Saturday, May 13, 1972
Zumwalt: Mines Alive, Will Slash Arms To Hanoi
WASHINGTON (AP) --The Navy's top admiral said Thursday the "mine fields are now active" off North Vietnam and asserted that the action was taken according to the "right of self defense.""This is clearly an act of self defense on the part of the United States and South Vietnam," Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt said less than an hour after U.S.-laid mines were activated in entrances of seven North Vietnamese ports.Zumwalt said the psychological effect of the U.S. mining on North Vietnam will be immediate.He said on NBC's televised Today show that the North Vietnamese know that "the input of supplies ... will be a trickle from now on."The admiral said the actions North Vietnam takes on the battlefield will determine how long the supplies the enemy already has will last.According to Zumwalt, some of the 36 ships that were inside Haiphong Harbor left before the mines became lethal after a three-day period of grace granted by President Nixon.Zumwalt confirmed that one of the 16 Russian ships that were in Haiphong had departed.The number of other vessels going to North Vietnam ports is uncertain, Zumwalt said. Other defense forces have spoken of some 25 ships reported at sea and heading for North Vietnam at the time Nixon ordered the mining Monday. About half are believed to be Russian.The Navy chief said ships approaching the mine fields will be warned by "every available means.""If necessary, our ships will go alongside and warn them with megaphones," Zumwalt said.A number of U.S. destroyers and a South Vietnamese escort vessel have been stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin in position to alert approaching ships of the mine field dangers, the Pentagon official said.He refused to discuss "rules of engagement," the orders given to U.S. fleet and warship commanders on what to do if Soviet or other freighters attempt to sail through the mine fields into the harbor.Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird indicated strongly at a Wednesday news conference that the United States might stop ships trying to enter North Vietnamese ports.Zumwalt denied that the mining amounts to a blockade, describing the mines as "passive" barriers and saying the decision is up to other nations as to whether their ships will risk the mines."Zumwalt: Mines Alive, Will Slash Arms to Hanoi", by (AP) published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Saturday, May 13, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.