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Operation Mainbrace was the first large scale naval exercise undertaken by the then newly-established Allied Command Atlantic , one of the two principal military commands of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization marker. It was part of a series of NATO exercise jointly commanded by SACLANT Admiral Lynde D. McCormick, USN, and SACEUR General Matthew B. Ridgeway, USA, during the Fall of 1952. Operation Mainbrace was conducted over twelve days between September 14 - 25, 1952, and involved the navies of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium operating in the Norwegian Seamarker, the Barents Seamarker, the North Seamarker near the Jutland Peninsulamarker, and the Baltic Seamarker. Planning for Operation Mainbrace was initiated by General Dwight D. Eisenhower prior to his resignation as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe marker to run for the President of the United States. Its objective was to convince Denmarkmarker and Norwaymarker that those nations could be defended against attack from the Soviet Unionmarker.Thompson. Lessons Not Learned, p. 15 - 16

Background

Strategic overview

Operation Frostbite (1946)
The strategic importance of the maintaining control of Norway and the adjacent Norwegian and Barents seas was recognized by Anglo-American naval planners as early as the First World War. This importance was confirmed when Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Norway during World War Two, allowing military bases to be established for submarine and air operations against Allied convoys bound for the Sovietmarker seaport of Murmanskmarker.Allard. "Strategic Views of the US Navy and NATO on the Northern Flank, 1917-1991"

Notable post-war naval exercises

Following the Second World War, several former allied navies executed a number of individual and multi-lateral naval exercises:

  • Operation Frostbite was a 1946 naval exercise involving U.S. Navy Task Group 21.11 led by the aircraft carrier USS Midway marker that operated in the Davis Straitsmarker between Labrador and Greenlandmarker.
  • Exercise Verity was a 1949 combined naval exercise involving the British, French, Dutch, and Netherland navies which carried out naval bombardment, convoy escort, minesweeping, and motor torpedo boat attack evolutions."SACLANT: Guardian of the Atlantic" All Hands, October 1952
  • Exercise Activity was a 1950 Dutch-led naval exercise that undertook the development of combined communications and tactical procedures.
  • Exercise Progress was a 1951 French-led combined naval operation with Belgian, French, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, and British naval units that participating in antisubmarine warfare operations, air defense maneuvers, minesweeping operations, and convoy exercises.
  • Operation Grand Slam was the first major naval exercise of the newly-formed NATO alliance. This exercise took place in the Mediterranean Seamarker, and it involved over 200 warships from the United States, British, French, and Italian navies centered around the aircraft carriers , , , and La Fayette. Operation Grand Slam involved carrier air strikes, convoy escort, anti-submarine operations, and shore bombardment. The overall exercise commander was Admiral Robert B. Carney, USN, NATO's Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe , who noted: "We have demonstrated that the senior commanders of all four powers can successfully take charge of a mixed task force and handle it effectively as a working unit."


NATO military command structure

With the establishment of NATO’s Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT) on 30 January 1952, the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic joined the previously-created Supreme Allied Commander Europe marker as one of the alliance’s two principal military field commanders. Also, a Channel Command was established on 21 February 1952 to control the English Channelmarker and North Seamarker area and deny it to the enemy, protect the sea lanes of communication, and Support operations conducted by SACEUR and SACLANT.

Operational overview

The exercise featured stimulated carrier air strikes against "enemy" formation attacking NATO's northern flank near Bodø, Norwaymarker, naval air attacks against aggressors near the Kiel Canalmarker, anti-submarine and anti-ship operations, and U.S. marines landing in Denmark. The exercise was commanded jointly by SACLANT Admiral Lynde D. McCormick, USN, and SACEUR General Matthew B. Ridgeway, USA, with Admiral Sir Patrick Brind, RN, in operational control of NATO's Allied Forces Northern Europe command.

Force composition

80,000 men, over 200 ships, and 1,000 aircraft participated in the Operation Mainbrace (see Table 1 below for details). The New York Time's military reporter Hanson W. Baldwin described this NATO naval force as being the "largest and most powerful fleet that has cruised in the North Sea since World War I."

Table 1 - Naval Forces - Operation Mainbrace, 1952)
NATO Members
Aircraft Carriers Battleships Cruisers Escorts MCM Submarines Patrol Squadrons Motor Ships/Trawlers Grand Total
United States 6 1 3 40 — 9 — — 59
United Kingdom 3 1 2 31 — 17 4 8 + Trawlers 66
Canada 1 — 1 5 — — — — 7
France — — — 7 11 — — 2 20
Denmark — — — 3 2 2 — — 7
Norway — — — 2 16 2 3 3 26
Portugal — — — 3 — — — — 3
Netherlands — — — 5 — 3 — 5 13
Belgium — — — — 2 — — — 2
TOTALS: 10 2 6 96 31 33 7 18 203

