United States Naval Forces Southern Command
military unit
U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (also known as USNAVSO) is the naval element of United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM). Its areas of operation include South America, Central America, the Caribbean and surrounding waters. Its headquarters are located at Naval Station Mayport, Florida. USNAVSO is currently under the command of Rear Admiral Carlos A. Sardiello.
Mission
USNAVSO and U.S. Fourth Fleet supports USSOUTHCOM joint and combined full spectrum military operations by providing principally sea-based, forward presence to ensure freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain, to foster and sustain cooperative relationships with international partners and to fully exploit the sea as maneuver space in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions.
History
From 1941 to 1945, the South Atlantic Forces of the United States Atlantic Fleet operated under four different designations -- Task Force 3, Task Force 23 (15 September 1942, titled South Atlantic Force), United States Fourth Fleet, and finally Task Force 27. In September 1942, the Commander Task Force 23 was further designated Commander South Atlantic Force, a title which he retained while becoming Commander Fourth Fleet and CTF 27. The extensive operations built up in Brazil were run down swiftly after the end of the war.
In June 1958 Commander, South Atlantic Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (COMSOLANT) was established in headquarters at Naval Base Trinidad, and was moved to Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico in 1973. COMSOLANT participated in annual "UNITAS" deployments around South America since 1960, and routinely deployed to Africa for the West African Training Cruise since 1980.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3550747. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1941, 1945, 1942 and 1958.
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This entry incorporates text from “United States Naval Forces Southern Command” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.