SUBLANT

Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic
COMSUBLANT Emblem
Active	1941-Present
Country	United States of America
Type	Type Commander
Garrison/HQ	Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia
Commanders
Current commander	Vice Admiral Joseph E. Tofalo

Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic (COMSUBLANT) is the Submarine Force U.S. Atlantic Fleet type commander under the United States Fleet Forces Command.

The principal responsibility of the Admiral commanding is to operate, maintain, train, and equip submarines. COMSUBLANT also has additional duties as commander of NATO's Allied Submarine Command and also Commander, Naval Submarine Forces. As Commander, Naval Submarine Forces (COMSUBFOR), an additional type commander role, he also supervises Commander, Submarine Force Pacific (often known as COMSUBPAC). From the 1960s to the 1990s the commander also held the NATO post of Commander, Submarines, Western Atlantic (COMSUBWESTLANT).

Established on 7 December 1941, Rear Admiral Richard S. Edwards was its first commander. COMSUBLANT headquarters was at Naval Submarine Base New London until 1960, when it was moved to Naval Station Norfolk. U.S. submarine operations in the Atlantic, however, date from before World War I. On January 1, 1913, Lieutenant Chester W. Nimitz was in command of the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla, with First Group consisting of submarines C-2, C-3, C-4, and C-5 under Lieutenant Lewis D. Causey, and Second Group consisting of submarines D-1, D-2, D-3, E-1, and E-2 under Lieutenant j.g. Claudius R. Hyatt. Nimitz was in command from May 1912 to March 1913.