Blue Fleet

Blue Fleet Fast Carrier Task Force

USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42) with Carrier Air Group 17 :>
  • Fighter Squadron 171 (VF-171)
  • Fighter Squadron 172 (VF-172)
  • Fighter Squadron 174
  • Attack Squadron 175 (VA-175)
  • Fleet Composite Squadron 12 (VC-12) Detachment 42
  • Fleet Composite Squadron 33 (VC-33) Detachment 42
  • Fleet Composite Squadron 62 (VC-62) Detachment 42
  • Utility Helicopter Squadron 2 (HU-2) Detachment 41


USS Midway (CVB-41) with Carrier Air Group 6 :

>
  • Fleet Composite Squadron 8 (VC-8)
  • Fleet Composite Squadron 12 (VC-12) Detachment 41
  • Fleet Composite Squadron 33 (VC-33) Detachment 41
  • Fleet Composite Squadron 62 (VC-62) Detachment 41
  • Utility Helicopter Squadron 2 (HU-2) Detachment 41


USS Wasp (CV-18) and Carrier Air Group 1 :

>
  • Fleet Composite Squadron 62 (VC-62) Detachment 18
  • Fleet Composite Squadron 12 (VC-12) Detachment 18
  • Utility Helicopter Squadron 2 (HU-2) Detachment 18


HMS Eagle (R05):>


HMS Illustrious (R87):



Other major surface units - Blue Fleet

Light aircraft carriers were the , HMS Theseus, and HMCS Magnificent. Escort aircraft carriers were and . Major surface combatants included the battleships and HMS Vanguard, and the cruisers , , , HMS Swiftsure, and HMCS Quebec. The flagship of the amphibious forces was the .

Gallery

Image:HMS Vanguard - Operation Mainbrace 1952 - I03681.jpg|HMS VanguardFile:USS Midway.jpg|USS MidwayFile:HMS Vanguard (Battleship, 1946-1960)1.jpg|HMS VanguardFile:Lynde D McCormick.jpg|Admiral McCormick

Other NATO Military Exercises - Fall 1952

Operation Mainbrace was part of a series of NATO exercise jointly commanded by SACLANT Admiral Lynde D. McCormick, USN, and SACEUR General Matthew B. Ridgeway, USA, during the Fall of 1952 involving 300,000 military personnel engaged in manuevers from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean Seamarker.

NATO Central Front

Operation Blue Alliance

Operation Blue Alliance was a major allied air froce exercise for the Allied Air Forces Central Europe (AIRCENT) to achieve air supremacy over the Central European front and provide close air support to NORTHAG ground forces under the overall command of Lt. General Lauris Norstad, USAF.

Operation Equinox

Operation Equinox was a a major air-ground exercise involving French-American tactical air units and a French airborne unit under the command of Général d'Armée Alphonse Juin, French Army.

Operation Holdfast

Operation Holdlast was a major allied air-ground exercise involving 150,000 British, Dutch, Belgian and Canadian troops of NATO's Northern Army Group in coordination with the Allied Air Forces Central Europe while maneuvering east of the Rhine Rivermarker in the British Zone under the overall command of Lt. General Sir Richard Nelson Gale, British Army.

Operation Rosebud

Operation Rosebud involved ground manuevers by the U.S. Seventh Army in the American Zone.

NATO Southern Flank

Two exercises, Ancient Wall and Longstep, were run by Allied Forces Southern Europe in 1952.

Aftermath

Soviet reaction

The Soviet Union characterized Operation Mainbrace, Operation Holdfast, and other NATO military as "war-like acts" by NATO, with particular reference to the participation of Norwaymarker and Denmarkmarker, while the USSR was preparing for its own military maneuvers in the Soviet Zone.

Ufology

Operation Mainbrace has been a source of numerous sightings of flying saucers that reportedly occurred during this NATO naval exercise.

Notes

  1. Midway History and Events: Shake Down and Operation Frostbite
  2. "U. S. Navymen Work on NATO Team" All Hands, September 1952
  3. Time, September 22, 1952
  4. Time, September 29, 1952
  5. "HMS Vanguard: A short history of Britain’s last battleship", p. 18
  6. "USS QUINCY CA-71", p. 34
  7. NATO Military Command Roster
  8. "NATO Ships Enter Baltic Sea" - Sydney Morning Herald, p. 2
  9. "The NATO Exercices, Part 1" Flight (September 26, 1952) p. 402-404
  10. "The Bridge in Troubled Times: The Cold War and the Navies of Europe", p. 318
  11. Carrier Air Group Seventeen
  12. Carrier Air Group Six
  13. Carrier Air Group One
  14. Royal Navy Aircraft Carriers Part 3
  15. Audio # 564735: OPERATION MAINBRACE - ContextDescription dated 9/1952 - Imperial War Museum Collection (U.K.)
  16. "The NATO Exercices, Part II", Flight, p. 489-454
  17. Famous UFO Sightings - Operation Mainbrace September 1952
  18. "UFOs Seen by Crew of an American Aircraft-Carrier (1952-1958)"

See also



Sources and references



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