The amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima sails past the Statue of Liberty into New York Harbor, November 10, 2016. (U.S. Navy/Petty Officer 2nd Class Carla Giglio)
In the six months since its activation, the Navy's 2nd Fleet has bulked up and is embracing its mission in the North Atlantic and the Arctic, where the U.S. and its partners are focused on countering a sophisticated and wily Russian navy.
Growing tensions with Russia have led NATO and its members to make a number of changes to their military posture on the ground in Europe, and now the U.S. is reactivating its 2nd Fleet to oversee the northern Atlantic Ocean and U.S. East Coast.
A dramatic rescue operation played out at sea, 1,300 miles east of Cape Cod recently, when seven pararescuemen lept from a C-130 into the Atlantic Ocean at night to rescue injured sailors aboard a cargo ship that caught ablaze.
