A top US Navy admiral has announced the re-establishment of the US 2nd Fleet — a Cold War command disbanded in 2011 — to patrol the North Atlantic and face a resurgent threat from Russia.
The chief of US Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, made the announcement during a change of command ceremony on Friday in the naval port of Norfolk, Virginia.
“Our National Defense Strategy makes clear that we’re back in an era of great power competition as the security environment continues to grow more challenging and complex,” Richardson said, according to a US Navy statement. “That’s why today, we’re standing up Second Fleet to address these changes, particularly in the north Atlantic.”
Photo: AFP
The 2nd Fleet command was disbanded as a cost-savings step in 2011, and its assets and personnel dispersed within the navy.
The new command will be responsible for US naval forces along the US east coast as well as the north Atlantic region, a statement said.
Before it was disbanded the 2nd Fleet played a key role during the Cold War years, with operations in the North Atlantic and supporting US naval forces in the Mediterranean.
Russian planes and ships have in recent months made multiple incursions in the north Atlantic close to the airspace and territorial waters of US NATO allies, including Britain.
NATO naval officials late last year also reported Russian submarines probing undersea data cables in the north Atlantic.
The 2nd Fleet command currently exists only on paper, but according to USNI News, a publication of the US Naval Institute, the command is scheduled to open for business on July 1 with 11 officers and four enlisted personnel.
The command will eventually grow to 256 personnel — 85 officers, 164 enlisted and seven civilians — USNI reported, citing a memo signed earlier in the week by US Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer.
The decision to reactivate the 2nd Fleet followed increasing threats in the Atlantic from Russia, officials familiar with the decision told USNI News.
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis in January said the US is facing “growing threats” from China and Russia, and warned that the US military’s advantages have eroded in recent years.
“We face growing threats from revisionist powers as different as China and Russia, nations that seek to create a world consistent with their authoritarian models,” Mattis said as he unveiled the Pentagon’s latest National Defense Strategy.
“Our military is still strong, yet our competitive edge has eroded in every domain of warfare,” he added.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique