American Forward Maritime Strategy in the North Atlantic, 1957–60

Abstract

According to some observers, Admiral Sir John Eccles’s “frank admissions” about British naval weakness in late 1957, marked the first step in a campaign to have the US Navy assume additional duties in the Atlantic, much as the Sixth Fleet had done in the Mediterranean after the Second World War.1 And, indeed, in June 1960, the Daily Telegraph reported that for the first time the US was about to have a “continuously operational carrier striking fleet in the North Atlantic.”2 This chapter examines the growth of US naval activities and interests in the North Atlantic between 1957 and 1960, and assess their direct and indirect implications for Norway. In this context, three key areas merit particular attention: (1) the measures introduced to strengthen American anti-submarine warfare capabilities, (2) the deployment of Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines (Polaris) in the Norwegian Sea, and (3) the growing concern within the US Navy about possible limited war scenarios on the Northern Flank. The chapter also examines signs of growing Soviet concern about US maritime strategy in the far north after 1957.