Word: fleetness
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...foot waves, five Israeli-manned gunboats scooted to Haifa last week on a 3,000-mile dash from the northern French port of Cherbourg. At various points, they were tracked by French reconnaissance planes, an R.A.F. Canberra from Malta, Soviet tankers, the radar forests of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, television cameramen and even Italian fishermen. From a distance, the world watched with emotions ranging from amusement to outrage. In a twist on old-fashioned gunboat diplomacy, Israel had retrieved $10 million worth of naval vessels, circumventing France's embargo on arms sales to the Jewish state and producing...
Christmas morning, in single file and with no lights, the fleet of five slipped past the Fort de l'Est breakwater, turned south and moved across the Bay of Biscay. They maintained radio silence until they reached Gibraltar 64 hours later. There they split up to prevent Soviet Mediterranean fleet units from boxing them in and herding them to an unfriendly port. Off Sicily, tankers were waiting to refuel the boats. Israeli naval units, possibly including two submarines, had also converged to serve as escorts. Unwilling to risk a pasting, Egyptian fighters and warships gave the fugitive flotilla...
...Fleet Street has not seen the likes of him since young Max Aitken (later Lord Beaverbrook) invaded Britain's newspaper scene more than half a century ago. There was, of course, the entry of a second Canadian in 1959. But Roy Thomson, at 65, was too old to provoke the image of an upstart interloper. Australian Rupert Murdoch has not only arrived at the same age as Aitken (37); he also shares-indeed, may even exceed -the Beaver's hustle...