Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic


The Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic was one of two supreme commanders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the other being the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. The SACLANT led Allied Command Atlantic was based at Norfolk, Virginia. The entire command was routinely referred to as 'SACLANT'.
In 1981 SACLANT's wartime task was listed as being to provide for the security of the area by guarding sea lanes to deny their use to an enemy and to safeguard them for the reinforcement and resupply of NATO Europe with personnel and materiel.
The command's area of responsibility extended from the North Pole to the Tropic of Cancer as well as extending from the east coast of North America to the west coast of Africa and Europe, including Portugal but not the English Channel, the British Isles, and the Canary Islands.
Allied Command Atlantic was redesignated as Allied Command Transformation on 19 June 2003. ACT was to be headed by the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, up to 2009 an American four-star admiral or general who was dual-hatted as commander, United States Joint Forces Command. SACLANT's former military missions were folded into NATO's Allied Command Operations.

History

Soon after its formation, ACLANT together with Allied Command Europe carried out the large exercise Exercise Mainbrace. Throughout the Cold War years, SACLANT carried out many other exercises, such as Operation Mariner in 1953 and Operation Strikeback in 1957, as well as the Northern Wedding and Ocean Safari series of naval exercises during the 1970s and 1980s. The command also played a critical role in the annual Exercise REFORGER from the 1970s onwards. Following the end of the Cold War, the Command was reduced in status and size, with many of its subordinate headquarters spread across the Atlantic area losing their NATO status and funding. However, the basic structure remained in place until the Prague Summit in the Czech Republic in 2002.
Carrier-based air strike operations in the Norwegian Sea pioneered by Operation Strikeback foreshadowed planning such as the NATO Concept of Maritime Operations of 1980. The purpose of the Atlantic lifelines campaign was to protect the transportation of allied reinforcement and resupply across the Atlantic, practiced via Exercise Ocean Safari. The shallow-seas campaign was designed to prevent the exit of the Soviet Baltic Fleet into the North Sea and to protect allied convoys in the North Sea and the English Channel; it was exercised in Exercise Northern Wedding series. The Norwegian Sea campaign was meant to prevent the exit of the Soviet Northern Fleet into the Norwegian Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and to provide sea-based support to allied air and ground operations in Norway. Its associated series of exercises was Exercise Teamwork. The U.S. Maritime Strategy promulgated in the mid 1980s dovetailed with the CONMAROPS and went further in some cases, such as in the operation of Carrier Battle Groups far forward, in Norwegian coastal waters sheltered by the mountains surrounding the northern Norwegian fjords.
In January 1968, the Standing Naval Force Atlantic was established. This was a permanent peacetime multinational naval squadron composed of various NATO navies' destroyers, cruisers and frigates. Since 1967, STANAVFORLANT operated, trained, and exercised as a group. It also participated in NATO and national naval exercises designed to promote readiness and interoperability.
The Maritime Strategy was published in 1984, championed by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral James D. Watkins, USN, during the Reagan Administration, and practiced in NATO naval exercises such as Ocean Safari '85 and Northern Wedding '86.
In a 2008 article, retired General Bernard E. Trainor, USMC, noted the success of this maritime strategy:
The U.S. Navy's Forward Maritime Strategy provided the strategic rationale for the "600-ship Navy".
Allied Command Atlantic was redesignated as Allied Command Transformation on 19 June 2003. ACT was to be headed by the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, up to 2009 an American four-star admiral or general who was dual-hatted as commander, United States Joint Forces Command. SACLANT's former military missions were folded into NATO's Allied Command Operations.

Structure

The high command of ACLANT comprised the following positions:
  • Supreme Allied Commander – SACLANT was responsible for all Alliance military missions within the ACLANT area of responsibility. SACLANT was a United States admiral who also serves as the Commander-in-Chief U.S. Atlantic Command, one of the Department of Defense unified combatant commands. After the end of the Cold War, Army generals began to be assigned to the position.
  • Deputy Supreme Allied Commander – The principal deputy to SACLANT held by a British vice-admiral. DSACLANT was originally the commander of the Royal Navy's North America and West Indies Station.
  • Chief of Staff – Directs the SACLANT headquarters staff
SACLANT headquarters was located in Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, adjacent to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet headquarters.

