Evening star., 1951-08-06
Navy BoIsfering Fleet
InMediterranean With
Eye on Spanish Bases
Bx Elton c. Eoy

The Navy is building up its
fleet strength in the Mediterra-
mean. This may be one of the
reasons why the United States is
moving now for an arrangement
with Spain to use naval and air
bases in that country.
Since it began operating in the
Mediterranean soon after World
War II the 9Th Fleet has relied
on a method Of service and supply
like that used in the Pacific cam
paigns. All Of its fuel, food and
other supplies are from the train
Of auxiliary vessels steaming with
the fleet-tankers, cargo vessels,
refrigerator ships. repair craft.
Because the train must get Its
supplies in home ports Of the
East coast Of the United States,
this means q pipeline" Of 1900
miles must be maintained.
Except for occasional courtesy
calls at friendly Mediterranean
ports. ships Of the feet keep to
sea.
~ Sherman Revealed Increase.
The late Admiral Forrest Sher-
man. Chief Of Naval Operations,
told q House Appropriations Sub
committee in one Of his last ap-
pearances on Capitol Hill, that
I'VE have increased the strength
Of our fleet" in the Mediterranean.
The public record of his testi-
mony did not show whether he
had indicated the size Of the ex-
panded fleet.
However, information available
now shows that more than 80
ships. the majority Of them COM
batant vessels, now constitute the
. 9th Fleet.
It includes q 45.0Oo-ton carrier,
q 27.000-ton Essex class fiattop,
three heavy cruisers. at least 20
destroyers, a submarine and the
support and supply ships. Flag
ship of the feet is the amphibious
command ship Mount Olympus.
$4,000 Men Involved.
Aboard the ships is a total Of
about $4,000 men, including a
reinforced battalion of Marines.
In his testimony. made a few
weeks before he left on the mis-
sion to Spain and other Western
European countries and during
which he died of a heart attack,
Admiral Sherman also told the
committee:
''We must be prepared to play
a large part in the defense of
trans Atlantic communications,
control of the Mediterranean, con-
troll of areas around Northern
Europe, than we ever did before"
His mission to Spain caused
some official reaction at political
and government levels in Britain
and France.
However, one American official
who has extensive contact with
military men Of those powers has
said privately that the political
reactions to American negotiations
with Francois government do not
seem shared by realistic officials
Of the armed forces Of the big
I Western European powers.
Seek Naval Air Support.
Military leaders of the Western
European defense organization are
described as interested in seeing
ample naval air support, based
on carriers, for the ground troops
under the combined command Of
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. What
ever fighter and attack planes
carriers could send inland would
be valuable additions to the air
strength of land-based aviation
Of the NATO countries, they rea-
son.
Moreover the fleets Of the NATO
nations and their carriers can be
ready to move to Eastern Mediter-
ranean areas beyond the ground
defense lines of the Western Eu-
ropean forces. Should Greece or
Turkey or Yugoslavia be attacked,
carrier forces could bring help
swiftly.
Some official observers now in
cline to the thought that If Yu-
goslavia is attacked the strike
might not be by mere satellite
nations, but by Russian forces.
If that should happen, one expert
: commented, World War III would
! be close.
! Possibility Of Surprise Blow.
I This same official. discussing a
| possible Russian strike directly
against the major Western powers,
, suggested that such an attack
! could be complete surprise. He
explained that the Soviet armies
in Eastern Europe and Germany
are on almost constant maneuvers
and that these maneuvers could
be converted quickly into the
opening phase of an actual attack
on the NATO defenses. The So
Wet troop units, he explained, base
their maneuvers on theoretical
attack against units of the West
ern Europe defense forces which
the Red Army knows are in GER
tain positions.
Although he pointed to the op-
portunity for a sudden offensive
by Russian forces. the observer at
the same time thought there were
factors which worked against the
Soviets launching war now. He
doubted Russia's economy is ready
for supporting world war or that
she Is prepared to combat heavy
and prolonged atomic bomb at