Operation Linebacker: The Sea-Power Factor

Naval History Magazine ^ | August 2022 | Edward J. Marolda

[Retain Mike]

President Nixon was determined to come to the aid of America’s ally and to demonstrate to the leaders of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China that even in the post-Vietnam era, the United States would be a global power to be reckoned with. For Operation Linebacker, the May-to-October interdiction campaign, he ordered the deployment to the combat theater of massive naval and air forces. By 15 May 1972, an unprecedented six aircraft carriers and 95 other warships and support vessels buttressed the naval power of the Seventh Fleet. During the same period, the B-52 strategic bomber forces based on Guam and in Thailand grew to 210 aircraft. As these resources surged to the western Pacific, the Seventh Fleet’s carrier attack squadrons, cruisers, destroyers, and amphibious ships stepped up to the challenge. These naval forces would prove key to the defeat of the enemy’s Nguyen Hue offensive in MR I.

[daniel1212]

"The most important reason was that North Vietnam's neighbor to the north was communist China.”"

Meaning delay for another day. Now Pentagon official warns that China is acquiring new weapons five times faster than US