The 26th of April 1956 is one of the most overlooked dates in history but one of the most consequential. On this date the USS Ideal X would set sail from Port Newark, New Jersey to the Port of Houston, Texas. The converted WW2 T-2 oil tanker was nothing special except the cargo it was carrying. US entrepreneur Malcom McLean would watch how ships were being loaded which was a long, time consuming process where individual items had to be packed into the hull of a ship. He would come up with a standard sized box called a container that could be packed and transported on the back of a truck or train and then can be loaded directly onto a ship and then on the other side they can again be attached straight to land vehicles. The Ideal X would be the first ship to carry cargo using containers.
This would revolutionize global trade and would be the single most important invention that would create the post Second World War era of globalization. This touches every corner of modern life from the food that we eat, to the clothes that we wear, to the natural resources that are used to power homes, industries, and cars and even to the device that you are currently reading this piece on. The smooth movement of goods around the world happen every day and is essential to the Liberal International Order and global supply chains. As was seen in 2021 when one tanker ran aground in the Suez Canal any blockages can cause massive economic damage. Freedom of navigation is vitally important and as such Naval power is needed to secure these trade lines as was pioneered by the British Empire. The US is the only country in the world with the ability to project this sort of power. As such this piece seeks to look at the most important places in the world that need to be controlled by the US to continue the free flow of goods around the world.
Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is the most important strategic point in the Middle East. The strait is shown below where the Persian Gulf meets the Indian Ocean. This strait controls all the shipping lanes out of the Persian Gulf and as such this gives Iran a large amount of control over this region. Iran can blockade the region as at its narrowest point it is 45kms wide. Practically this would be a case of Iran cutting off its nose to spite its face as Iran would not be able to trade its oil and would entice a response from the US 5th fleet. Although there is a threat of this happening if there is a serious threat to the Iranian homeland such as a US nuclear strike. As of 2016, there were 19 million barrels of oil a day pass through the strait. This disruption to the global oil supply would be catastrophic for the world economy and could grind it to a halt.
Despite the fact that there is often freedom of navigation through the strait there is always a dormant threat of tensions rapidly escalating. The most prominent example of this happened in 1988.
In 1979 two of the most prominent figures in 20th century Middle Eastern politics would come to power. In Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini would come to power following a revolution that would overthrow the US backed Shah and in Iraq Saddam Hussein would consolidate his power within the Baath Party. In post-revolutionary Iran many hoped that Iraq could be a strategic ally against Western interests, but this would quickly erode. Khomeini would call on Iraqi Shias to rise up against the Sunni Iraqi government. In response Saddam would begin to fund and arm Arab separatists in Iran. This group the Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan would famously take over the Iranian embassy in London in 1980 which would be the event that would bring the UKs special forces the SAS (seen below) to public consciousness.
This continued tit for tat undermining of each other would end up with Iraq invading on the 22nd of September 1980. This would lead to a long bloody war that was more akin to the First World War more than any modern war. Iran and Iraq would both use chemical weapons, human wave attacks, and trench warfare. Iran would even use child soldiers that they would use to clear minefields. This was not an attempt to find or defuse mines but instead to have children enter the minefield and run around until they stepped on a mine that would either significantly maim or kill them. Large groups of children tied together would be sacrificed to de-mine regions.
During the course of the Iran-Iraq war the US would escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. On the 14th of April 1988 the USS Samuel B Roberts a US Frigate was escorting a Kuwaiti tanker through the Persian Gulf. As it was passing through the strait it would collide with an Iranian sea mine that blew a 15-foot hole in the hull and nearly sank the ship. The crew managed to save the ship and it would make it into port in Dubai for repairs. President Reagan had previously warned the Iranian government that if any mining happened in the Strait of Hormuz there would be severe consequences.
On the 18th of April the US would begin Operation Praying Mantis where it would try and cripple Iran’s navy. A group of several surface ships including the aircraft carrier the USS Enterprise would be assembled into SAGs (Surface Action Groups). SAG Bravo would be the first to strike and consisted of the USS Merrill and the USS Lynde McCormick. It would target the Sassan oil platform (seen below) that was being used by the IRGC as a base of operations. The SAG gave a warning for those aboard to evacuate and minutes later the oil platforms two tugs would pull away. The SAG as a show of good faith would extend the deadline another 20 mins. After this time was up the ships would open fire at first over the platform in to scare the rest of the Iranians away. The IRGC would open up on the ships with the anti-aircraft guns stationed on the platform. This gun would be taken out and the Iranians would call for a ceasefire. One of the tugs would return to evacuate the rest of the crew of the Sassan. The ships would then begin to bombard the platform for the next forty minutes. Two Cobra gunships would also join the assault on the platform raking it with rocket and machine gun fire. After the bombardment a Marine assault force would be inserted onto the platform using Bell UH-1 “Huey” helicopters to lay charges to ensure the destruction of the platform. After they had returned to the ships the charges were detonated leading to the destruction of the platform.
SAG Charlie would arrive shortly after, reaching Iran’s other platform the Sirri. The exact same process was planned to attack the platform with the only difference being that it would be Navy Seals entering the platform rather than the Marines. SAG Charlie would send out a warning that would be followed and the tug of the Sirri would pull out. Again, the remaining Iranians would open fire on the ships. This time the SAG would send its cobra gunships to take out the Iranian guns. The fire was too heavy for the gunships to get in close enough to strike and as such they would turn around. The ships would then open fire on the platform which would start a fire. As such the Seals would be stood down as it was too dangerous to carry out an assault.
In the meantime, SAG Bravo would move North toward an unknown naval vessel operating in the area. The captain would dispatch a Sea Hawk helicopter to see if it was an Iranian vessel. However, it would turn out to be a Soviet vessel that was documenting the incident. The Iranian navy began to catch wind of what was happening on the oil platforms and began attacking any vessel that it could find. One attack would be carried out on the US flagged civilian ship the Willi Tide. Three Iranian gun boats were following the ship and Reagan would give US Naval aircraft the all clear to engage these attack boats. Two of the attack boats would be hit by the US aircraft. SAG Charlie would also engage an Iranian missile boat the Joshan with five anti-ship missiles that would leave the ship dead in the water. The SAG would then be engaged by Iranian F-4 Phantom jets. They would respond with firing anti-air missiles at the incoming jets. Two of the three would be hit with one of those being destroyed on impact whereas the other would limp back to Iranian airspace. SAG Charlie would then again turn its attention back to the Joshan and finish it off with their deck guns before being ordered to disengage.
One of the two flagships of the Iranian navy would be spotted by two A-6 Intruder aircraft. The Sahand would open fire on the Intruders as they flew by which would allow the A-6s to return fire as per their rules of engagement. They would open fire on the ship with a harpoon anti-ship missile followed up with a bombing run. This would begin to sink the ship. SAG Delta would arrive in the area along with more aircraft from the USS Enterprise. These would engage the Sahand and would destroy it completely. After the Sahand was destroyed another batch of A-6s would spot the sister ship of the Sahand the Sabalan. It would be bombed by an A-6 that would score a direct hit on the engine leaving the ship dead in the water. However, before more attacks could be carried out on the vessel attacks were called off for the day as the US was afraid that things were escalating too rapidly. The Sabalan would be towed back to port by the Iranians and Iran would launch ground based anti-ship missiles at SAG Delta, but none would hit their targets. By the end of the day half of the Iranian navy would be destroyed which would significantly diminish Iran’s ability to project power into the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.
Although 1988 was the most dramatic example similar events have happened recently. In 2019 Iran would board a British tanker passing through the Strait (seen below). The ship would be surrounded by four vessels and stormed by IRGC special forces by helicopter. The crew of 23 were instructed to steer the ship toward Iranian waters. This was decried by UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. After two months of being held in the port of Bandar Abbas the tanker would be allowed leave.
This goes to show that there is constantly a threat from Iran to the freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and as such the US and its allies need to be constantly vigilant to these threats in order to keep these vital trade routes open especially with the current oil prices and the fall out that the war in Ukraine is having on the global economy.
Horn of Africa
The Suez Canal is one of the most important areas in the world for global trade. From 1497 when Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama set sail for the first time around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa the only way to travel west to east by sea was to sail around the entire continent of Africa. This would all change in 1869 when the Suez Canal would open. This would connect the Mediterranean and the Red Sea through Egypt. This is one of the busiest trade routes in the world as was seen in 2021 when the “Ever Given” a container ship crashed in the Suez Canal. It is estimated that this crash cost a total of 9.6 billion dollars in lost revenue in the 6 days that it was blocking the canal. This would come to 6.7 million dollars a minute.
The real danger to the freedom of navigation in this area does not come from Egypt but instead comes from one of the poorest nations in the world to the south, Somalia. Somalia is in a prime geographical location as it sits on the Horn of Africa (seen below) which means it sits where the Gulf of Aden meets the Red Sea at the Mandeb Strait. Here both naval traffic coming from the Middle East and East Asia must travel through in order to reach markets in Europe. As such this has made the route a gold vein for piracy.
