Word: fleets
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...receiving through CIA channels. The contra commander had long refused, publicly at least, to accept American "conditions" for aid. But last November he traveled to Washington and since then, food and uniforms are no longer in short supply, and ARDE has even built up a small air fleet of three used helicopters and eight light planes. Pastora insists that he made no deals with the "gringos" and that the funds for the equipment come from private donors in Miami, Panama and Colombia. But he wryly adds, "If the CIA goes to them to contribute, what am I going...
...Early in the week, some Pentagon sources were saying that only about 20 Soviet warships were involved in the North Atlantic. At his news conference Wednesday night, the President put the figure at 40. But in a subsequent interview with TIME, Navy Secretary John Lehman Jr. said that "the fleet exercise topped off at over 140 ships." Subtracting trawlers and landing craft...
...cruiser Leningrad was reported to have left Cuba in company with other Soviet vessels, their destination unknown. Although early reports that Soviet ships were conducting auxiliary exercises in oceans other than the North Atlantic seemed to be incorrect, just tracking the global movements of Moscow's fleet created headaches for the U.S. Navy. For the second time in twelve days, the game of "chicken at sea" that skippers from both superpowers frequently play led to a potentially serious incident...
There were disturbing reports that the U.S. and its NATO allies had been caught off-guard by the Soviet maneuvers. The Supreme Commander of NATO Atlantic forces, Admiral Wesley McDonald, said he had been "very impressed" by the size of the Soviet fleet, and called for an upgrading of Western defenses in the region. During a trip to Turkey for a NATO meeting, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger denied that the alliance had been unprepared for the Soviet maneuvers, although Defense Department Spokesman Michael Burch later conceded that "perhaps the size of the exercise was somewhat unexpected...
Both navies have been experiencing growing pains for some time. After 15 years of rapid expansion, the Soviet navy is larger than the U.S. fleet in numbers of warships (1,703 vs. 507). The Reagan Administration, however, has been trying to close the gap, with 118 ships currently under construction. Although the U.S. fleet will still not be as large as that of the Soviets, Lehman points out that "we don't need to match them ship for ship as long as we have the contributions of all the NATO navies." Together, the NATO powers at present have some...