Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO
Coat of arms
Active	1 July 2004–present
Location	Oeiras, Portugal
Website	sfn.nato.int
Commanders
Commander	Vice Admiral Jeffrey T. Anderson, USN
Deputy Commander	Rear Admiral Craig Wood RN

SHAPE

    AC

LC

MC

JFCBS

JFCNP

JFC NF

 JSEC

HQ SACT

JWC

JFTC

JALLC

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Locations of NATO's two strategic commands — Allied Command Transformation (ACT) with its subordinate centres (blue marks) and Allied Command Operations (ACO), headquartered at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and including its subordinate and joint force commands (red marks).

Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) is a naval command of Allied Command Operations of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is part of the NATO Force Structure.^[1] STRIKFORNATO is commanded by the Commander of the United States Sixth Fleet, and it is the only command capable of leading an expanded maritime task force.^[2] Its predecessor was Naval Striking and Support Forces Southern Europe (STRIKFORSOUTH); the name change took place in 2004.

A U.S. Navy commander-in-chief for Allied Forces Southern Europe was named in 1951. But due to difficult negotiations over the British retaining some control of the Western-Eastern sea lanes in the Mediterranean, the establishment of Allied Forces Southern Europe itself was delayed.

Due to politics, command of the naval forces in the region was eventually split. The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (the McMahon Act) led to significant controversy during debates over NATO's military command structure. The United States Sixth Fleet has never been allowed to be placed anywhere but directly under an American commander — Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe —because the dominant legal interpretation of the McMahon Act has been that nuclear striking forces cannot be controlled by non-US commanders. This was the reason why the Sixth Fleet, in its NATO guise as Naval Striking and Support Force, South, was placed under American control rather than Allied Forces Mediterranean when the European commands were agreed at the same time.^[3]

Most of the NATO allies' naval forces in the Mediterranean were placed under an Italian admiral and formed Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe, at Naples. But due to the nuclear control restrictions, the United States Sixth Fleet was arranged to reported directly to CinCAFSOUTH, supported by a separate headquarters named Naval Striking and Support Forces Southern Europe (STRIKFORSOUTH).^[4] Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe was able to give the order establishing this new separate headquarters in December 1952. It became a Principal Subordinate Commander under CINCSOUTH.

The command was a dual assignment for the vice admiral commanding the U.S. Sixth Fleet. The STRIKFORSOUTH staff was initially composed principally of U.S. Navy personnel because forces earmarked for STRIKFORSOUTH were from the U.S. Other allied personnel from France, Greece, Italy, Turkey, and the United Kingdom came on board to better mesh with other Mediterranean NATO commanders in planning and conducting exercises and training. Its area of responsibility (AOR) was the entire Mediterranean theatre, from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Easter Mediterranean and Black Sea.

In 1953 the command set up shore spaces at the NATO AFSOUTH complex in the Neapolitan neighborhood of Bagnoli which had been one of the Fascist regime's public housing architectural showcases. Its staff occupied the top floor of one of the four main subordinate buildings on the main quadrangle.

STRIKFORSOUTH's primary mission in all-out war would have been to participate in NATO's counter-offensive by launching deep conventional air attacks or close air support missions in conjunction with any amphibious operations. As the Soviets built up their naval forces in the Mediterranean in the 1960s and 1970s, STRIKFORSOUTH served as a major advisor to Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH) and Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in the area of Nuclear Strike Planning. The command honed its readiness through these years by planning and conducting semi-annual large-scale NATO amphibious exercises as well as numerous small-scale exercises in various disciplines.

STRIKFORSOUTH coordinated NATO support for the security of the lines of supply through the Mediterranean for Coalition forces during the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991.

As the Soviet threat diminished in the early 1990s, attention shifted towards internal conflicts in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Africa. As a result, STRIKFORSOUTH was directly responsible in developing and refining the Multinational Amphibious Task Force (MNATF) concept.

The conflict in the Balkans saw STRIKFORSOUTH contributing planning support and liaison officers to AFSOUTH operations. This led to the establishment of the Kosovo Verification Coordination Centre in the former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia by STRIKFORSOUTH personnel. COMSTRIKFORSOUTH assumed command of NATO Carrier Forces during Operation ALLIED FORCE.

From 25 October to 7 November 2018, STRIKFORNATO deployed on board USS Mount Whitney^[5]—Afloat Command Platform (ACP) of STRIKFORNATO—and performed in its role as a NATO Expanded Task Force (NETF)^[6] providing command and control of multiple strike groups which included II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF), 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (2nd MEB), 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU), Expeditionary Strike Group 2 (ESG 2), a Canadian/British Surface Action Group, a Norwegian Surface Action Group and mine countermeasures assets, a Norwegian submarine, and Carrier Strike Group 8 USS Harry S. Truman for a limited duration of exercise control. STRIKFORNATO commanded more than 20 ships operating in the North and Norwegian seas and troops ashore in Norway.^[7] This exercise "tests NATO's collective response to an armed attack against one ally, invoking Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty"^[8] which states that "an armed attack against one or more of [the Parties] in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all."

• Maloney, Sean M. (1991). Securing Command of the Sea: NATO Naval Planning, 1948–1954 (Ph.D.). University of New Brunswick.

• Smith, James L. (June 2015). "Meet NATO's Maritime 911 Battle Force". United States Naval Institute Proceedings. 141 (6).

• Official website