New 4th Fleet to Stand Up By U.S Navy

The U.S. Navy will create a 4th Fleet headquartered at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., and will tap a two-star SEAL officer to lead it, according to a Pentagon announcement April 24.

Rear Adm. Joseph Kernan, current head of Naval Special Warfare Command, has been tapped to head the new 4th Fleet. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Michelle L. Kapica / U.S. Navy)

Rear Adm. Joseph Kernan, head of Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif., has been chosen to command the new fleet. Kernan will take control of both 4th Fleet and the current Naval Forces Southern Command, the Navy component of U.S. Southern Command.

The command will oversee maritime operations in Central and South American waters, and is similar to the command structure of 5th Fleet, which is also Naval Forces Central Command.

The move would result in a "small increase" in billets on the current Mayport staff, though he did not have specifics.

The extra layer of command also increases the stature of the Navy commander in U.S. Southern Command - a joint command - by adding what Stavridis calls an "appropriate counterpart" to 12th Air Force and 6th Army.

Although he's a SEAL, Kernan isn't a stranger to the conventional fleet. As a junior officer, he served aboard the cruiser Horne.

Stavridis said anti-drug operations, humanitarian and cooperative training missions are expected to be the new command's primary engagements.

One particularly important mission for the 4th Fleet will be medical diplomacy, as exemplified by the voyage last summer of [the hospital ship] Comfort, which conducted nearly 400,000 patient encounters during a four-month cruise to 12 countries in the region.

When 4th Fleet stands up, it will actually be a reconstitution of a previous command. The Navy created 4th Fleet in March 1943 to oversee patrols of the South Atlantic for submarines and other enemy vessels.

The command lasted until 1950, when it was absorbed into 2nd Fleet in Norfolk, Va.