Importance of ‘Modern Gunboat Diplomacy’ Growing, Book Says

LONDON —  The new edition of Jane’s Fighting Ships said Thursday that “modern gunboat diplomacy” is taking on increasing global importance, and indicated that the April 15 U.S. air raid on Libya should have been left entirely to the American Navy.

Jane’s, the authoritative reference book on the world’s navies which has been published annually since 1897, cited the recent U.S. 6th Fleet’s maneuvers off Libya in the Gulf of Sidra and the Soviet Mediterranean presence in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war as successful examples of “modern gunboat diplomacy.”

Jane’s Editor John Moore, a retired Royal Navy captain, said in the foreword of the 1986-87 edition the approach is not new. He said warships have been used in international intervention as often since the end of World War II as in the 19th Century.

“The only variation in modern ‘gunboat diplomacy’ is that today there is little resort to weapons,” Moore said. “Certainly there have been occasions when bombardments have taken place . . . but the overall picture has been one of interposition.”

Commenting on the Libyan raid, Moore said the U. S. Air Force F-111s involved had to fly about 2,800 miles to the North African nation while planes on U.S. Navy 6th Fleet carriers were only 200 miles away in the Mediterranean.

Pentagon Split the Mission

The Pentagon split the mission between 6th Fleet planes and F-111s based in Britain. It said later that the F-111s could carry more bombs and had weapons systems well suited to the nighttime attack.

Moore commented: “If one finds an apparently illogical approach to an operational problem, then it is only sensible to probe the background for some form of subterfuge.”

He did not say why he thought the F-111s were used, but he suggested that either the U.S. Air Force was “determined to get in on the act” or the Americans were “determined to involve their European allies.”

Opposition politicians and some newspapers criticized Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for approving use of the bases for the raid. French-U.S. relation were severely strained by Paris’ refusal to allow the F-111s to overfly France, requiring them to make a long detour around Spain to reach their targets. One F-111 was lost on the raid, a its two-man crew was killed.

Moore said last April’s Chernobyl nuclear accident underlined the dangers of a nuclear exchange, which he said would make “naval operations, as now understood, nearly impossible.”

‘Picket of Diplomacy’

“If the major nations wish to avoid such a horrifying engagement, the chances are that navies will find themselves called upon to act as the picket of diplomacy,” Moore said.