Allied Command Channel (ACCHAN) was one of three major North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) commands from 1952 to 1994. Commander-in-Chief Channel was a Major NATO Commander (MNC). The Command was established in 1952 to defend the sea areas and allied shipping around the English Channel. In case of war with the Warsaw Pact, United States reinforcements, crucial to defeat a Soviet advance towards the Rhine, would have passed through the English Channel and disembarked mainly in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. Therefore, ACCHAN's area of operations included most of the Southern part of the North Sea and all of the Channel up to the Celtic Sea.