To understand the culture of piracy in Somalia it is first key to understand Somalia’s history. Somalia like many parts of Africa has a colonialist past. Somalia would be controlled by the Italians and the British. In 1940 as the Second World War entered its second-year Italian troops would attack British Somaliland and drive them out. However, Britain would regroup its forces in Kenya and would retake the entire region. In 1945 after the Potsdam conference Italy was given control of Italian Somaliland whereas Britain would retain British Somaliland with the understanding that Somalia would become an independent nation in ten years.
This would come slightly later than expected with the nation being formed in 1960. In 1969 Somalia would come under military rule with its new dictator Mohammad Said Barre. He would bring the country in a more left-wing direction and would meet with communist leaders such as Nicolae Ceaușescu of Romania. In 1977 Somalia would invade Ethiopia. This would alienate Barre from the leftist ties he would make as the Soviets and Cuba would support Ethiopia in this conflict. In 1980 Ethiopia would back separatist forces in Northern Somalia that would break away and declare themselves Somaliland. This was the area that was controlled by the British and as such there was a separate culture in the region from the rest of Somalia. This area to this day is still de facto independent but is not recognized by the UN. In 1988 the Somalian civil war would begin and in 1991 Barre would be removed from power.
This would cause a power vacuum that would see two rival rebel groups vying for power led by Mohammad Farah Aidid and Ali Mahdi Mohammad. A conference would be held in the neighbouring Djibouti with the governments of Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Italy, and Egypt being present. Aidid would boycott this conference and as such Mahdi was chosen as the true government by the international community. The UN would eventually send in peacekeeping forces under the United Nations Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM). By 1993 Aidid would instruct his troops to open fire on Pakistani troops who were operating as UN peacekeepers. This would lead to the famous Battle of Mogadishu (seen below) more commonly known as the Black Hawk Down incident after the book by Mark Bowden which would later be adapted into the 2001 movie of the same name directed by Ridley Scott. This would eventually lead to the UN pulling out later in the year.
In 1991 the Somali navy would be disbanded following the deposing of Barre. This would mean that Somalia could no longer police its own waters. Somalia sits on some of the largest migratory routes in the world for tuna and as such it has always had a thriving fishing industry. Without anyone to police the waters foreign fishing vessels were also competing for these fish and these trawlers would have a much higher capacity than the domestic Somalian fishing industry. After the civil war there were many weapons in the country as well as many with the know how to use them. As such fishermen began to band together in order to protect themselves against foreign fishing.
By 2000 many would realize that it was more lucrative to capture these vessels and bring them back to Somalian waters until a ransom was paid for their release. This would continue to get more profitable over the years with 2011 being a high point for ransom money being paid. By this stage the operations would become a bit more advanced with the fishermen no longer being the only ones involved. Often fishermen would be the ones on the operation to drive the boats, but the armed pirates would be militia men that had fought in the civil war. There is also a strange relationship that exists between the pirates and jihadists. Al Shabaab is the main jihadist network in Somalia and has strong ties to Al Qaeda. There have been reports of fighting between Al Shabaab and the pirates when Al Shabaab has tried to take towns that pirates are present in. On the other hand, the pirates often threaten to sell Western captives to Al Shabaab for execution if ransoms are not paid.
The international community would come together to try and deter this activity from taking place. It would become common practice for shipping companies to hire Private Military Contractors to protect ships from being boarded. Somalia’s northern neighbour Djibouti would allow many foreign militaries to open bases on its soil in order to continue patrols around Somali waters to protect shipping. This would include countries such as the US, France, Italy, Japan, and China. By 2013 piracy had dropped off by 90%. A few high-profile attempts were carried out in 2017 and 2020 but were all unsuccessful due to the measures that have been put in place to protect from piracy. The threat from piracy still exists around the Horn of Africa but has been significantly diminished.
Strait of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca is a natural choke point that exists between Malaysia and Singapore as can be seen below. It is a vital route for oil to go to East Asian countries and for East Asian produced goods to move to markets in Europe. It also is the economic link between nations such as India, China, Thailand, The Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore.
This region has large amounts of competition between three actors, China, India, and the US. The US has a series of bases in the area that are there to secure the strait as seen below. This strait is of severe importance for China as the majority of its oil comes through this strait. As great power competition seems to be more likely on the horizon the more there is a danger of a hot war between the US and China. If the US can secure the strait, it could bleed China’s war economy to a halt.
