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| Europe | |
| Sixth Fleet may move to Spain | |
| 2004-02-08 | |
| EFL - looks as if Germany is not the only place that will see base closures. The American navy said last night that it was considering moving its key, troubleshooting Sixth Fleet away from its base in Italy to Spain. The move would deal a huge blow to the local economy in the area between Rome and Naples, but is likely to be greeted by Italians with as much bafflement as dismay. They had for some time been braced for a decision by Washington to shift the fleet’s base port further eastwards, perhaps to Turkey. But no one had predicted a move that would send it several hundred miles in the opposite direction. It seems as if Spain is a country that we can count on. I doubt that there will be many more US bases opened in Turkey. I have only sailed in to Izmir which has a totally unacceptable channel for heavy traffic. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported this week that officials in Madrid had been told the Pentagon wanted to move the fleet’s headquarters and supply facilities to Rota, near Cádiz, a joint US-Spanish base which is not even in the Mediterranean, the fleet’s traditional area of operations. Not in the Mediterranean but much more accessible by sea than Gaeta, closer to a large city than Gaeta and not as expensive. Gaeta is a sleepy resort town that is better off without load US Navy sailors looking for a good time in a town with some excellent pizzarias and shopping. American honeymooners would find the town quaint while sailors find it boring. Though Rota is further from the hot spots of the Middle East, it has the advantage of being a combined naval and air facility, offering the sort of rapid deployment capability that the US military is now looking for. Spain and the US last year signed a $450m (£243m) deal that allows the Americans to increase their use of the base. In Naples the USN uses the public docks. Gaeta is not a port of any size. A spokesman for US Naval Forces Europe, Lieutenant- Commander Terrence Dudley, said: "The move of the US Sixth Fleet to new facilities in Spain is only one of many initiatives currently under consideration."
The Nato base in Naples is an absolute nightmare to visit for visiting ships. I’m sure that Sixth Fleet staff would just as soon telecommute to Naples. It will also be interesting to see what becomes of this NATO story: Russia Seeks Access to NATO Facilities | |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #4 SDB, I remember the Southern nature of the through traffic lane through the Mediterranean making a stop off to Italy being inconvenient. Gaeta is not really a base for much more that the fleet flag ship. The idea that the location of Cadiz allows for deployment towards Liberia an other hot-spots is a valid one. With the latest developments of nukes being proliferated through throughout the world, monitoring shipping throughout the Med has become more important. Rota could base P-3 or AWACS flights. Gilbraltar is also an excellent choke point for monitoring or intercepting surface traffic. Basing at Gilbraltar or Malta would cause a logistical problems. For example, Gitmo makes an excellent jail but is a poor base to foward deploy through. I thought Roosevelt Roads was an excellent base to have. Others, who know more, thought differently. It will be interesting to see whether Mumu offers up a naval base. I have heard tell that he is awfully impressed with the performacne of the F-14. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-2-8 7:22:25 PM |
| #3 Turkey refused to let us use Incirlik Air Base during the invasion of Iraq last year (idling nearly a hundred British and American strike aircraft IIRC). Because of that, I think the US would be foolish to make new plans to base large forces in Turkey. And at this point, I don't think it would make strategic sense to base the Sixth Fleet in the eastern Med. I wonder whether part of the purpose of moving to Rota would be to put 6th Fleet in better position to work in the Atlantic both north and south, so that other Atlantic assets could be redeployed elsewhere (for instance to beef up the Fifth Fleet in the Gulf, or the Seventh Fleet in Malaysia). This would be consistent with the larger force redeployment in process, which is also reducing USAF and USArmy deployments in Europe and the Med so as to increase our strength in Asia. (By the way, Lasalle is a command ship (AGF), not a carrier (CV).) |
| Posted by: Steven Den Beste 2004-2-8 5:09:39 PM |
| #2 Sub-lease Gibraltar? Yes that would really annoy the Spanish. Does Gibraltar have the required facilities? |
| Posted by: A 2004-2-8 4:10:29 PM |
| #1 I do wonder, however, about the commitment Spain has to us in the long-term. Azner has been great and his groomed favorite to succeed him looks as if he'll continue the same policies. But the Left in Spain is fairly strong, and I'm worried that if the Socialists ever come to power we'll find our facilities in Rota either hamstrung or closed. Why can't we sub-lease Gibraltar? |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-2-8 3:53:23 PM |