The cruiser USS San Jacinto (near) sails side by side with the Russian destroyer Admiral Chebanenko (far)(Reddit)
Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., Breaking Defense: Outgunned Allies Must Contest Baltic, Black Seas: NATO Admiral
WASHINGTON: “When I was an ensign, a lieutenant, we knew we could beat the Russians. It was just a question of time because we were better than them,” NATO’s top admiral said. “I’m not sure we could make that assumption now.”
The European allies suffer many shortfalls at sea, said Vice Adm. Clive Johnstone, the Royal Navy officer heading NATO’s Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM): anti-submarine warfare, missile defense, munitions stockpiles, sealift, cybersecurity, even the command and control capabilities of his own 300-strong headquarters.
So, I asked the admiral at an Atlantic Council event, would coastal waters within range of Russian land-based missiles — like the eastern Mediterranean near Syria, the northern Black Sea, and the entire Baltic — be no-go zones for NATO navies in event of war? Would any NATO vessel in those areas during a crisis be effectively held hostage by the Russians?
“No and no,” Johnstone said. “We are not ceding ground and we wouldn’t put people in as hostages.”
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WNU Editor: Challenging Russia in both the Baltic and Black Seas would be like the Russian Navy challenging the U.S. in the Gulf of Mexico .... you can make your presence felt and you can show the flag .... but you are in hostile waters and you are vastly outnumbered and outgunned.