Exercise Strikeback, aka Operation Strikeback, was a major naval exercise of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that took place over a ten-day period in September 1957.
As part of a series of exercises to simulate an all-out Soviet attack on NATO, Exercise Strikeback was tasked with two objectives. Its initial objective was the deployment of NATO's naval forces (designated the "Blue Fleet") against other NATO forces attempting to simulate an "enemy" navy that featured a large number of submarines (designated the "Orange Fleet"). Its other objective was to have the Blue Fleet execute carrier-based air strikes against "enemy" formations and emplacements along NATO's northern flank in Norway.
Exercise Strikeback involved over 200 warships, 650 aircraft, and 75,000 personnel from the United States Navy, the Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, the French Navy, the Royal Netherlands Navy, and the Royal Norwegian Navy. As the largest peacetime naval operation up to that time, military reporter Hanson W. Baldwin of The New York Times said Exercise Strikeback gathered "the strongest striking fleet assembled since World War II."
Strikeback and the other concurrent NATO exercises held during the fall of 1957 would be the most ambitious military undertaking for the alliance to date, involving more than 250,000 men, 300 ships, and 1,500 aircraft operating from Norway to Turkey.
Background Strategic overview Faced with the overwhelming numerical superiority of Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact military forces, NATO embraced the concept of the nuclear umbrella to protect Western Europe from a Soviet ground invasion. This strategy was initially articulated in January 1954 by U.S. Army General and then-Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alfred Gruenther:
This strategic concept reflected the American strategy of massive retaliation of the Eisenhower administration as set forth by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles:
NATO military command structure
With the establishment of NATO's Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT) on 30 January 1952, the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) joined the previously-created Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) as one of the alliance's two principal parts of the NATO Military Command Structure. In addition, Allied Command Channel was established on 21 February 1952 to control the English Channel and North Sea area and deny it to the enemy, protect the sea lanes of communication, and Support operations conducted by SACEUR and SACLANT. The following key NATO military commands were involved in a series of alliance-wide exercises, including Operation Strikeback, during the Fall of 1957., hereafter referred to as Warrior among Diplomats.
Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT) Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) – Admiral Jerauld Wright, United States Navy Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (DSACLANT) – Vice-Admiral Sir John Eaton, RN Chief of Staff (COFS) – Vice Admiral Harold Page Smith, United States Navy Eastern Atlantic Area (EASTLANT) – Vice Admiral Sir John Eccles, RN Western Atlantic Area (WESTLANT) – Admiral Jerauld Wright, United States Navy Striking Fleet Atlantic (STRIKFLTLANT) – Vice Admiral Robert B. Pirie, United States Navy Allied Command Europe Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) – General Lauris Norstad, USAF Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) – Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, British Army Chief of Staff (COFS) – General Courtlandt Van R. Schuyler, USA Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH) – Lieutenant-General Sir C.S. Sugden, British Army Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT) – Général d'Armée Jean-Étienne Valluy, French Army Allied Air Forces Central Europe (AAFCE) – Air Chief Marshal Sir George Holroyd Mills, RAF Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) – General Sir Richard Nelson Gale, British Army Central Army Group (CENTAG) – General Henry I. Hodes, USA Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH) – Admiral R.P.M. Bristol, United States Navy Naval Striking and Support Forces Southern Europe (STRIKFORSOUTH) – Vice Admiral Charles R. Brown, United States Navy Allied Forces Mediterranean (AFMED) – Admiral Sir Ralph Edwards, RN Allied Command Channel (CHANCOM) Commander-in-Chief Channel (CINCHAN) – Admiral Sir Guy Grantham, RN
Operational history As part of the response to a theoretical Soviet attack against NATO on all fronts, Operation Strikeback would test the capabilities of Allied naval forces (Blue Fleet) by tasking them to destroy the enemy navy (Orange Fleet) and its huge submarine fleet, protect transatlantic shipping, and undertake sustained carrier-based air strikes against the enemy positions.Warrior among Diplomats. p. 333 - 334
Beginning on 3 September 1957, American and Canadian naval forces got underway to join British, French, Dutch, and Norwegian naval forces in eastern Atlantic and northern European waters under the overall command of Vice Admiral Robert B. Pirie, United States Navy, Commander, United States Second Fleet, acting as NATO's Commander Striking Fleet Atlantic. While en route, the U.S.-Canadian naval forces executed Operation Seaspray, a bilateral naval exercise to protect Blue Fleet's vitally-important underway replenishment group (URG) from enemy submarine attacks., hereafter referred to as USS Wasp The nuclear submarine and the conventional submarine completed operations in the Arctic and joined 34 other U.S. and allied submarines temporarily assigned to the Orange Fleet. USS Mount McKinley was based in Portsmouth Naval Base as the command communications base for the Orange forces controlling Comsuborangelant/Comphiborangelant for the duration of the Exercise.
