On 30 September the U.S. Navy officially disestablished the 2nd Fleet at Norfolk, Virginia, in an effort to reduce organizational redundancy and cut costs. From the 1950s through its retirement, the 2nd Fleet was the Navy’s East Coast operational hub. It supported U.S. interests and responded to contingencies ranging from the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis to the 2010 Haitian earthquake-relief efforts. The 2nd Fleet was a major player during the Cold War, working to deter Soviet aggression and supporting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s efforts to keep the Atlantic Ocean open for the transport of reinforcements to Europe, should war have broken out between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. With September’s stand-down, all 2nd Fleet assets, personnel, and responsibilities have been merged into U.S. Fleet Forces Command. During the disestablishment ceremony, the 2nd Fleet’s Vice Admiral Daniel P. Holloway (pictured here, left) turned his position as the commander of Task Force 20 over to Vice Admiral David H. Buss, Fleet Forces deputy commander. The 65-year-old 2nd Fleet was first established as the 8th Fleet on 1 March 1946; the name was changed to the 2nd Task Fleet soon thereafter and formally became the 2nd Fleet in 1950.
The Tarik Ben Ziyad, the first of Morocco’s new SIGMA-class corvettes, was commissioned on 10 September. This vessel class is constructed by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding in Vlissingen, Netherlands; SIGMA is an acronym for “Ship Integrated Geometrical Modularity Approach.” The corvettes are available in a number of different designs and dimensions, including 91-meter, 98-meter, and 105-meter variants. Indonesia operates 91- and 105-meter sister ships, and in February 2008 Morocco ordered two 98-meter variants, which are due for delivery in 2012. The larger 105-meter Tarik Ben Zayad has an extra 7.2-meter hull section providing command-and-control facilities enabling the corvette to serve as fleet flagship. Homeport for the 2,335-ton vessel is the Casablanca naval base, to which she sailed following her commissioning ceremony. The Moroccan corvettes are being armed with vertical-launched Mica surface-to-air missiles, Exocet antiship missiles, a 76-mm gun, and two 20-mm guns. For antisubmarine operations the Tarik Ben Ziyad is fitted with two triple tubes for launching the MU-90 torpedo, as well as a helicopter landing deck and hangar.
In August two new MH-60S helicopters left their assembly line, but rather than joining up with the U.S. Navy, they were instead shipped off for service with the Royal Thai Navy, making it the first international customer for the MH-60S. The helicopters were acquired by Thailand under the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Sales program, along with training, spares, and logistical support for the aircraft. They join six S-70B and six S-76B helicopters already in service to provide logistics support, transport, search-and-rescue and general utility duties for the Thai navy. In U.S. service, the MH-60S also supports airborne mine-countermeasures, combat search-and-rescue, special warfare, anti–surface warfare, and carrier-plane guard operations.