I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I’m confused as to whether there is such a thing as the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. A number of readers may counter, “Of course there is no longer an Atlantic Fleet! Didn’t you read that 2006 Office of the Chief of Naval Operations notice replacing the Commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, with Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command?”
But it turns out that I’m hardly in the minority. In fact, many in the public at large and even in the Navy itself have no idea what the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s counterpart is.
For instance, an inspection team working for the headquarters of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, which replaced the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, toured my ship shortly before I reported on board. One would expect the inspection team to know whether the Atlantic Fleet exists. So when the team submitted its report to the Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, I figured the Atlantic Fleet still existed. But then the Commander, Submarine Force, Atlantic, wrote the response to the inspection report, indicating that as far as ComSubLant was concerned, there was no such thing.
Strangely, even though news stories about ComSubLant carry a header with the revised title, these stories almost all end with the standard phrase such as, “For more news from Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, visit www.navy.mil/local/sublant/.” Similarly, news stories about ComNavSurfLant end with an almost identical statement identifying the command as Commander, Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Vice Commander, Naval Surface Force, Atlantic, which is the title on the command’s website at www.surflant.navy.mil.
At the deckplate level there is similar confusion. Our deck logs frequently state: “Ships present include various units of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.” When queried, personnel throughout the chain of command have expressed confusion about whether there was an Atlantic Fleet and if not, what organization had replaced it. Even news organizations covering the Navy seem confused. The Navy Times frequently mentions “Atlantic Fleet surface ships” in its articles.
So, which is it? Is there or isn’t there an Atlantic Fleet?
The Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command website provides a pretty straightforward answer: “U.S. Fleet Forces Command (COMUSFLTFORCOM) was originally established as Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANTFLT) . . . . On 23 May 2006, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) issued OPNAV NOTICE 3111, Ser DNS-33/6U827232, that disestablished the Commander, Fleet Forces Command (COMFLTFORCOM) and Commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (COMLANTFLT) and renamed COMLANTFLT to Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (COMUSFLTFORCOM), ordered to carry out the missions currently performed by COMFLTFORCOM and COMLANTFLT.” Based on this, it seems clear that the Atlantic Fleet was renamed when its commander adopted the new title.
But after six years, not many people seem to know what U.S. Fleet Forces Command does or what that title even means (does it command fleets and forces?). To most personnel, it is simply some undefinable entity that may or may not be in their chain of command. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that most personnel, including officers, don’t even know that Fleet Forces Command is in their administrative chain of command.
Perhaps the senior Navy leadership should restate Fleet Forces Command’s mission and explain that it has replaced the Atlantic Fleet. I imagine that this would involve some sort of general military training.
Probably the simplest and best answer would be to rename Fleet Forces Command as “U.S. Atlantic Fleet.” Not only does this name evoke a century of history and tradition, it also has the benefit of making intuitive sense to everyone attached to a ship on the East Coast. This wouldn’t end up changing what COMUSFLTFORCOM does. After all, the CNO can assign collateral duties as necessary, so why shouldn’t COMLANTFLT be able to do everything that COMUSFLTFORCOM did—and without such an ungainly title? And from another perspective, “various units of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet” is certainly an easier deck-log entry.
Additionally, the name of Fleet Forces Command, presumably derived from its status as the naval component of U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM), no longer seems appropriate given the disestablishment of JFCOM in 2011.
Changing the name of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet probably made sense in 2006, but after six years, the word has not spread as one would expect in a military organization. Let’s get rid of Fleet Forces Command and bring back the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.