Operation Deep Water was a 1957 NATO naval exercise held in the Mediterranean Sea that simulated protecting the Dardanelles from a Soviet invasion.

By controlling this bottleneck in a war situation, the Soviet Black Sea Fleet would be prevented from entering the Mediterranean.

[5][6][7][8] Consequently, Operation Deep Water opened with a simulated atomic air strike in the Gallipoli area on 25 September 1957.

Operation Deep Water culminated with the landing of 8,000 U.S. Marines at Saros Gulf near Gallipoli, Turkey, from a 38-ship amphibious task force led by flagship USS Pocono, on 29 September 1957.

[citation needed] The following United States Marine Corps units participated[11] Carrier Air Group 17 (CVG-17) embarked on board USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42): Carrier Air Group 4 (CVG-4) embarked on board USS Randolph (CVA-15) (pictured): Vice Admiral Brown summarized the results from Operation Deep Water by noting: "If I were the Russians, I'd get the hell out of there (Dardanelles) if a war started.