Operation Strikeback itself began on 19 September 1957, involving over 200 warships, 650 aircraft, and 65,000 personnel. To provide a more realistic simulation of protecting transatlantic shipping, over 200 merchant marine vessels, including the ocean liners and , also participated as duly-flagged target ships for the exercise. Blue Fleet hunter-killer (HUK) groups centered around the carriers , , and , as well as submarines and land-based anti-submarine patrol aircraft, executed Operation Fend Off/Operation Fishplay to identify, track, and contain the breakout of the enemy Orange Fleet's submarine force along the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap (GIUK gap").USS Wasp, p. 118
Operating above the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Sea, the Blue Fleet, which included the new aircraft carriers and , launched carrier-based air strikes against enemy positions in Norway. Time magazine provided the following contemporary coverage of Operation Strikeback:
Following the conclusion of Operation Strikeback, U.S. naval forces conducted Operation Pipedown, involving the protection of its underway replenishment group while en route back the United States.USS Wasp, p. 119
SACLANT Admiral Jerauld Wright, United States Navy, described Operation Strikeback as being "remarkably successful" while also noting "[that] there is considerable scarcity of both naval and air forces in the eastern Atlantic."Warrior among Diplomats, p. 334 Wright's Eastern Atlantic allied commander, Vice Admiral Sir John Eccles, RN, also noted:
Particularly significant was the performance of nuclear-powered submarines with the U.S. Navy's first two such vessels, the and , participating in Operation Strikeback. According to naval analyst-historian Norman Friedman, Nautilus "presented a greater threat than all 21 snorkel submarines combined" during Operation Strikeback, making 16 successful attacks against various naval formations while maintaining effective on-station tactical and high-speed pursuit capabilities. Nautilus cruised 3,384 nautical miles (6,267 km) with an average speed of 14.4 knots (26.7 km/h). In addition to the Nautilus, the Seawolf departed New London on 3 September for Operation Strikeback. Before she surfaced off Newport, Rhode Island, on 25 September, Seawolf had remained submerged for 16 days, cruising a total of 6,331 miles (10,189 km). Recognizing the need to meet this Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) challenge, the following actions were taken:
Task Force Alfa was created by the U.S. Navy to develop improved ASW tactics and technology by integrating carrier-based ASW aircraft, land-based patrol aircraft, refitted destroyers, and hunter-killer submarines. NATO Undersea Research Centre was established by SACLANT on 2 May 1959 in La Spezia, Italy, to serve as a clearinghouse for NATO's anti-submarine efforts.Warrior among Diplomats, p. 357
Operation Strikeback was the final deployment for the battleships and until their re-activation in the 1980s by the Reagan Administration. Finally, on the technical level, Operation Strikeback saw the first use of single sideband (SSB) voice communications for tactical operations by the United States Navy,Chronological History – U.S. Naval Communications, p. 16 and was the first Royal Navy carrier to use a magnetic loop communication system.
