2008: President Bush Reactivated the 4th Fleet

The 4th Fleet was created in 1943 and was a major US Navy formation in the South Atlantic Ocean during World War II. It was established to intercept German surface vessels, blockade runners and submarines.  The 4th Fleet was dissolved in 1950.

In 2008, President Bush reactivated the 4th Fleet which started patrolling the waters around South and Central America in July. The Fleet was based at the Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville, Florida and answered to the U.S. Southern Command. The Fleet initially consisted of twelve vessels including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS George Washington.

The Fleet’s missions were listed as: support for peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, traditional maritime exercises, and counterdrug operations [1]. The announcement of the recreation of the Fourth Fleet caught most Latin American governments by surprise, many noting that they had received no advance notice that such an action was even being considered [1]. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the decision to reactivate the Fourth Fleet was a “threat” to Latin America and asked the US government why it is sending the military force to a peaceful region [2]

A 2016 article examined the geopolitical context of the reactivation:

·       “The Fourth Fleet’s reestablishment must be placed in the proper geopolitical context. In 2008, the hemisphere was sprinkled with several Latin American governments that held anti-US sentiments. Then President Hugo Chavez spent billions of Venezuelan petrodollars to modernize his military by purchasing equipment from Russia and China. The governments in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua had similar ideology, while the Lula government in Brazil and the Kirchners in Argentina were neutral at best, if not occasional critics of Washington’s historical hegemony in the region. Moreover, in 2008 Russian warships visited the Caribbean, carrying out exercises with the Venezuelan Navy.

·       “In other words, in 2008 there was a geopolitical logic for reestablishing the Fourth Fleet. This was a highly-visible method for Washington to remind the world that it remained the sole military power in the Western Hemisphere.”[3]

 

1.CSIS, The Fourth Fleet, February 2009.

2. Associated Press, Chavez calls U.S. 4th Fleet ‘a threat’ to region, July 1, 2008

3. Sanchez, W. Alejandro, Opinion: The Uses of the U.S. Navy’s Fourth Fleet, March 21, 2016.

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