Gunboat diplomacy did not end in 1945

Examples from the 1950s challenge the idea that naval diplomacy disappeared after the Second World War. HMS Snipe removed an Argentine occupation party from Deception Island, while South Korea used naval seizures and island occupation in disputes with Japan. The United States imposed blockade and air-sea patrols around the Gulf of Honduras to restrict arms reaching Guatemala, then sent carrier forces after a British airliner was shot down near China. Some of these actions achieved their political object and others did not, so visible force offered no guarantee of compliance. Objectives, proportionality, and knowledge of earlier cases shape whether a maritime signal succeeds, fails, or escalates toward war.