English

DTIC ADA565881: High Seas Buffer: The Taiwan Patrol Force, 1950-1979

Following its defeat on the mainland in 1949, the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan. Although the Nationalist navy was comparatively large, to many it seemed almost certain that the People's Republic of China (PRC) would attack and take Taiwan, perhaps as early as summer 1950. The Korean War began on 25 June 1950, however, and the possibility of a PRC invasion of Taiwan was countered when on 27 June President Harry S. Truman ordered the Seventh Fleet to neutralize the Taiwan Strait. Mao Zedong at first postponed and eventually canceled altogether his planned invasion of Taiwan. The U.S. Navy's Taiwan Patrol Force operation lasted from summer 1950 until at least 1979, arguably even sporadically after that date. Lasting 29 years, the Taiwan Patrol Force was one of the longest naval operations in modern history. It was also one of the most successful, since it ensured that friction over the Taiwan Strait did not escalate into a full-blown war. The Taiwan Patrol Force did its job so well that virtually nothing has been written about it. U.S. Navy ships acted both as a buffer between the two antagonists and as a trip wire in case of aggression. The force fulfilled the latter fu

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