Exercise Mainbrace Part of Cold War (19471953) NATO Northern Flank Type NATO combined naval training exercises Location North Atlantic Ocean, GIUK Gap, Norwegian Sea, Barents Sea, North Sea, Jutland Peninsula, and Baltic Sea Plannedby SACLANT & SACEUR Objective Deployment of NATO anti-submarine warfare forces, aircraft carrier strike forces, and supply convoys Date September 1425, 1952 Executedby Admiral Sir Patrick Brind, RN (CINCNORTH) Outcome Exercise successfully executed.

Exercise Mainbrace was the first large-scale naval exercise undertaken by the newly established Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT), one of the two principal military commands of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It was part of a series of NATO exercises jointly commanded by Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic Admiral Lynde D. McCormick, USN, and Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Matthew B. Ridgeway, U.S. Army, during the Fall of 1952.

The strategic importance of control of Norway and the adjacent Norwegian and Barents seas was recognized by Anglo-American naval planners as early as the First World War. The invasion and Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany Norway during World War II confirmed the importance of the region, as Germany was able to establish bases for submarine and air operations against Allied convoys bound for the Soviet seaport of Murmansk.[1]

Following the Second World War, several former allied navies executed a number of individual and multinational exercises, including:

Initial planning for Exercise Mainbrace was initiated by General Dwight D. Eisenhower prior to his resignation as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) to run for the President of the United States.[4] The exercise itself was commanded jointly by SACLANT Admiral Lynde D. McCormick, USN, and SACEUR General Matthew B. Ridgeway, U.S. Army, with the immediate theater commander being Admiral Sir Patrick Brind, RN, who was in Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe.[5][6][7][8][9]

Mainbrace was conducted over twelve days between September 1425, 1952, and involved nine navies: United States Navy, the British Royal Navy, French Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Danish Navy, Royal Norwegian Navy, Portuguese Navy, Royal Netherlands Navy, and Belgian Naval Force operating in the Norwegian Sea, the Barents Sea, the North Sea near the Jutland Peninsula, and the Baltic Sea. Its objective was to convince Denmark and Norway that those nations could be defended against attack from the Soviet Union.[4] The exercise featured simulated carrier air strikes against "enemy" formation attacking NATO's northern flank near Bod, Norway, naval air attacks against aggressors near the Kiel Canal, anti-submarine and anti-ship operations, and U.S. marines landing in Denmark.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Eighty thousand men, over 200 ships, and 1,000 aircraft participated in the Mainbrace. The New York Times' 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."[12][13]

USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42) with Carrier Air Group 17 (CVG-17):[14]

USS Midway (CVB-41) with Carrier Air Group 6 (CVG-6):[15]

USS Wasp (CV-18) and Carrier Air Group 1 (CVG-1):[16]

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Exercise Mainbrace - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia