The Twelfth Fleet of the United States Navy was created on September 9, 1943 by decision of Admiral Ernst King . The fleet's command was in London , where the headquarters of the US Navy in Europe worked under the general leadership of the naval attache of Rear Admiral Alan Kirk . On October 1, 1943, Admiral Harold Stark was placed at the head of the fleet. The main task of the fleet was to prepare for a landing in France .
In the summer of 1945, the demobilization of the fleet began, but the civil war in Greece forced the Americans to transfer part of their forces to the Mediterranean Sea. September 5, 1946 Rear Admiral John Kassadi entered with his squadron in the Greek port of Piraeus [1] [2] . According to the modern historian James Chase, this event became a symbol of the beginning of the confrontation between the West and the pro-Soviet communist regimes in Eastern Europe [3] .
On November 1, 1946, the Mediterranean squadron was transformed into the Sixth Fleet of the US Navy .
Notes
- ↑ Thomas A., Bryson. Tars, Turks, and Tankers: The Role of the United States Navy in the Middle East, 1800–1979. - Metuchen , New Jersey, and London: Scarecrow Press , 1980. - P. 92–95. - ISBN 978-0-81081-306-9 .
- ↑ Captain Paul Ryan, USN. An interview with Captain Henri H. Smith-Hutton, regarding his command of the USS Little Rock (link unavailable) . Oral History Program . USS Little Rock Association (November 1974). Date of treatment August 4, 2011. Archived July 1, 2011.
- ↑ Chace, James. Part 1 - First Skirmishes: The Day the Cold War Started // The Cold War: A Military History. - New York: Random House , 2006. - P. 11. - ISBN 978-0-81296-716-6 .