Duffy opens the 1980 debate by describing NATO as an alliance of fourteen seagoing nations whose economies and military plans depended on maritime traffic. His period figures assign those members 65 percent of the world's merchant fleets and loading activity, 40 percent of cargo moving on the high seas, and roughly two-thirds of global oil consumption. About half of their current oil supply was afloat at any one time, making shipping disruption an economic as well as military threat. He places some 3,000 ships in NATO's fourteen-million-square-mile maritime command area on an average day. These figures explain why reinforcement and supply across the Atlantic are the starting point for judging the Royal Navy's alliance contribution.
Chapter · 6:15-7:29
NATO's economy and reinforcement plans depend on Atlantic shipping
Duffy quantifies how merchant tonnage, oil in transit, and thousands of daily ship movements made the North Atlantic central to NATO's survival.