The
United States Fleet Forces Command (
USFLTFORCOM) is a service component command of the
United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as
United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) under the authority of the
Secretary of Defense. Originally formed as
United States Atlantic Fleet (
USLANTFLT) in 1906, it has been an integral part of the defense of the United States of America for most of the 20th century. In 2002, the Fleet comprised over 118,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel serving on 186 ships and in 1,300 aircraft, with an area of responsibility ranging over most of the Atlantic Ocean from the
North Pole to the
South Pole, the
Caribbean Sea,
Gulf of Mexico, and the waters of the Pacific Ocean along the coasts of
Central and South America (as far west as the
Galapagos Islands). The command is based at Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads in
Norfolk, Virginia and is the Navy's service component to
U.S. Northern Command and is a supporting command under the
U.S. Strategic Command.