Scuttlebutt: Navy to Bring Back 4th Fleet at NS Mayport

News in Balance:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2008 -- Official discussions about creating a new 4th Fleet headquarters in Jacksonville are moving from the highest levels of the Navy to the highest levels of the Pentagon, according to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson's staff.

Nelson, D-Fla., sent a letter Thursday to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Navy Secretary Donald Winter urging them to support locating the command at Mayport Naval Station.

The U.S. 4th Fleet hunted submarines in the South Atlantic during World War II until it was dissolved almost six decades ago.

The new 4th Fleet would cover a similar area, with plans to operate from Naval Station, Mayport, Fla., and oversee operations in Central and South America. The commander of Naval Forces Southern Command also would be the head of 4th Fleet, Navy officials said.

The fleet would not own any ships. Instead, it would operate in the same way Navy forces do in the Persian Gulf region. In U.S. Central Command, one admiral serves as head of both Naval Forces Central Command and 5th Fleet. Therefore, the dual-hatted admiral in charge of 4th Fleet and NavSouth would be under the commander of Southern Command.

The NavSouth commander has a seat at the operational planning table through Southern Command. The creation of a numbered fleet gives the same commander an official role in allocating training and resources, letting him help tailor the forces for his missions.

The decision to stand up the fleet, Navy officials said, is within the scope of the chief of naval operations, as changing ship home ports are. But a final go-ahead is still well off, though sources say the Navy’s leadership is actively working the issue and is strongly in favor of the idea.

The final decision will not come until the Navy briefs military and congressional leaders.

Local Jacksonville news outlets, News4Jax.com, jacksonville.com, and defense news source, militarytimes.com, have additional details about the story.

(Compiled from press reports and news releases.)

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