Charles F Adams (DDG 2) - Naval Cruise Book

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' ' m --+--f' Uf'- v------- The exercises which involve the entire Allied Command Atlantic afford the NATO navies opportunities to work together, enhance readiness, develop common tactics and to test equipment. Numerous command post exercises are also held to enable various NATO staffs and member nations to work together and develop common procedures. Although the only NATO maritime force assigned to the Allied Command Atlantic is the Standing Naval Force Atlantic QSTANAVFORLANTJ, history's first permanent international naval squadron, member countries have additional maritime forces earmarked for assignment in time of need. Standing Naval Force Atlantic The Standing Naval Force Atlantic KSTANAVFORLANTJ is the world's first permanent multi-national naval squadron to operate together in peacetime. This force operates as one unit, bound by the common purpose of serving as NATO's maritime spearhead in preserving the free access to North Atlantic waters. STANAVFORLANT is composed of between four and nine destroyer or frigate type ships, operating as one unit on a continuous basis. Ships of various nationalities will normally remain with the squadron for a period up to six months. They are then relieved by a unit of the same nationality or a vessel from another NATO naval member. Commanding the squadron is a commodore who is selected annually from one of the countries contributing ships to the force. The commodore is aided by a staff of officers who are also provided by participating countries. Overall command of STANAVFORLANT is exercised by the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, from Nor- folk, Virginia. The Commander in Chief, Eastern Atlantic Area, .with headquarters at Northwood, England, controls the force when operating in European waters.

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Allied Command Atlantic On April 10, 1952, three years after the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D. C., NATO's Allied Command Atlantic fACLANTJ was established in Norfolk, Virginia. This combined command is the only major NATO military command headquartered in North America and was the first allied maritime command to be established on that continent. The command's area of responsibility includes more than 12 million square miles of Atlantic Ocean stretching from the coastal waters of Europe to those of North America and from the North Pole to the Tropic of Cancer. The staff is constantly engaged in planning and conducting a large variety of exercises that vary from those of large scale involving thousands of men and large numbers of ships and aircraft, to rather small scale exercises of opportunity. E.. SACLANT Headquarters in Norfolk Virginia . 3 '45 Agar

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Q. ki Y:-5 J QQ .v..i,.-.... ,rv-43' iid:-P' ' l'I The Standlng Naval Force IS tasked wlth achlevmg four baSlC 0bj6Ct1VES Flrst, It IS to malntaln naval effectlveness w1th1n the Atlantlc Allxance at a hlgh level by provldlng squadron experlence and tra1n1ng on a contlnuous baS1S The force partxclpates 1n numerous NATO exercises and natlonal t3Ct1C3l operatlons 1n European and North Amerlcan waters throughout the year Stressed durmg these GXEFCISCS are antlsub- marlne warfare antl a1r defense practlces and convoy dutles nqr 4 uJ,....z 5 I Standlng Naval Force flagbearers ln Norfolk, V1rg1n1a, April 1972 U 'L35i?1 5'I'?a'i:f 'L : 'A 24 L ' :R?ff:' f 4 -1.-:..-, f1,:c.i-:.p...'T-,:-1xna- ary.-'::,--m4i:f vig ,,