Eastern Atlantic Area (EASTLANT)

was a British admiral based at the Northwood Headquarters in northwest London, who also served as Commander in Chief, Home Fleet. In 1953 his primary task was described as the 'integrated defence and the control and protection of sea and air lines of communications within' the Eastern Atlantic Area. On 12 December 1952, an EASTLANT integrated submarine headquarters was established. Rear Admiral G.W.G. Simpson, CB, CBE, RN, Flag Officer Submarines, was appointed Commander Submarine Force Eastern Atlantic and assumed his command with its headquarters at Gosport, Hants, in the United Kingdom.
On 2 February 1953, the planning staff of CINCEASTLANT, which had been temporarily established at Portsmouth, England, moved
into interim facilities adjacent to the established Headquarters of CINCAIREASTLANT at Northwood, England. This, SACLANT wrote, would greatly facilitate the effective exercise of command in the Eastern Atlantic Area.
In 1953, initial NATO documents instructing Admiral George Creasy wrote that the following Sub-Area commanders had been appointed within EASTLANT:
Circa 1962, Central Sub-Area was led by the Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, and Northern Sub-Area by Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland.
After 1966, CINCEASTLANT was responsible for the administration and operation of the Standing Naval Force Atlantic, on behalf of SACLANT. In 1982, EASTLANT was organised as follows:
  • Eastern Atlantic Area
  • * Northern Sub-Area
  • * Central Sub-Area
  • * Submarine Force Eastern Atlantic
  • * Maritime Air Eastern Atlantic
  • ** Maritime Air Northern Sub-Area
  • ** Maritime Air Central Sub-Area
  • * Island Commander Iceland
  • * Island Commander Faeroes

    Western Atlantic Area

Commander-in-Chief Western Atlantic was an American Admiral based at Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, Virginia who also served as the Commander-in-Chief U.S. Atlantic Fleet.
In 1953, sub-area commanders were listed as follows:
  • Commander United States Atlantic Sub-Area, Vice Admiral Oscar Badger, U.S. Navy
  • Commander Canadian Atlantic Sub-Area, Rear Admiral R.E.S. Bidwell, CBS, CD, Royal Canadian Navy
  • Air Commander Canadian Atlantic Sub-Area, Air Commodore A.D. Ross, GC, CBE, CD, Royal Canadian Air Force
In 1981, the Western Atlantic Area included six subordinate headquarters:
  • Submarine Force Western Atlantic Area
  • Ocean Sub-Area
  • Canadian Atlantic Sub-Area
  • Island Commander Bermuda
  • Island Commander Azores Lajes Field, in the Portuguese islands of the Azores, was an important transatlantic staging post.
  • Island Commander Greenland
In the last few years of the post, CINCWESTLANT was responsible for:
  • The safe transit of critical reinforcement and re-supply from North America to Europe, in support of the full spectrum of NATO forces operating anywhere in or beyond NATO's area of responsibility
  • The sponsorship of peacetime joint multinational exercises and Partnership for Peace activities, as well as maintaining operational control and providing support for NATO forces assigned to the headquarters
From 1994 through 2003, WESTLANT was organized as follows:
In 1950, the command structure and organization of Allied Command Atlantic was approved except that the North Atlantic Ocean Regional Group was requested to reconsider the command arrangements for the Iberian Atlantic Area. IBERLANT was an integral part of this ACLANT command structure. In MC 58, it was stated that the question of subdividing IBERLANT was still under study. However, because arrangement regarding the establishment of IBERLANT, could not be agreed, CINCEASTLANT and CINCAIREASTLANT were assigned, as an interim emergency measure, the temporary responsibility for the IBERLANT area. NATO exercises, however, demonstrated that these interim arrangements proved unsatisfactory.
Commander Iberian Atlantic Area was eventually established in 1967 as a Principal Subordinate Commander, reporting to CINCWESTLANT. The commander was a U.S. Navy rear admiral who also served as chief of the Military Assistance and Advisory Group in Lisbon. In 1975 IBERLANT was described as 'probably of greater symbolic value to Portugal than of military value to NATO' in internal cables of the U.S. Department of State. In 1981 the command included the Island Command Madeira. In 1982 NATO agreed to the upgrading of IBERLANT into a Major Subordinate Command, becoming Commander-in-Chief Iberian Atlantic Area. A Portuguese Navy Vice Admiral, dual-hatted as the fleet commander, took over the position. It was planned that Commander, Portuguese Air, a sub-PSC, would eventually take responsibility for the air defence of Portugal, reporting through CINCIBERLANT to SACEUR. Thus the Portuguese mainland would be 'associated' with Allied Command Europe.
In 1999 CINCIBERLANT became Commander-in-Chief Southern Atlantic. He was made responsible for military movements and maritime operations across the southeast boundary between Allied Command Europe and Allied Command Atlantic. The command became Allied Joint Force Command Lisbon before being deactivated in 2012.