Page 332 - Il Mediterraneo quale elemento del Potere Marittimo - Atti 16-18 settembre 1996

318 PAOLO E. COLETT A

Until President Nixon's Incidents at Sea Agreement with Russia of 15 May
1972, some Soviet ships engaged in harassment in a "game of chicken.,. While
seeking to penetrate screens about U.S. carriers they caused collisions and someti-
8
mes loss of life. Ironically, Nixon, a former Cold War Warrior 0 >, initiated aver-
tures of detent with Communist Party boss Leonid Brezhnev. Their SALT Treaty
- vali d for five years an d renewed in 197 4 - a t least fixed the number of strategie
weapons each side could have.
That Soviet ships could win a war in the Mediterranean was doubtful because
they faced not only the Sixth Fleet but some three hundred NATO ships (19>. The
CNO, Elmo Zumwalt, nevertheless concluded in 1973 that the United States could
not contro! the Mediterranean, for during the Yom Kippur War of that year the
Soviets almost doubled their Mediterranean Squadron and createci a series of inter-
national crises. Because these crises are addressed in papers that follo w, no com-
ment is offered about them.
2
In 1978 the Unired States had 217 oceangoing warships, the Soviets, 454 < 0>.
The Soviets reduced their number of ships in the Mediterranean until 1980 except
during some antisubmarine and anti-carrier exercises and during the Cyprus crisis
of July 1974 and Lebanese civil war of 1976. No U.S.-Soviet confrontation resulted.
In sum, between 1967 and 1977 U.S. Naval power had dropped by almost
half while the Soviet navy registered its largest gains in history. Sadly lacking were
America n generai purpose forces capable of projecting power and insuring sea con-
tro!. Yer the United States had three carrier task groups, rwo amphibious task for-
ces, ASW patrol aircraft, and severa! attack submarines in the Middle Sea.
On 24 April1967 Brezhnev had demanded the withdrawal of the Sixth Fleet.
His demand went unanswered, but it was reiterated even while he stili further built
up his Mediterranean Squadron. Meanwhile, the Soviets had suffered severa! set-
backs. First, a reinforced Sixth Fleet sped from Villefranche to the Eastern Medi-
terranean during the Jordanian crisis of mid-July 1958 in spite of the presence of
the Soviet Squadron. Second, Israel defeated Soviet-sponsored Arab states in
2
1967 < 0. Third, in a surprise move, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt ordered So-
viet advisers and military personnel, in his country since 1955, to leave. Also su-
prisingly, the Soviets agreed-but the order was soon rescinded < >.
22
In conclusion, by the end of the 1970s the Soviet had greatly diminished U.S.
influence in the Mediterranean, yet they stili faced a powerful threat from the Sixth
Fleet.