Word: fleeting
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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What makes the question of carrier vulnerability extremely pressing is the growing strength of the Soviet fleet. Today it officially numbers 2,410 ships. About 1,500 of these are small and auxiliary craft, but the rest form a powerful armada: 233 surface warships, including 37 cruisers, 90 destroyers and 105 frigates, plus 260 attack submarines. In addition, some 400 long-range bombers, including the new Backfire, are based around the rim of the U.S.S.R., from where they can strike targets...
This is a vast increase in naval power since World War II, when the Red fleet hardly existed; even as recently as the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, the Kremlin had to back down in the face of U.S. naval supremacy. That, presumably, was a humiliation the Russians decided would never happen again. Since then Admiral Sergei Gorshkov, commander of the Soviet navy for the past 22 years, has modernized his fleet, increased its firepower and greatly extended its range. At one time his ships rarely ventured far from Russia's shores. But as he has commissioned new vessels that...
...years later, in their ambitious OKEAN-75 naval exercise, the Soviet admirals demonstrated an ominous ability to coordinate global fleet operations, including drills in anticarrier, convoy and submarine tactics. Says Sir Peter Hill-Norton, admiral of the British fleet: "The U.S. had never previously faced a global threat to its sea-lane communications from a mix of subsurface, surface and maritime-air naval forces. This is a strategic change of kind, not of degree...
...main threat to U.S. sea lanes would come from the Soviet submarine fleet, which is 25% larger than World War II's Nazi U-boat force. To combat the Soviet subs, the U.S. has devised a complicated strategy involving...
...restrictive dress code by permitting modish haircuts, beards and sideburns and eliminating the requirement for frequent uniform changes during the day. (This does not apply, however, to the lowly inductee, whose hair is still cropped when he enters bootcamp.) Zumwalt also revised the duty rotation system and the fleet's operating schedules to give his men more time at home with their families. He established ombudsmen and generally strengthened the machinery for redress of grievances...