[1] The fleet was actually organized earlier under Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk before all naval forces in Europe were combined.
All U.S. ships and shore bases in the Mediterranean became part of Task Force 125 of the Twelfth Fleet.
[5] With the escalating Turkish Straits crisis as well as the Greek Civil War, Task Group 125.4 led by the carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt departed Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia, for the eastern Mediterranean on 8 August 1946 under the command of Rear Admiral John H.
[6] The key event of this deployment was a highly publicized port visit to Piraeus, Greece, on 5 September 1946.
[7][8] According to the late American historian James Chace, this deployment by Task Group 125.4 "symbolized" the true beginning of the Cold War by demonstrating U.S. support of the pro-Western governments of Greece and Turkey in the face of external Soviet pressure and internal Communist insurrections.