Operation Sharp Guard
Operation Sharp Guard | |
---|---|
Part of NATO intervention in Bosnia | |
![]() NATO ships enforcing the blockade | |
Objective | Blockade former Yugoslavia |
Date | 15 June 1993 – 2 October 1996 |
Executed by | ![]() ![]() |
Operation Sharp Guard was a multi-year joint naval blockade in the Adriatic Sea by NATO and the Western European Union on shipments to the former Yugoslavia.[1][2][3][4] Warships and maritime patrol aircraft from 14 countries were involved in searching for and stopping blockade runners. The operation began on 15 June 1993. It was suspended on 19 June 1996, and was terminated on 2 October 1996.
Background
[edit]The operation replaced naval blockades Operation Maritime Guard (of NATO; begun by the U.S. in November 1992) and Sharp Fence (of the WEU).[5] It put them under a single chain of command and control (the "Adriatic Military Committee", over which the NATO and WEU Councils exerted joint control), to address what their respective Councils viewed as wasteful duplication of effort.[1][2][6][7] Some maintain that despite the nominal official joint command and control of the operation, in reality it was NATO staff that ran the operation.[8][9]
Purpose
[edit]The operation's purpose was, through a blockade on shipments to the former Yugoslavia,[10] to enforce economic sanctions and an arms embargo of weapons and military equipment against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and rival factions in Croatia and Bosnia.[11][12][13] The Yugoslav Wars were being waged, and the participants hoped to limit the fighting by limiting supplies to it.
Blockade
[edit]Fourteen nations contributed ships and patrol aircraft to the operation. At any given time, 22 ships and 8 aircraft were enforcing the blockade, with ships from Standing Naval Force Atlantic and Standing Naval Force Mediterranean establishing a rotating duty.[14] (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S.),[11] and eight maritime patrol aircraft, were involved in searching for and stopping blockade runners.[2][15][16][17][18][19] Most contributors to the operation supplied one or two ships.[17] The Turkish Navy, for example, participated with frigates, submarines, and tankers.[20][21]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Zeffiro_%28F577%29_Beirut.jpg/196px-Zeffiro_%28F577%29_Beirut.jpg)
The operational area was divided into a series of "sea boxes", each the responsibility of a single warship.[11] Each boarding team was composed of a "guard team" to board and wrest control of the target ship, and a "search team", to conduct the search.[11]
The ships were authorized to board, inspect, and seize both ships seeking to break the blockade and their cargo.[22] The Combined Task Force 440 was commanded by Admiral Mario Angeli of Italy.[2] It marked the first time since its founding in 1949 that NATO was involved in combat operations.[4]
Jadran Express incident
[edit]On 11 March 1994, a combined British and Italian intelligence operation led to the capture of the Maltese merchant ship Jadran Express by the Italian frigate Zeffiro, which forced the freighter into the port of Taranto. The ship had departed from Odessa bound to Venice with a cache of 2,000 tons of Soviet-designed weaponry, valued at US$200 million. Manned by a boarding party of Italian marines from the San Marco battalion, the Jadran Express was eventually escorted by Zeffiro to the naval base of La Maddalena, where her cargo was unloaded under heavy security.[23]
Lido II incident
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/HMS_Chatham_%28F87%29.jpg/220px-HMS_Chatham_%28F87%29.jpg)
The issue of differing views among nations in the coalition as to the use of force authorized by rules of engagement arose in April 1994.[24] Faced with the Maltese tanker Lido II making its way towards a Montenegrin port with 45,000 tons of fuel oil, the American cruiser USS Philippine Sea asked the NATO commander (a British Commodore) for guidance, and received authorization to use "disabling fire" to stop the tanker, if necessary.[24] He received confirmation that he should follow the British commodore's guidance from his own higher authority.[24] Under U.S. Navy standards, "disabling fire" means firing rounds into the ship's engineering space. The U.S. cruiser was about to pass the order along to the Dutch Kortenaer-class frigate HNLMS Van Kinsbergen. However, the fact that the Dutch definition of "disabling fire" involves launching rounds into the bridge of the target ship, with an increased risk of loss of life, became important.[24] The ship was boarded by Dutch Marines inserted by helicopter from HNLMS Van Kinsbergen and eventually stopped without firing a shot on the first of May.[24] Three Yugoslav Navy Končar-class corvettes challenged the NATO operation and one of them tried to ram the British frigate HMS Chatham as it was assisting Van Kinsberger. The corvettes eventually fled following the reaction of the British warship, supported by Italian Tornado aircraft which scrambled from an airbase at Gioia Del Colle. Lido II had to undergo repairs before being diverted to Italy, since the crew had sabotaged the ship's engine room. The leaking was contained by an engineer party from HMS Chatham. Seven Yugoslav stowaways,[25][26] all of them members of the special forces of the Yugoslav Navy,[27] were found on board.[25][26] A similar incident had taken place off Montenegro a year before, on 8 February 1993, when a boarding party from the Italian frigate Espero forcibly seized the Maltese freighter Dimitrakis, which feigned an emergency in order to divert her route to the port of Bar. The merchant was smuggling coal to the Serbs from Romania.[27]
Suspension
