amphibious task forceswere directed to join TG 60.1 south of Crete. ...TG 100.1 (Baltic destroyers) were ordered to proceed to the Mediterranean and chop to ComSixthFleet...

5 April 1974, the United States and Egypt agreed that the United States would provide extensive assistance to clear the Suez Canal of mines, unexploded ordnance, and sunken ships. These operations took the form of Nimbus Star (mine and ordnance clearance), Nimbus Moon (land and sub-surface naval ordnance clearance), and Nimrod Spar, in which a private salvage contractor would clear the canal of the ten sunken ships under the supervision of the Sixth Fleet's Task Force 65. Captain J. Huntly Boyd, the Navy's Supervisor of Salvage, was sent to the Canal Zone as Commander, Salvage Task Group (CTG 65.7). He supervised the actual salvage clearing operation which was carried out by the Murphy Pacific Marine Salvage Company of New York. A total of ten ships blocked the canal; 200 civilian specialists worked from May to December 1974 to complete the operation. The canal reopened on 5 June 1975, with the Sixth Fleet flagship ''Little Rock'' in attendance.

On the afternoon of 8 June 1967, while in international waters off the northern coast of the Sinai Peninsula, Liberty was attacked and damaged by the Israel Defense Forces; 34 American sailors were killed and 174 wounded by the Israeli attack. Though Liberty was severely damaged, with a 39-by-24-foot (11.9 m × 7.3 m) hole amidships and a twisted keel, her crew kept her afloat, and she was able to leave the area under her own power. After the attack, she was escorted to Valletta, Malta, by units of the Sixth Fleet and was given temporary repairs. After the repairs were completed, Liberty returned to the United States on 27 July 1967. She was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 June 1968. She was laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet of Norfolk until December 1970, when she was transferred to the Maritime Administration for disposal. In 1973, she was sold for scrapping to the Boston Metals Company of Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1999, changes to CINCUSNAVEUR's area of responsibility were announced, after amendments to the Unified Command Plan. The United States Atlantic Command areas that had included the waters off Europe and the west coast of Africa were to be transferred to European Command. U.S. European Command already had responsibility for all U.S. land and air military planning in Europe and most of Africa. The change gave EUCOM, and NAVEUR, the responsibility for maritime planning in the same general area of operations. The changes were made effective on October 1, 2000. The Atlantic Command areas that presently include the waters off Europe and the west coast of Africa were also transferred to European Command. This change also extended Sixth Fleet's responsibilities to the mid-Atlantic.

The Sixth Fleet provided military, logistical and humanitarian assistance to support NATO operations in Kosovo from the beginning of Operation Allied Force. It also participated in Operation Shining Hope and Operation Joint Guardian. In March 2011, it was involved in operations in Libya pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.

Structure

The fleet once had its headquarters in Gaeta, Italy, commanded by a Vice Admiral. However, beginning in 2004, the Sixth Fleet staff was combined with United States Naval Forces Europe staff, up to that time headquartered in London. Since then the staff has operated as a single entity with a four star admiral who serves as Commander, Naval Forces Europe and Commander, Naval Forces Africa. This admiral has a three star Deputy Commander who also carries the title Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet. The staff as a whole is known as Commander, Naval Forces Europe-Africa/Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet or CNE-CNA/C6F and works from its facilities at Naval Support Activity Naples at the Capodichino site in Naples, Italy. is the Sixth Fleet flagship with its homeport Gaeta, Italy and operating in the Mediterranean.

