Image source: topwar.ru
The US Navy is building up logistics capabilities in the Far North to improve the supply of its ships, submarines, aircraft and expeditionary forces in the region.
The logistics center of the NAVSUP Fleet Sigonella command this month coordinated the delivery of the USNS Patuxent oil rig and the Kearsarge landing ship with various cargoes and mail to the ports of Defense Municipalities Crombie (Scotland) and Tromso (Norway).
Patuxent Assistant Commander Josh Becker said in a Navy press release.
In turn, Captain Douglas Mackenzie, commander of the logistics center in Italy, believes that in the future Defense Municipalities Crombie will turn into a logistics hub from which the US Navy will be able to more effectively provide supplies in the Far North of Europe.
Mackenzie said.
In April of this year, Patuxent and Kearsarge vessels participated in the Northern Viking 2022 exercises as part of the US 6th Fleet. During the maneuvers, US forces teamed up with Iceland and allied countries to work out cooperation in difficult conditions in Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom.
It is worth noting that in recent years, the US Navy has strengthened its presence in the Far North. In 2018, an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Harry S. Truman operated in the Norwegian Sea — for the first time since 1991, an American aircraft carrier entered the Arctic Circle.
At the same time, after the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, tensions in the region increased. Sweden and Finland, which were not members of NATO, announced their desire to join the alliance. It is likely that in the future they will unite with Norway, Denmark and Iceland in a single Scandinavian front.
Recall that in January 2021, the US Navy unveiled its "Blue Arctic" strategy. It says that the States should act in the Arctic "more aggressively."
At the same time, the ex-commander of the 2nd Fleet, Vice Admiral Andrew Lewis, in August of the same year, wagged that the key to ensuring that the region does not become a disputed space is to strengthen partnership relations, including with Russia.
