NATO's Southern flank : problems and perspectives : the military aspect

Certainly, the choice is not easy0 Whatever choice is made, its strategic and political consequences would end up by affecting the mechanisms of the balance of power between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Mediterranean, with probable repercussions in the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, and in part even in the Atlantic0 Furthermore, a choice leading to a unilateral diminution - of th. [...] We must \ 25 o bear in mind : ( 1) the complexity of the Mediterranean situation and the particular characteristics of its military aspects ; (2) the importance any such choice would have, both within and outside the confines of the Atlantic alliance, and the significance which would be attributed to it , quite apart from the true reasons behind it ; (3) the peculiarity of the relations between th. [...] In particular, they point to the fact that the German Navy, with fewer than 50 operational submarines at the outbreak of hos- tilities was able to inflict , heavy losses on the allied con- voys coming close to, completely cutting the flow of supplies from the United States to Britain0 In the hypothesis of a possible conflict, the projections of the experts and the official projections of the U«S«. [...] (41) The Forrestal accident in particular, which was caused by the dropping of an auxiliary fuel tank from the wing of an air- craft parked on the flight deck and the consequent ignition of the fuel caused by the superheated steam of the catapults, completely destroyed 21 aircraft and damaged another 42, out of the total of 80 present on board® (42) While on the basis of the events of the second w. [...] France, An Unknown While the support of the Mediterranean countries for the Soviet Union is hypothetical and not at all sure, in case of conflict between the two alliances the United States could count on the participation not only of the members of NATO but almost certainly also of France® This would significantly change the naval equation in the Mediterranean , greatly to the detriment of the So.