ABSTRACT
Since 1956, the Soviet Union has developed a substantial crisis response capability and can now detail naval power to crisis arenas in most of the major ocean areas. This ability allows the Soviets to compete with the United States by posing a significant threat to US forces at a crisis scene. An attack staged from Portuguese Guinea on Guinea in 1970 prompted a Soviet naval reaction. The Angolan crisis demonstrated an improved Soviet naval capability. In June 1967, the Soviet Navy began the first of several assertive naval responses in the Mediterranean. The Soviet Union's naval reaction to the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War is its most assertive to date and had a significant impact on US naval activity. In response to US naval activity, Soviet ships took up positions in the choke points in the central and western Mediterranean and attempted to intercept and monitor any units moving east.
