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U.S. from bombing Haiphong's piers or mining the harbor. And it is another bridge of Soviet ships that carries the $1,000,000-a-day in supplies that sustains Castro's Cuba as the only Communist foothold in the Hemisphere.
Outflanking NATO. In the Mediterranean, the impact of the Soviet fleet has been particularly dramatic. Where Russia had only half a dozen ships a year ago, it now has 46 ships, almost as many as the 50-ship U.S. fleet, which for years had made the "Med" practically an American lake. Many of the Soviet ships came through the Dardanelles during the Six-Day War, and their arrival helped persuade the Israelis to accept a ceasefire. The Soviets have enhanced their new image as the protector of their Arab allies by keeping a few ships in Alexandria and Port Said so that Israeli bombers will not be tempted to blast away at the vast amount of war materiel that is flowing into those ports.
One main Soviet objective is to outflank NATO's land-based defenses—a goal that the Russian navy has partial ly reached by penetrating the Mediterranean. In a report to the Western European Union last November, Dutch Delegate Frans Goedhart warned: "It is no longer correct to speak of the 'danger' of the Soviet Union outflanking the NATO southern flank. This 'danger' has become a reality." To the north, the Russians have also turned the Baltic into a virtual Red Sea on which their warships now outnumber NATO forces 5 to 1.
To support its growing naval activity, Russia is searching for new bases and ports of call. Soviet diplomats are setting up an embassy in the new republic of South Yemen, where the Russians have their eye on the former British naval installation at Aden; the installation not only controls entry to the Red Sea but is an ideal base from which to expand influence into the oil-rich sheikdoms of the Persian Gulf. The Soviets may also be able to use the facilities of the big British naval base at Singapore, which Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has said he will rent to all comers after the Royal Navy pulls out in 1971. The big question in the Mediterranean is whether the Russians will move into the Algerian naval base at Mers-el-Kebir, which the French evacuated last month; it is only 315 miles east of Gibraltar. Russians have also used their influence with the Arabs to set up secret stockpiles of spare parts within trucking distance of Arab ports.
Russian Marines. Admiral Gorshkov s ships are not only wide-ranging but among the world's newest and best equipped. Unlike the U.S. and Britain, both of which emerged from World War II with large surface fleets, Russia had to start practically from scratch after the war. The result: while 60% of the U.S. fleet consists of ships 25 years old or older, the Soviet navy's sur face fleet is sleek and modern. "Almost every time you go into a harbor," says U.S. Navy Captain Harry Allendorfer, an expert on Soviet seapower, "if there are no flag markings and you pick out the cleanest and best-looking ships, nine out of ten of them will be Russian."