Word: naval
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...sweltering helicopter hangar at a naval station in Florida, faced by more than a thousand tearful mourners, Ronald Reagan performed one of those tasks he does best. Honoring young Americans who have lost their lives in one of their country's fitful attempts to assert itself in a troubled world has, alas, become for him a practiced ritual. Speaking somberly of the latest tragedy, and of the latest set of victims he called heroes, the President asked, "Why did this happen...
...problem was the unclear circumstances of the Stark's mission," says Naval Analyst Norman Polmar. "The captain didn't know whether he was at war or peace." Yet despite charges that the Navy's mission in the Persian Gulf was poorly defined, it was in fact the most traditional of all naval roles: helping keep essential sea-lanes open and showing the flag in a region of vital interest...
...Administration defended American presence in the gulf as vital to the nation's security. "Were a hostile power ever to dominate this strategic region and its resources," Reagan said at the memorial service at Mayport Naval Station, "it would become a choke point for freedom -- that of our allies and our own." Weinberger stressed that if the U.S. backed down, the Soviets would move in. "We simply cannot allow the Kremlin to have its will over this region," he said last week. "We will not be intimidated. We will not be driven from the gulf." Indeed, Moscow pre-empted...
...warring nations would dare attack a vessel traveling in the shadow of a U.S. warship for fear of American retaliation. Says a State Department official of the display of American military might in the gulf: "It's what gives our policy teeth." Following America's lead, Soviet naval boats also began patrolling the gulf...
...navies, explains Robert O'Neill, director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, cannot spare military forces for the gulf without making "serious inroads" in their well- established European defense commitments. Still, British and French warships in the region, though operating independently, maintain close contact with American naval forces stationed there. Says a senior British defense official: "If there were any attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz and prevent the passage of Western oil tankers through the gulf, I have no doubt that the three navies would act together to keep the route open...