As such China has been trying to create land corridors through Eurasia to circumvent the Strait. The first of these efforts has been to leverage its ties with Pakistan to build a port at Gwadar so it can ship goods by rail through Pakistan and from there onto ships to travel west circumventing Indian power. The second way is through the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative which is also sometimes known as the new Silk Road (seen below). This is a series of oil pipelines and rail road’s spanning across Central Asia and the Middle East to connect China with Europe. The last thing that China can use to circumnavigate this issue is to lean more heavily on its ally Russia for energy imports. Russia needs new markets for its oil and natural gas considering the sanctions that have been put on Russia following the war in Ukraine. China can take advantage of this by giving Russia a new market at a desperate time meaning that it can set the terms of a deal. This however will be more of a long-term goal as infrastructure such as pipelines need to be built. Closer ties between China and Russia would be beneficial for both nations.
If China succeeds in its aims to get around the Strait of Malacca it will shift the balance of power in a confrontation between the US and China. The US also needs to get oil to its allies in East Asia such as Japan, South Korea, or Taiwan. If a war is to happen it is more than likely going to come from a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. This means that the US is going to need to reinforce them with arms, oil, and humanitarian aid. If the Western response is as unified as in the case of the invasion of Ukraine much of this equipment may come from Europe making the strait vitally important.
China has what is termed a green water navy. This means it can only project power in its waters and can operate in open oceans in its surrounding area. The US on the other hand has what is termed a blue water navy which is a navy that can carry out global power projection. As such China does not have the ability to control the Strait of Malacca. This however does not mean it is not a danger. It has the potential to carry out harassing attacks on shipping and the US navy in the region which would make the strait impassable. There is a term in shipping known as Malaccamax. This is the largest size that a ship can be to pass through the strait of Malacca as it is only 25 metres deep in some locations. As such if shipping is sunk in the strait, it would make passage nigh impossible.
Fortunately, up until this point there has not been confrontation for the strait like the other examples in this piece. However, the danger of this happening does always exist. Therefore, there will continue to be geopolitical manoeuvring to gain the most advantageous position over the strait as it is the choke point that could define the fate of East Asia.
Panama
The last and probably most vital trade route to the US is the Panama Canal. This canal would be built by the US and would be completed in 1914. This connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and allows ships to cut through Panama rather than having to go all the way around South America at Cape Horn. This is not just vital for US power projection abroad but plays a large role in US domestic trade. For ships to move from the US east coast to the west coast it involves travelling through the Panama Canal. As such Panama is one of the most strategically important countries for US interests in Latin America.
This would be seen in 1989 when the US would invade Panama in what was known as Operation Just Cause. Manuel Noriega would come into power in 1983. However, before this he would be a high ranking general. He had close ties with the CIA since 1967 and would help fight communist groups in Central America such as the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
Just after coming into power his relations with the US would begin to sour. He would be implicated in having ties with drug cartels which would later implicate him in the Iran-Contra affair that was a stain on the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Reagan would begin to pressure Noriega with drug indictments. In 1988 Noriega would beat a coup attempt and as relations worsened between the US and Panama, he decided to shift his political allegiances towards the Soviet Union. Elections would be held in Panama in May 1989. The opposition leader would win the election 3-1 but Noriega decided to nullify the election. This would lead to a second coup in October. These events would mount pressure on now President George H W Bush who would declare that he would no longer negotiate with a drug trafficker. In response on the 15th of December the Panamanian general assembly would pass a resolution declaring a state of war against the US. The Panamanian Defence Forces would open fire on off duty unarmed US soldiers who were stationed in Fort Clayton one of the US military bases along the Panama Canal.
The next day George Bush would sanction an invasion of Panama. The US would give four reasons for this invasion.
Safeguarding US citizens in Panama
Defending democracy and human rights
Combating drug trafficking
Ensuring the Panama Canal would remain neutral
As part of the invasion Navy Seals would take part in Operation Nifty Package. This would involve attempting to capture Noriega. He would flee and seek refuge in the Apostolic Nunciature which was the de facto embassy of the Vatican in Panama. The Seals (seen below) could not enter the building but instead they surrounded it and carried out psychological operations such as playing music loudly. Reportedly songs such as Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses, You Shook Me All Night Long by ACDC and I Fought the Law by the Clash were played. They would also rev the engines of military vehicles, set fires and clear areas of jungle with bulldozers to “clear helicopter landing zones”. This was all done to make life inside the embassy unbearable. After ten days of this Noriega would surrender. He would be flown to the US where he would stand trial for drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering and would be sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Operation Just Cause would end after 42 days, and a new operation would begin called Operation Promote Liberty which was a civil-military operation to support Panama’s new government and to help rebuild Panama. This operation goes to show the lengths that the US is willing to go to if its strategic interests in Panama are challenged.
Fantastic piece. Improving all the time.