THE UNITED STATES NAVY IN "DESERT SHIELD" I "DESERT STORM" II. THE GATHERING STORM THE BUILD-UP OF U.S. FORCES "If you look at the naval assets that have been deployed into the region, aircraft carrier battle-groups - four of them have been active at one time or another - as well as all other naval assets, I would agree there obviously isn't any other nation in the world that could do that today. We have in the first three weeks of the exercise deployed more capability than we had deployed in the first three months in 1950 when we were asked to go to Korea." -- Defense Secretary Dick Cheney 6 September 1990 "We are doing this for the people of Kuwait, for our other friends in the region, for our own economic interest, for the safety of Americans who are in danger, and for the promise of a safer new world where disputes will not be solved by war. -- General Colin Powell, USA Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff 11 November 1990 INTRODUCTION. We may never learn the ward-deployed posture of the fleet. On 2 extent to which on-scene naval forces influ- August, the ships of J9int Task Force Middle enced Saddam Hussein to stop short of invad- East were on station in the Persian Gulf, the ing Saudi Arabia. We do know that the sus- EISENHOWER battle group was in the central tainable combat capability and control of the Mediterranean in the last month of a sched- sea provided by naval forces afforded protec- uled six-month deployment, and the INDE- tion for the introduction of ground and air PENDENCE battle group was in the Indian forces arriving in theater in response to the Ocean near Diego Garcia in the early stages of deployment order. The joint teamwork of a scheduled Indian Ocean deployment. Mter naval, air, and ground forces - together with the invasion, both battle groups moved to- our coalition partners - generated tremen- ward the crisis area and by 8 August were on dous combat capability in a remarkably short station and ready to conduct air strikes - period of time. EISENHOWER in the Red Sea and INDEPEN- DENCE in the Gulf of Oman. INDEPEN- THE BUILDUP OF U.S. NAVYFORCES. The DENCE could have launched long-range r initial buildup of Navy forces for DESERT strikes as early as 5 August if required. SHIELD/STORM drew upon the normal for- - 11 -
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