US Navy revives Second Fleet amid NATO-Russia tensions
A look back at the decision to re-establish a fleet disbanded in 2011, taken against a backdrop of heightened tension between NATO and Russia.
What did it mean when the United States Navy brought back a fleet it had shut down seven years earlier? On 4 May 2018, the Navy re-established the United States Second Fleet, which had been disbanded in 2011.
The stated reason was recent heightened tensions between NATO and Russia. The step was reported at the time as part of that wider deterioration in relations, rather than as a routine administrative change.
Some scholars and journalists have since used terms such as Second Cold War, Cold War II or New Cold War to describe heightened geopolitical tensions of this kind, usually between the United States and NATO on one side and Russia or China on the other. Others have discouraged using such labels for ongoing tensions. Those debates came later and were not part of the Navy's announcement on 4 May 2018.
The decision itself was narrow and concrete: a fleet that had been disbanded in 2011 was restored, with NATO-Russia tensions given as the explanation.
