UNITED STATES NAVY IN DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM

seeable future. Red Sea and Indian Ocean reached as high as
130 degrees, the non-air-conditioned ships ro-
The American response to the Iraqi in- tated every few months - a practice still fol-
vasion of Kuwait and the threat against Saudi lowed today, with the exception of the single
Arabia was a logical extension of the United forward-deployed command ship.
States' post World War H Persian Gulf policy.
Saudi Arabia, with its enormous petroleum American political involvement in the
reserves, has long had a special relationship Persian Gulf after the end of World War II
with the United States, symbolized by Presi- deepened with successive crises. For three
dent Franklin Roosevelt's meeting with King - decades we depended on others to provide for
Thn Saud in February 1945. The present Saudi the defense of the region. The United States
monarch, King Fahd, recalled that meeting first looked to the British, who withdrew from
when he met with Secretary of Defense Dick the Gulf in the late 1960s. In the 1970s we
Cheney in Jidda on 6 August 1990. Planning turned to Iran and Saudi Arabia to act as "twin
for the huge air base at Dhahran, which fig- pillars" in the region. When Bahrain became a
ured so prominently in DESERT SHIELD/ sovereign state in 1971, the U.S. Navy worked
STORM, began in 1944 and continued after the out an agreement to take over piers, radio
~-~ar as a symbol of American commitment to transmitters, warehouses, and other facilities
the Saudi monarchy. The U.S. Navy has main- left vacant by the departing British. USS
tained a permanent presence in the Gulf since LASALLE (AGF 3), an amphibious transport
the establishment of the Middle East Force in ship converted for Gulf duty, began to serve as
1949. the permanent MIDEASTFOR flagship 24
August 1972.
Navy presence was embodied in the
"little white fleet" of USS DUXBURY BAY LASALLE became a familiar site in the
(AVP 38), USS GREENWICH BAY (AVP 41) Middle East. LASALLE and the small
and USS VALCOUR (AVP 55) - former sea- MIDEASThOR's peacetime mission has fo-
plane tenders - which rotated duties as flag- cused on building good relations - "showing
ship for Commander- Middle East Force and the flag" to generate goodwill and promote
his staff. All three ships were painted white to mutual understanding, while providing a
counter the region's extreme heat. The flag- counterweight to aggressive Soviet Navy ex-
ship served as the primary protocol platform pansion in the region.
of the United States throughout the region.
Accompanied by one or two other rotationally After the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979,
deployed warships, the Middle East Force the United States assumed greater responsibil-
(MIDEASTFOR) provided the initial U.S. mili- ity for the security of the Gulf. During the
tary response to any crisis in the region, as well 1979-1981 Iranian hostage crisis, nearly 30 Navy
as humanitarian and emergency assistance. ships were on constant patrol in the region,
including one carrier battle group in the In-
For the next 20 years, three or four ships dian Ocean or North Arabian Sea. In April
at a time were assigned to MIDEASTFOR - 1980, the USS NIMITZ (CVN 68) battlegroup
generally a command ship and two or three served as a jumping off point for the joint-
small combatants such as destroyers or frig- service rescue attempt of the 52 American
ates. Because temperatures in the Persian Gulf, hostages.

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