Setting an Arctic Course: Task Force 80 and Canadian Control in the Arctic, 1948 (original) (raw)

nord de 1948, les auteurs examinent de façon critique les relations Canadien-Américaines dans l'Arctique au début de la guerre froide. Les données archivistiques indiquent que, plutôt que de sacrifier la souveraineté dans l'intérêt de la sécurité continentale, le gouvernement canadien a scruté et a surveillé les activités de défense américaines dans l'Arctique pour s'assurer qu'il maintienne un niveau de contrôle approprié. Il y avait des inadvertances, des caprices et des malentendus de part et d'autre, mais les officiels ont compris des leçons importantes de la mission de 1948 qui ont été appliquées aux activités ultérieures de réapprovisionnement, prenant le cap vers un rapport opérationnel de plus en plus fonctionnel. On the afternoon of 30 July 1948, the icebreakers United States Ship (USS) Edisto and United States Coast Guard Ship (USCG) Eastwind left the anchorage at Thule, Greenland and set a course for the coast of Ellesmere Island. Along with a third vessel, the cargo ship USS Wyandot, which was on its way to Resolute Bay, the little group was called Task Force 80. Its mission seemed straightforward: resupply the joint Arctic weather stations set up the previous summer and establish a new one on the northern tip of Ellesmere. 2 The voyage, however, proved anything but simple. By the next morning the ships were cautiously picking their way through loose and scattered floe ice. Their helicopters scouted for the best routes, but by evening the two icebreakers ran into thick pack ice as they neared central Kane Basin. Their progress 1 Thanks to Daniel Heidt for sharing research material and for commenting on an earlier draft of this article. This research was supported by SSHRC graduate fellowships, a Fulbright fellowship at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., a St. Jerome's University internal faculty research grant, and an ArcticNet grant on the evolving Arctic security environment. 2 Edisto and Eastwind were two of seven ships built for the U.S. government at San Pedro, California by Western Pipe and Steel Company, which became known as the Northwind Class. Edisto and Burton Island were operated by the USN, and Northwind and Eastwind by the USCG. Captain F.A. Germain, DOT, to