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/HMS_Nottingham_D91.jpg/240px-HMS_Nottingham_D91.jpg)
The blockade was suspended following a UN decision to end the arms embargo, and NATO's Southern Command said that: "NATO and WEU ships will no longer challenge, board or divert ships in the Adriatic".[2] The Independent warned at the time that "In theory, there could now be a massive influx of arms to Bosnia, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), although senior military and diplomatic sources yesterday said that they thought this would be unlikely."[2]
NATO naval forces inspected 5800 ships at sea . Of them, 1400 were diverted and inspected in port. No vessels were reported as having broken the embargo, although six were seized while attempting to do so.[28]
Applicable UN resolutions
[edit]The blockade was conducted in accordance with numerous United Nations Security Council Resolutions: UNSCR 713,[29] UNSCR 757,[30] UNSCR 787[31] UNSCR 820,[32] and UNSCR 943.[33] Resolution 787 authorized participating states to "use such measures ... as may be necessary ... to halt all inward and outward maritime shipping ... to insure strict implementation of" the arms embargo and economic sanctions against the former Yugoslavia.[1] Over the course of the operation, the blockade was redefined in accordance with UNSCR 1021[34] and UNSCR 1022.[35]
Ships participating (Extract)
[edit]- Belgian Navy:
- Canadian Forces Maritime Command:
- Royal Danish Navy:
- French Navy:[37]
- German Navy:
- Hellenic Navy:
- Italian Navy:
- Royal Netherlands Navy:[37]
- HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerk
- HNLMS Jan van Brakel
- HNLMS Karel Doorman
- HNLMS Abraham van der Hulst
- HNLMS Philips van Almonde
- HNLMS Piet Hein
- HNLMS Pieter Florisz
- HNLMS Bloys van Treslong (F824)
- HNLMS Van Kinsbergen
- HNLMS Witte de With
- HNLMS Zuiderkruis (A832)
- HNMLS De Ruyter (F806)
- Portuguese Navy:
- Spanish Navy:
- Royal Norwegian Navy:
- Turkish Navy:
- Royal Navy:[2]
- U.S. Navy:
- USS America
- USS Anzio
- USS Arthur W. Radford[38]
- USS Bainbridge
- USS Boone
- USS Boston
- USS Cincinnati
- USS Cape St. George
- USS Comte de Grasse
- USS Conolly[39]
- USS Dale
- USS Deyo
- USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
- USS Edenton
- USS Elrod
- USS Groton
- USS John Rodgers
- USS Josephus Daniels
- USS Kauffman
- USS Kidd
- USS Mississippi
- USS Mitscher
- USS Monterey
- USS Nassau
- USS Nicholas
- USS Normandy[13]
- USS Pensacola
- USS Peterson
- USS Ponce
- USS Saipan
- USS Samuel B. Roberts[37]
- USS Scott[40]
- USS Simpson
- USS South Carolina
- USS Thomas S. Gates
- USS Ticonderoga
- USS Trepang (SSN-674)
- USS Theodore Roosevelt
- USS Thorn
- USS Vicksburg
- USS Yorktown
- USNS Kanawha
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Bruce A. Elleman; S. C. M. Paine (2007). Naval coalition warfare: from the Napoleonic War to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-77082-8. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g Christopher Bellamy (June 20, 1996). "Naval blockade lifts in Adriatic". The Independent. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ "U.S. Draws Criticism for Drawing out of Bosnia Blockade" Archived 2022-03-07 at the Wayback Machine, NPR, November 13, 1994
- ^ a b Peter L. Hays; Brenda J. Vallance; Alan R. Van Tassel (1997). American Defense Policy. JHU Press. p. 533. ISBN 0-8018-5473-3. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
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- ^ Carla Norrlof (2010). America's Global Advantage: US Hegemony and International Cooperation. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-74938-1. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ Trevor Findlay (1996). Challenges for the new peacekeepers. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829199-X. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ Simon Duke (2000). The elusive quest for European security: from EDC to CFSP. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-22402-8. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ Giovanna Bono (2003). NATO's 'peace-enforcement' tasks and 'policy communities,' 1990-1999. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0-7546-0944-8. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ Volker Rittberger (2001). German foreign policy since unification: theories and case studies. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-6040-0. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
- ^ Judy Woodruf (June 2, 2010). "As Flotilla Inquiry Calls Grow Louder, Legality of Gaza Blockade Examined". PBS NewsHour. Archived from the original on June 18, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Kathleen M. Reddy, "Operation Sharp Guard: Lesson Learned for the Policymaker and Commander" Archived 2012-10-02 at the Wayback Machine, June 13, 1997, retrieved June 7, 2010
- ^ "Analysis: NATO's predecessor about to go out of business". United Press International. November 20, 2000. Retrieved June 7, 2010.[dead link]
- ^ a b Jack Sweetman (2002). American naval history: an illustrated chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-present. Naval Institute Press. p. 292. ISBN 1-55750-867-4. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
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- ^ Vaughan Lowe; Adam Roberts; Jennifer Welsh (2008). The United Nations Security Council and war: the evolution of thought and practice since 1945. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 978-0-19-953343-5. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
- ^ Michael Brzoska; George A. Lopez (2009). Putting teeth in the tiger: improving the effectiveness of arms embargoes. Emerald Group Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84855-202-9. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