In addition to Operation Strikeback, which concentrated on its eastern Atlantic/northern European flank, NATO also conducted two other major military exercises in September 1957, Operation Counter Punch involving Allied Forces Central Europe on the European mainland and Operation Deep Water involving NATO's southern flank in the Mediterranean Sea.
Naval forces The following is a partial listing of naval forces known to have participated in Operation Strikeback.
Aircraft carriers and embarked air groups – Blue Fleet flagship Carrier Air Group Seven Fighter Squadron 61 (VF-61) Attack Squadron 72 (VA-72) Attack Squadron 75 (VA-75) All-Weather Attack Squadron 33 (VA(AW)-33) Det. Light Photographic Squadron 62 (VFP-62) Det. Utility Helicopter Squadron 2 (HU-2) Det.
Carrier Air Group One Fighter Squadron 14 (VF-14) Fighter Squadron 84 (VF-84) Attack Squadron 15 (VA-15) Attack Squadron 76 (VA-76) Heavy Attack Squadron 1 (VAH-1) Airborne Early Warning Squadron 12 (VAW-12) Det. All-Weather Attack Squadron 33 (AV(AW)-33) Det. Utility Helicopter Squadron 2 (HU-2) Det.
Carrier Air Group Six: Fighter Squadron 33 (VF-33) Fighter Squadron 71 (VF-71) Attack Squadron 25 (VA-25) Attack Squadron 66 (VA-66) Heavy Attack Squadron 11 (VAH-11) All-Weather Attack Squadron 33 (VA(AW)-33) Det. Light Photographic Squadron 62 (VFP-62) Det. Airborne Early Warning Squadron 12 (VAW-12) Det. Utility Helicopter Squadron 2 (UH-2) Det.
Squadrons embarked: Air Anti-submarine Squadron 36 (VS-36) Anti-submarine Helicopter Squadron 3 (HS-7) Utility Helicopter Squadron 2 (HU-2) Det.
Squadrons embarked: Air Anti-submarine Squadron 32 (VS-32) Anti-submarine Helicopter Squadron 1 (HS-1) Attack Squadron 172 (VA-172) All-Weather Fighter Squadron 4 (VF(AW)-4) Det. Utility Helicopter Squadron 2 (HU-2) Det.
Squadrons embarked: Attack Squadron 44 (VA-44) Air Anti-submarine Squadron 27 (VS-27) Air Anti-submarine Squadron 30 (VS-30) Anti-submarine Helicopter Squadron 5 (HS-5) Utility Helicopter Squadron 2 (HU-2) Det. – Orange Fleet flagship Squadrons embarked: 802, 804, 815, 831, 849B, 898
Squadrons embarked: 820, 845, 849D, 891
Squadrons embarked: 803, 806, 813, 814, 848A
Naval aircraft United States Navy: Fighters: Grumman F-9 Cougar VA-76 - F9F-8B VA-44 - F9F-8 VA-66 - F9F-8B VFP-62 - F9F-8P McDonnell F3H Demon VF-14 - F3H-2N VF-61 - F3H-2M Douglas F2H Banshee VFP-62 - F2H-2P VF-71 - F2H-3/4 VA-172 - F2H-2/2B North American FJ-3 Fury VF-33 - FJ-3/3M VF-84- FJ-3M Anti-submarine (ASW) aircraft: Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune VP-8 VP-10 Grumman S2F Tracker VS-27- S2F-1/2 VS-30 - S2F-1/2 VS-32 - S2F-1/2 VS-36 - S2F-1/2 Attack bombers: Douglas A-4 Skyhawk VA-72 - A4D-1 Douglas AD Skyraider VAW-12 - AD-5W VA-15 - AD-6 VA-25 - AD-6 VA(AW)-33 - AD-5N, AD-5Q VA-75 - AD-6 VF(AW)-4 – AD-5 Douglas A-3 Skywarrior VAH-1 - A3D-1 North American AJ Savage VAH-7 – AJ-2 VAH-11 – AJ-2 Helicopters: Piasecki HUP-2 Retriever HU-2