US Naval Operations

[Crofter]

Sometime in the 1950's a US Naval Fleet was supposed to take part in Naval Exercises off the North coast of Scotland but was diverted to deal with an "emergency" somewhere else in the world.

Can anyone shed any light on when those exercises were planned for and what the emergency might have been?

Regards,
Crofter

[Peter_uk_can]

Korea ?

The emergency not the Exercises.

[Crofter]

Thank you Peter,

Korea springs to mind, and you may very well be right, however, I am not quite sure that Korea was the emergency in question.

My reasons for doubt are:

1. NATO, which I would think is the organisation under which combined exercises were instigated, was formed in late 1949. The Korean War started April 1950. They would, more than likely, have been aware of the impending conflict. The thing is, would they not have had more important things to do than plan and deploy fleets on exercises in those 6 or 7 months?

2. Tensions in Berlin at the time meant that the US forces were already in a state of high alert. Would a concentration of NATO naval forces off the North of Scotland be seen as a provocative move by the Russians?

I was inclined to think that one or other of the incidents in the second half of that decade might be more likely. Iran, Cyprus, Suez, or even Viet Nam where the French were beginning to come under pressure, may be suitable candidates.

British and Commonwealth Forces would most likely also be involved in those exercises. So the emergency need not necessarily be an American one.

Thanks again.