The Sixth Fleet is the US Navy’s operational fleet of US Naval Forces Europe headquartered at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy. The officially stated mission of the Sixth Fleet in 2011 is that it “conducts the full range of Maritime Operations and Theater Security Cooperation missions, in concert with coalition, joint, interagency, and other parties, in order to advance security and stability in Europe and Africa.” The Sixth Fleet was established in February 1950 by redesignation of the former Sixth Task Fleet and since that time, it has been continually engaged in world affairs around the Mediterranean. It was involved in numerous NATO maritime exercises, the U.S. Lebanese intervention of 1958, confrontation with the Soviets during the Yom Kippur War (also known as the October War) of 1973, clearance of the Suez Canal after 1973, and several confrontations with Libya during the 1980s (including Operation El Dorado Canyon). Most recently it launched airstrikes on Libya again during the Libyan Civil War of 2011. This is the light blue version of their unit patch and does not have velcro attached.