U.S. Naval forces entering the Mediterranean Sea have their operational control changed to being under Sixth Fleet. This change of command is always referred to as 'CHOPing,' an abbreviation for Change of Operational Control. Sixth Fleet has consisted of up to 40 ships, 175 aircraft and 21,000 people, such as in early 2003, when two carrier battle groups operated in the Mediterranean during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Since the submarine tender , based in La Maddalena in Sardinia, changed homeports to Bremerton, Washington, the fleet has just one permanently assigned ship, ''Mount Whitney''. The fleet typically has a number of frigates and destroyers assigned, as well as those vessels transiting between the East Coast and the Suez. Since 2005, Sixth Fleet ships have increasingly been operating around Africa, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Sixth Fleet is operationally organized into task forces. Naval Striking and Support Forces Southern Europe included Task Force 502 (Carrier Forces, effectively Task Force 60), Task Force 503 (Amphibious Forces), Task Force 504 (Landing Forces), Task Force 505 (Logistics Forces), and Task Force 506 (Special Operations Forces).

Destroyer squadron 60

Destroyer Squadron 60 (DESRON SIX ZERO) was established on 19 February 2003. It was homeported in Gaeta, Italy. The establishment of Destroyer Squadron Sixty provided CNE/COMSIXTHFLT with a permanently assigned destroyer squadron, increasing the Sixth Fleet's options when undertaking national and theater level tasking.

From November 2007 to April 2008, COMDESRON 60 (Commander, Destroyer Squadron 60's commander) served as Commander Africa Partnership Station with an international staff operating off West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea.

He also serves as Commander, Task Force 365, Task Force West and Central Africa.

Task Force 60

Task Force 60 was for many years the Sixth Fleet's Battle Force. When any carrier strike group enters into the Mediterranean operating area it is usually designated TF 60 and the battle group commander, a one or two-star flag officer, assumes duties as Commander Task Force 60 (CTF 60) from COMDESRON 60. The Task Force is often composed of one or more aircraft carriers, each with an accompanying complement of two to six cruisers and destroyers. On board the aircraft carrier is a Carrier air wing of 65–85 aircraft. This air wing is the primary striking arm of the Strike Group, and includes attack, fighter, anti-submarine, and reconnaissance aircraft.

During the 1986 confrontation with Libya, that led to Operation El Dorado Canyon, the Sixth Fleet's battle force was under the command of Rear Admiral David E. Jeremiah. Task Group 60.1 under Rear Admiral J.C. Breast was made up of the ''Coral Sea'' and her escorts, Task Group 60.2 under Jeremiah, ''Saratoga'' and her escorts, and Task Group 60.3 under Rear Admiral Henry H. Mauz, Jr., ''America'' and her escorts. Task Group 60.5, the Surface Action Group under Captain Robert L. Goodwin, was made up of a missile cruiser, missile destroyer, and another destroyer.

In November 2007, Task Group 60.4 held the Africa Partnership Station role, embarked aboard the amphibious ship . HSV ''Swift'' was scheduled to join ''Fort McHenry'' in Africa in November 2007. In 2012, Task Group 60.5 was permanently assigned as the Southeast Africa Task Group. The Group may be renamed the South and East Africa Task Group. It held the alternate designation of Task Force 363.

As of 2011 Task Force 60 will normally be the commander of Naval Task Force Europe and Africa. Any naval unit within the USEUCOM or USAFRICOM AOR may be assigned to TF 60 as required upon signal from the Commander of the Sixth Fleet.

Task Force 61, amphibious assault force

Task Force 61 was the Mediterranean Amphibious Ready Group. It is composed of approximately three amphibious ships and their embarked landing craft. From these ships, United States Marine amphibious forces can move ashore by sea and air in amphibious assault or emergency evacuation missions. Once ashore, the ships of Task Force 61 logistically support the ground forces, until the objective of the landing has been accomplished, and the Marine Forces return to the ships.

As of 2011, according to official NavEur/NavAf Public Affairs sources, Task Force 61 will normally be the commander of the deployed carrier strike group (CSG) and will exercise operational control of all units assigned to TF61 operating in the USEUCOM or USAFRICOM AOR.

Task Force 62, landing force (Marine expeditionary unit)

Task Force 62 is the combat-ready ground force composed of a Marine expeditionary unit

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