In an August 23rd of 2023 document, to which the Diário Insular newspaper had access, the Embassy of the United States of America (USA) in Lisbon requested “permission” from the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to carry out a study on the “pier” of Praia da Vitória, which encompasses the entire bay of the city, including the commercial port.
The documentation indicates that the return of warships to Praia da Vitória may be at stake.
The embassy communication states that ” the request is based on increasing access for new classes of ships,” considering the infrastructure of the Defense Logistics Agency/United States Air Force in Lajes.
It is specified that the infrastructure engineering and hydrographic study is part of the Maritime Infrastructure Assessment Program (MIAP), “which is the mechanism to allow greater access to ports of interest to the Sixth Fleet while providing diving services to host nations, free of charge.”
The US Navy’s Sixth Fleet operates in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic.

The purpose of the request, the embassy stresses, is to conduct a study of “key maritime infrastructures” using state-of-the-art equipment. The data collected would be available to the Portuguese authorities to help with maintenance, dredging, waterfront construction, and repair projects. The US would be open to “assisting the host nation in these projects.”
The diplomatic note stresses that these assessments are carried out throughout Europe and Africa. The intended timetable is for a site visit in November and project implementation in December.
Other documents also consulted by DI and accompanying the missive show that the US intention is to analyze the entire port basin and the “navigation channel to the port, up to 15 meters deep”, identifying any obstacles to navigation.
“The Sixth Fleet lacks basic knowledge of the depth, condition and capacity of many key ports on which we depend for operations or in the event of a crisis,” says the same documentation.
The US Naval Air Force in the Atlantic Ocean is currently commanded by Rear Admiral Douglas Veríssimo, a native of Falmouth, Massachusetts, but with roots in Terceira and Pico.
As the Portuguese Times reported in September, since August, the Azorean descendant has been in charge of six nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, 54 aircraft squadrons, 1,200 aircraft, and 43,000 officers, enlisted and civilian, based on the East Coast of the United States.
“We have to move forward, in these days of strategic competition, to make Lajes and Morón what they should be,” argued the former US commander of the Lajes Base, Brian Hardeman, at the command surrender ceremony, also in August of this year.

in Diário Insular, José Lourenço director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno.