Blocking the Suez, Twilight style

[lordroel]

So we all heard several weeks ago the story about the container ship that block the Suez Canal for a while, now i was wondering, what if this happen during the war would A a blocking using one ore 2 ships be effective ore B dropping one ore two small nukes on the canal and last, who would benefit the most of a blocked Suez Canal, the Americans ore the soviets.

[unipus]

Presumably the Soviets would prefer it shut, as their Navy would have limited capability to access it anyway and it's of far more utility in supporting the west.

Of course that assumes a lot about the political picture. Are Egypt and other ME nations very Soviet-friendly at the time, or have they turned their eyes West How are they going to feel about its destruction

Regardless, having now seen how long a simple mistake can close it for, I think it's safe to assume that in a global war the continued survival of the Suez could be measured in days at most, and it doesn't take a nuke. Eventually it won't even be remotely feasible to reopen it at all.

[lordroel]

Presumably the Soviets would prefer it shut, as their Navy would have limited capability to access it anyway and it's of far more utility in supporting the west.

Of course that assumes a lot about the political picture. Are Egypt and other ME nations very Soviet-friendly at the time, or have they turned their eyes West How are they going to feel about its destruction

Even if Egypt is Soviet friendly, if Egypt refuse to close the Suez Canal for America and their allies, i see the Soviets closing it for them, the hard way (blocking ore nuking) ore maybe a softer way by mining the canal if that is possible.

[unipus]

Nuking it seems unnecessary; all you need to do is sink a ship in it. That can be a ship that's already there or one moved there, perhaps loaded with charges, for that purpose. The St. Nazaire raid comes to mind.

[Olefin]

Its in the East Africa Kenya Sourcebook - V2.2 canon - Soviet nuclear strike on Dec 6 1997 on the refineries at Suez block the southern end of the Canal with the wrecks of multiple ships and tankers

[lordroel]

Its in the East Africa Kenya Sourcebook - V2.2 canon - Soviet nuclear strike on Dec 6 1997 on the refineries at Suez block the southern end of the Canal with the wrecks of multiple ships and tankers

Thanks Olefin, so the Suez is out of action and will be for a long time i assume.

[Olefin]

Thanks Olefin, so the Suez is out of action and will be for a long time i assume.

The French cleared the wrecks by the late summer of 2000 as part of their effort to get oil from the Middle East - but yes it was blocked for all of 1998 and 1999 and a good part of 2000

[Raellus]

So v2.2 is covered, I guess. What about v1 I don't recall any mention whatsoever of the Suez canal in the v1 history. I don't know the RDF sourcebook well at all. Is it mentioned there, perchance

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[Southernap]

There is nothing in the RDF Sourcebook about the Suez Canal nor is there anything in the core rule book of V1.

In all likely hood it wasn't thought of by the designers at the time. The same sort of question could be asked of the Panama Canal. Without heavy equipment to dig out anything. It wouldn't be hard to close the Suez and keep it close for a while. There are no locks to the system, like there are with other canals like the Saint Lawrence or Panama, it is strictly level to the Med and the Red Sea. So a ship sunk in the canal or blocking the entrance or exit to Bitter Lake, would close the canal till that could be dug out. Do it and have enough terror attacks against the salvage crews and you have a major situation on your hands.

Historically, the canal was closed in 1967 that was a precursor to the Six Day War and the entrance at Port Said and Port Tewfik in the city of the Suez where mined as well as selected points along the canal in 1973. It took the US, RN, and USSR a full year from 1974 till 1975 to clear the canal for safe transit.

Want to have a potential game situation, look up the Yellow Fleet. A set of 15 ships that were stuck in the canal from 1967 till 1975 from a number of nations awaiting their chance to get out and go home.

[unipus]

The French cleared the wrecks by the late summer of 2000 as part of their effort to get oil from the Middle East - but yes it was blocked for all of 1998 and 1999 and a good part of 2000

That seems like an exceptionally ambitious timeline. Even disregarding the idea that there's an active war on the entire time.

[Southernap]

The French cleared the wrecks by the late summer of 2000 as part of their effort to get oil from the Middle East - but yes it was blocked for all of 1998 and 1999 and a good part of 2000

That seems like an exceptionally ambitious timeline. Even disregarding the idea that there's an active war on the entire time.

That is very ambitious timeline.

Historical context. Nassar sank a bunch of ships at both ends of the Canal in 1956. It took a multi-national force from November of '56 till late April '57 to create the minimal clear channel. Nassar then blockade the canal in 67; that combined with sea mines and anti-tamper devices on junk materials dumped in the canal; all of which blocked the canal from 1967 until 1975. That was 8 years the canal was closed and it took three nations doing mine sweeping, harbor clearance, and UXO removal. . I can't see the canal being cleared after a nuclear strike in anything less than a year by only one nation in the midst of a global war. Sorry, but it probably wouldn't have been cleared until late into the 2000s if at all by any concentrated effort.

[Olefin]

That is very ambitious timeline.

Historical context. Nassar sank a bunch of ships at both ends of the Canal in 1956. It took a multi-national force from November of '56 till late April '57 to create the minimal clear channel. Nassar then blockade the canal in 67; that combined with sea mines and anti-tamper devices on junk materials dumped in the canal; all of which blocked the canal from 1967 until 1975. That was 8 years the canal was closed and it took three nations doing mine sweeping, harbor clearance, and UXO removal. . I can't see the canal being cleared after a nuclear strike in anything less than a year by only one nation in the midst of a global war. Sorry, but it probably wouldn't have been cleared until late into the 2000s if at all by any concentrated effort.

In this case they werent doing minesweeping, harbor clearance or unexploded ordinance - they were clearing wrecks out of the channel. This wasnt a channel blocked with mines, etc. it was blocked by the ships and debris from the strike on the refinery. So the Canal wasnt blocked on purpose with a determined effort to keep it from being cleared for as long as possible. The French needed the southern entrance to the canal cleared - and it took them a while to do it. They arrived in the Middle East in mid-1998 and the Canal wasnt re-opened to traffic till the late summer of 2000. Basicaly they brute force cleared a path thru the wrecks to get the entrance open to the southern end of the channel.

And the Panama Canal we know was open at least as late as the Virginia Task Force in Satellite Down being reassigned to the East Coast - that is where they were headed when they ran into the Soviet force of destroyers. Per Satellite Down

On 3 March 1999, the USS Virginia received orders to takethe remains of the task force and return to the Atlantic with alldue speed. Task Force 115 cut south along the coast, hopingto make it safely through the Panama Canal system as a short-cut to the Atlantic. It was a voyage that the task force was notdestined to make it.

Thus the Panama Canal was still open and still functional in March 1999 - long after the nuclear phase of the war was over.

[Rainbow Six]

So v2.2 is covered, I guess. What about v1 I don't recall any mention whatsoever of the Suez canal in the v1 history. I don't know the RDF sourcebook well at all. Is it mentioned there, perchance

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I checked Med Cruise thinking it might have warranted a mention but nothing there either (to be fair the module doesn't go that far east).

[lordroel]

Thus the Panama Canal was still open and still functional in March 1999 - long after the nuclear phase of the war was over.

You think the Soviets launched a Spetsnaz raid ore nuked it.

[Olefin]

Oh I bet the Soviets did attacks on the canal but it wasnt nuked - at least not at the time of Satellite Down - i.e. they wouldnt have sent the Virginia to go thru the Canal if it was nuked and out of commission