The North Atlantic Treaty Organization announced today that it would hold extensive land, sea and air maneuvers in the Mediterranean, starting April 20. The announcement coincided with a new surprise build-up of the Soviet Mediterranean fleet which, observers said, would bring Soviet sea-power in the Mediterranean back to its level of strength reached at the height of the Arab-Israeli war in June, 1967.
A Tass dispatch from Moscow today hinted that the Soviet fleet build-up was a response to “the activation of war preparations in the Mediterranean region of Europe where the U.S. missile-nuclear fleet is constantly cruising.”
Admiral Horacio Rivero, of the U.S., commander in chief of allied forces in Southern Europe, said in Naples today that the NATO exercises would involve more than 60 allied warships and 300 aircraft. He said that a special force set up last year to maintain surveillance over Soviet naval movements in the Mediterranean would participate in the exercises for the first time. The force is known as the Maritime Air Forces, Mediterranean.
Western naval sources reported that the Soviets sent two cruisers, a destroyer and four submarines into the Mediterranean yesterday via the Straits of Gibraltar. The fleet, which came from Soviet Baltic bases, was originally believed to be headed for Chinese waters. British sources said that two more Soviet destroyers, three submarines, a submarine depot ship and a navy oiler entered the Mediterranean today. The sources said Russian destroyers and a submarine entered the eastern Mediterranean via the Dardenelles last week and that the Soviets were planning to dispatch two cruisers and eight destroyers from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean “within the next few days.”
Western sources here estimated today that the Russians will have about 50 naval ships in the Mediterranean next week in addition to supply and reconnaissance vessels. A number of Soviet ships are said to be using Egyptian ports as bases.
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