ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role played by the Soviet Navy in supporting Soviet foreign policy objectives in southern Africa during the late Cold War period, namely, Soviet support for national liberation regimes in Angola and Mozambique and the struggle of the armed wing of the ANC and Namibian national liberation movement SWAPO against the Apartheid regime in Pretoria. It will argue that the credibility of Soviet policy in the region relied on growing Soviet naval power during the period, although the efficacy of that naval power in supporting foreign policy objectives was hampered by the Soviet desire not to see conflict in the region escalate into more direct confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union also supported the creation of fledgling indigenous navies in the region, but their sizes and capabilities were strictly limited.
