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This is the only current book on maritime Djibouti, and the only one available in English since 1968. It describes the geography, naval history, and present strategic role of this small country, and indicates its possible future. Naval Strategy East of Suez includes previously little-known facts of French covert action in
Italian East Africa, 1938-1941; and of
Operation Toreador (1956), which served to aid Operation Musketeer. It also turns a spotlight on the Allied blockade of Djibouti in 1940-1942. In a sense, this book is a more readable, and less technical, treatment of what sailors call sailing directions.
Djibouti's naval base, 600 miles closer to the Strait of Hormuz than Diego Garcia, is the nearest base to Middle East oil centers likely to be available to France and its allies in the future--facts often ignored or unknown to all but the most specialized of specialists. Koburger believes that the troubles in the Middle East are only beginning. His book offers a background and strategy about an area little known to Anglophones that is of considerable potential usefulness.
List of contents
Introduction
Military Abbreviations and Special Terms
Early Days
The First World War and After
War Comes to the CFS
The Blockade
Interregnum
The Base
Conclusion
Appendixes: Characteristics of French Naval Vessels: A Representative List
Tonnage Received by the CFS by Sea, 1940-1941
The Port of Djibouti
Sea Distances from Djibouti
Djibouti-Based Gulf Crisis Units
Winds, Tides, and Currents
Bibliography
Index
About the author
CHARLES W. KOBURGER, JR. retired from the U.S. Coast Guard as a reservist with the rank of Captain after 20 years of active duty and is now an independent consultant on maritime affairs, writing naval history as a second effort./e He has published widely on naval and other maritime subjects on both sides of the Atlantic.
