The U.S. Navy's Jacksonville-based 4th Fleet is providing ships and aircraft to support an ongoing anti-crime operation in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea.
Operation Martillo is a combined effort by international forces to counter criminal groups' efforts to move drugs, chemicals, cash and weapons along shipping routes through Central and South America, the Navy said.
4th Fleet, which is headquartered at Mayport Naval Station, is supporting the operation by providing naval vessels and patrol aircraft, including the following four frigates and one P-3 Orion squadron:
USS Ingraham, Everett, Wash.
USS Elrod (FFG 55), Norfolk.
USS McClusky, San Diego.
USS Nicholas Norfolk.
http://www.vp1.navy.mil/, Oak Harbor, Wash.
The designation of "fleet" does not denote a body of ships in the Navy's numbered fleets. Rather, they refer to commands in charge of naval forces operating in certain geographical areas. The 4th Fleet at Mayport is responsible for all naval assets, regardless of homeport, operating under, on or above the sea, and on land, in the Caribbean and Central and South American regions.