A 1970s war around the GIUK Gap

How intense would fighting around the GIUK Gap become if the Cold War turned hot in the 1970s?

The major contest would be north of the gap in the Norwegian and Greenland Seas, combining ASW, sea denial, and NATO reinforcement of Norway rather than simply replaying the Atlantic convoy war.

The proposed Soviet campaign centres on sea denial between the Narvik region and the GIUK Gap. Submarine fighting would extend into that area, while major surface actions would more likely develop farther north in the Norwegian and Greenland Seas as NATO reinforced Norway. NATO's land defence would trade territory for time north of Narvik while bringing in Royal Marines and American marine forces. Western fleets still relied on weapons such as Terrier, Tartar, SM-1, and Sea Dart, but the Soviet Navy also had fewer modern assets than it possessed later. NATO thinking still emphasized an Atlantic convoy battle, creating a mismatch with the Soviet objectives described here. The exact year matters: a war in 1971 would differ considerably from one in 1978 or 1979, and the precise geographic boundary is left uncertain.