US Maritime Power

Abstract

In the event of war, I am expected to establish and maintain a bridge between the United States and Europe over which the reinforcement and re-supply shipping flow, and upon which our forces in Europe depend. In fact the conflict in Europe cannot really proceed without that sea bridge between the United States and Europe being established and maintained. That is my first and foremost responsibility. In conjunction with that, my second task is to provide the cork in the bottle — if you will — which will prevent the Soviet Northern Fleet, and I single out the Northern Fleet for a specific reason, that will prevent the Soviet Northern Fleet from exiting their bases in the Kola Peninsular and gaining access to the maritime battleground in the North Atlantic. The third task — and this is one for which I am responsible only in my national capacity — is to establish and maintain a sea bridge between Cape Town, South Africa and Western Europe and the United States, over which the energy requirements for the Alliance must flow and over which the raw material and resources that emanate in Africa must be imported into the United States and Western Europe in order to fuel the war-fighting machinery and the industrial machinery of the Alliance.

Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT). Address given at the RUSI on 24 November 1981