Even with the Royal Navy and the Canadians-who soon came back to the Royal Canadian Navy in a break with Trudeau's naming-the USN had three oceans of responsibility and one ocean's worth of fleet. The Soviets also took Iceland a la Red Storm Rising-style and that helped the Soviets contest the Atlantic. A carrier battle group busy in the Med attacking Soviet naval facilities in Libya or Syria (and covering convoys from Alexandria and Haifa to the East Coast) is one not busy in the Atlantic either raiding Iceland or hunting Soviet convoys, for example. Throw in carrier losses (Forrestal, Saratoga, Coral Sea, Midway all sunk, Kitty Hawk damaged beyond economical repair, America in the yard for over a year with battle damage), and the need to escort convoys from the Persian Gulf (tankers), from South Africa (strategic minerals) and from Japan/ROK/Taiwan, plus Australia....destroyers and frigates on convoy duty can't form Surface Groups to hunt Soviet convoys, And the sub force was very busy as well....
The Third Battle of the Atlantic was chaotic from Day One onward-and it was that way until the end.
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Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.
Old USMC Adage
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