Word: mediterranean
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Russians were equally adamant in defending the buildup of their fleet in the Mediterranean (see following story). "The Soviet Union is known to be a Black Sea and, hence, Mediterranean power," the government newspaper Izvestia proclaimed, declaring that Soviet ships were in the Mediterranean to stay. In Red Star, the organ of the Soviet Defense Ministry, Vice Admiral Nikolai Smirnov said it was "imperative for the Soviet Union, in the interests of security," to strengthen its fleet. The presence of Soviet ships in the Mediterranean, the admiral wrote, "does not allow the Sixth Fleet to carry out the Pentagon...
Invited or not, the Soviet navy has made itself at home all over the Mediterranean in sharply increasing numbers. Acting as if they had nothing to lose but their anchor chains, the Russians are everywhere now-tailing the U.S. Sixth Fleet, showing the Red Flag from the Dardanelles to Gibraltar, resorting to old-fashioned gunboat diplomacy to keep the big powers baffled and the smaller ones uneasy...
Snap of the Fingers. Black-bereted naval infantrymen, the Soviet version of Marines, stroll the streets of Damascus. Intelligence trawlers refuel at what has become the Soviets' main Mediterranean port of call, Alexandria. Soviet patrol boats tie up 1,700 miles to the west at the Algerian port of Mers-el-Kebir. Soviet subs play hide-and-seek with NATO patrols underneath the heel of Italy. Overhead, from bases in Egypt, Soviet "Badger" class planes, their red stars painted over with Egyptian markings, wing daily across the Mediterranean to shadow Allied fleets...
What are the Russians up to? NATO commanders do not know the answer, but they do know that the new Soviet presence has radically changed the Mediterranean equation. Only ten years ago, when Nasserite terrorists were trying to overthrow the government of Lebanon, its President, Camille Chamoun, could reassure a doubting Cabinet minister: "If things get too tough, I can call for the Sixth Fleet, just like this . . ." And the President snapped his fingers. Chamoun did call for help; the U.S. Sixth Fleet landed its Marines. Lebanon proceeded to settle its affairs without further outside interference. Russia's Nikita...
Impact on Israel. In those days, the Mediterranean was considered an American lake, and the Soviets had just begun to awaken to the potentialities of seapower. In the early '60s, the Soviets began to build up their navy all over the world (TIME cover, Feb. 23). Now the U.S. must reckon with the Soviet force in the Mediterranean-and so must the Israelis. When Soviet-made Styx missiles, fired from a torpedo boat by Egyptians, sank the Israeli destroyer Elath off Port Said in an incident in October 1967, the Israelis dared not retaliate directly for fear of hitting...