- ^ Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen (2006). Germany, pacifism and peace enforcement; Europe in change. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-7268-9. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
- ^ a b G. C. de Nooy (1996). The role of European naval forces after the Cold War. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 90-411-0227-2. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ Ronald M. Williamson (2000). Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, 1940-2000: An Illustrated History. Turner Publishing Company. ISBN 1-56311-730-4. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ Bernd Horn (2006). The Canadian way of war: serving the national interest. Dundurn Press Ltd. ISBN 1-55002-612-7. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ Brad K. Blitz (2006). War and change in the Balkans: nationalism, conflict and cooperation. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-67773-4. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
- ^ Nurşin Ateşoğlu Güney (2007). Contentious issues of security and the future of Turkey. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7546-4931-1. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
- ^ William J. Durch (1996). UN peacekeeping, American politics, and the uncivil wars of the 1990s. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-16075-5. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
- ^ "Le armi di Zhukov in un deposito a Santo Stefano Erano a bordo della nave Jadran Express fermata nel 1994 nel canale di Otranto - La Nuova Sardegna". Archivio - La Nuova Sardegna (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2018-09-02. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
- ^ a b c d e Stacey A. Poe, "Rules of Engagement: Complexities of Coalition Interaction in Military Operations Other than War" Archived 2017-02-02 at the Wayback Machine, Faculty of the Nava War College, February 13, 1995
- ^ a b "NATO and WEU ships encounter Yugoslav Navy while preventing violation of UN embargo". Press Release by NATO/WEU force conducting the Operation Sharp Guard in the Adriatic Sea, 1 May 1994. Release 94/13
- ^ a b McLaughlin, Rob (2009). United Nations Naval Peace Operations in the Territorial Sea. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p. 42, note 81. ISBN 90-04-17479-6
- ^ a b Giorgerini, Giorgio (2006). La guerra asimmetrica. Impiego delle forze aeronavali italiane nell'ambito di dispositivi joint & combined proiettati in teatri operativi lontani; composizione, sostenibilità logistica di un"Expeditionary Group" (PDF) (in Italian). Centro Militare di Studi Strategici. p. 52. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-20. Retrieved 2018-09-04.
- ^ NATO. "Operation Sharp Guard: Suspension of enforcement operations". NATO. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
- ^ "NATO/IFOR: UN Resolution S/RES/713 (1991)". NATO. Archived from the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ "NATO/IFOR: UN Resolution S/RES/757 (1992)". NATO. Archived from the original on March 29, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ "NATO/IFOR: UN Resolution S/RES/787 (1992)". NATO. Archived from the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ "NATO/IFOR: UN Resolution S/RES/820 (1993)". NATO. Archived from the original on January 24, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ "NATO/IFOR: UN Resolution S/RES/943 (1994)". NATO. September 23, 1994. Archived from the original on January 17, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ "NATO/IFOR: UN Resolution S/RES/1021 (1995)". NATO. Archived from the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ "NATO/IFOR: UN Resolution S/RES/1022 (1995)". NATO. Archived from the original on January 26, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ Frank Gale (January 4, 2008). "Stephenville native appointed commander of HMCS Calgary". The Western Star. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Factsheets : Operation Sharp Guard". Air Force Historical Studies Office. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
- ^ "Destroyer Joins Operation Sharp Guard". CINCUSNAVEUR - Commander in Chief, US Naval Forces, Europe. 23 May 1996. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
- ^ John Pike. "DD 979 Conolly". Globalsecurity.org. Archived from the original on September 12, 2009. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
- ^ "Military News" Archived 2016-07-30 at the Wayback Machine, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 6, 1994, retrieved June 8, 2010
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- Security Council resolutions
- UN Security Council Official Website, including all resolutions
- NATO Regional HQ Allied Forces Southern Europe Fact Sheet on Operation Sharp Guard
- Update on Operation Sharp Guard, December 1995
- General Framework Agreement
- "Evolution of the Conflict", NATO Handbook, December 18, 2002
- "Operation Sharp Guard: the sea embargo of Serbia and Montenegro", Barberan, J. F., Revista de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica, no. 727, pp. 750–57. October 2003
- Naval operations of the European Union
- NATO intervention in the former Yugoslavia
- United Nations operations in the former Yugoslavia
- Blockades by the United States
- Blockades
- Battles and conflicts without fatalities
- 1993 in Europe
- 1994 in Europe
- 1995 in Europe
- 1996 in Europe
- Military history of the Mediterranean
- Military operations of the Yugoslav Wars involving Germany
- Blockades by the United Kingdom
- Military operations involving the United States
- Battles of the Yugoslav Wars