17- The Late Cold War and Operation Praying Mantis

US Naval History Podcast

This episode tells the story of the the post-Vietnam Navy, an era where we were outgunned and outnumbered by the newly resurgent Soviet Navy. During the Soviet naval building boom between 1966 and 1970, when the US was unable to match it due to the resource drain of the Vietnam War, the Soviets commissioned 209 ships to the US Navy’s 88. The WWII era of ships which had sustained the US fleet since the end of the last world war were at the end of their useful life and were not being replaced. By contrast, the entire Soviet fleet was practically new, built for modern weapon systems and with none of the resource-draining end-of-life maintenance issues that plagued the US Navy. By 1978 the Soviet fleet boasted 740 major warships to the US Navy’s 289. It was a multi-decade effort culminating the The Maritime Strategy to regain parity with the Soviet fleet.

It was amid this backdrop the late Cold War at sea took place, where the US Navy fought to control the Persian Gulf and its vital oil supplies, and at the same time manage the societal changes which wracked the nation and were reflected in the Navy. The Chief of Naval Operation from 1970-1974, Admiral Zumwalt, issued a series of 121 Z-Grams directly to the fleet which tackled quality of life and racial and gender equality problems plaguing the fleet.
Finally, this episode tells the story of Operation Praying Mantis, the largest sea battle since WWII, where the US Navy retaliated against the Iranians for the mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts.

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