Editing RAF Coastal Command (section)

===Soviet threat===

[[File:31 Shackleton mail drop Aug1970.jpg|thumb|left|[[Avro Shackleton]], the mainstay of Coastal Command in the 1950s.]]
[[NATO]], the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, began preparations for a military defence of Western Europe by incorporating most West European nations into a defence pact against alleged Soviet aggression in April 1951. This led to the militarisation of [[West Germany]] in 1955 and was met with the militarisation of [[East Germany]] soon after and its merger into the [[Warsaw Pact]] alliance with the [[Soviet Union]]. The purpose of Coastal Command was to help bolster the defence and guard against a potential Soviet naval threat in Atlantic and European waters. For Coastal Command the main concern was the Atlantic. On 1 March 1950 it had lost the photo reconnaissance units to [[RAF Bomber Command]]. The transfer was not complete when [[North Korea]] invaded [[South Korea]] beginning the [[Korean War]]. [[Handley Page Hastings]] were hastily modified and ready for operations but were not sent, owing to the need for ASW aircraft in the Eastern Atlantic.<ref name="Ashworth 1992, p. 204">Ashworth 1992, p. 204.</ref>

The [[Avro Shackleton]] was the main operational aircraft in the 1950s, replacing the wartime [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|Liberator GRs]], along with the [[Lockheed P-2 Neptune|Neptune MR.1s]]. At the end of August 1951, [[No. 201 Squadron RAF]] became the first unit to complete training on the type.<ref name="Ashworth 1992, p. 204"/> In mid-1953 the [[order of battle]] consisted of eight Shackleton squadrons; one at [[Gibraltar]], four covering the South-Western Approaches in the Atlantic and three more covering the North-Western Approaches. This force numbered 64 aircraft. A further four Sunderland squadrons with 20 aircraft were split between the North-Western and South-Western Approaches. The Neptunes, numbering 32 aircraft in four squadrons, covered the North-Eastern and Eastern Approaches. The [[Helicopter]] also joined Coastal Command. [[Bristol Sycamore]]s entered service in 1953 and 16 aircraft were dispersed in Britain for ASW. In March the [[Avro Lancaster]] was finally phased out of Coastal Command service.<ref>Ashworth 1992, p. 204, 207.</ref>

The Command was too expensive to maintain and cost cuts were made during the 1950s which caused a reduction in strength. By mid-1957 the Command had been cut to 82 aircraft. By mid-1958 it had shrunk to just 67. The Shackletons dominated the core of this force, numbering 54 aircraft. The Neptune was cut from the service altogether, beginning on 31 August 1956.<ref>Ashworth 1992, p. 210.</ref> There was little operational action for the Command at this point. It airlifted [[British Army]] forces into [[Egypt]] during the [[Suez Crisis]] which was its major action during this period. The lack of funds and any active conventional military role saw the Command struggle to keep its front-line strength high.<ref>Ashworth 1992, p. 212.</ref> There was a brief alert in October 1962, during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]], when all six squadrons it then possessed were put on high alert, but nothing came of the crisis, although the Shackleton squadrons at [[RAF Ballykelly]] were sent to Macrihanish as it was known that Ballykelly was on the Soviet IRBM target list.<ref>Ashworth 1992, p. 218.</ref>

In the early 1960s the [[Soviet Navy]] and Communist Bloc's fishing fleets began operating around the British Isles in increasing numbers. The British public began taking an interest in their operations as civilian fisherman began complaining about their presence. [[Operation Chacewater]] began, in which Coastal Command began monitoring their movements, in particular other vessels that loitered in areas covering the arrival and departure routes for [[Royal Navy]] [[nuclear submarine]] forces. Soon after, counter operations such as [[Operation Adjutant]] were carried out, which was aimed at searching for Soviet submarines.<ref>Ashworth 1992, p. 219.</ref> The main threat from the Soviets in the Atlantic came from the [[Soviet Northern Fleet]] and in early 1965 most of the Command's units were concentrated in [[No. 18 Group RAF]], based in [[Scotland]] to monitor their activities. No recorded confrontation took place between Coastal Command and Soviet naval forces during this time, although both the Shackletons from RAF Ballykelly and frigates from Londonderry would 'ping' the Soviet submarines carrying out surveillance off the mouth of Lough Foyle.<ref>Ashworth 1992, p. 220.</ref> In at least one instance, a Ballykelly-based Shackleton lost its radome when making a mock attack on the Russian sub.<ref>S/Ldr Allan Batstone</ref>

In 1969 the special-purpose [[Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod]], based on the [[de Havilland Comet]] airliner, was introduced into RAF service and Coastal Command duties were passed on to general squadrons. The Nimrod was a replacement for the Shackleton and it began to do so on 2 October 1969. Less than eight weeks later, Coastal Command was disbanded and ceased to exist on 27 November 1969, when it was subsumed into [[RAF Strike Command]].<ref name="Ashworth 1992, p. 222"/>