Its other objective was to have the Blue Fleet execute carrier-based air strikes against "enemy" formations and emplacements along NATO's northern flank in Norway.

"[1] Strikeback and the other concurrent NATO exercises held during the fall of 1957 would be the most ambitious military undertaking for the alliance to date, involving more than 250,000 men, 300 ships, and 1,500 aircraft operating from Norway to Turkey.

[4][5][6][7] This strategy was initially articulated in January 1954 by U.S. Army General and then-Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alfred Gruenther: We have ... an air-ground shield which, although still not strong enough, would force an enemy to concentrate prior to attack.

[4]This strategic concept reflected the American strategy of massive retaliation of the Eisenhower administration as set forth by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles: We need allies and collective security.

[18][19] Operating above the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Sea, the Blue Fleet, which included the new aircraft carriers Saratoga and Forrestal, launched carried-based air strikes against enemy positions in Norway.

Time magazine provided the following contemporary coverage of Operation Strikeback: From somewhere southeast of Greenland came the crackle of an urgent radio message: "Being fired on by Orange surface raider.

But by early afternoon, Blue carrier planes got through to make dummy atom attacks on Norway's ports, bridges and airfields.

[21] SACLANT Admiral Jerauld Wright, United States Navy, described Operation Strikeback as being "remarkably successful" while also noting "[that] there is considerable scarcity of both naval and air forces in the eastern Atlantic.

"[22] Wright's Eastern Atlantic allied commander, Vice Admiral Sir John Eccles, RN, also noted: I am not in a position to criticize political decisions, but I say this as a professional man with over 40 years' experience — I cannot carry out my task as given to me at the moment without more forces.

Before she surfaced off Newport, Rhode Island, on 25 September, Seawolf had remained submerged for 16 days, cruising a total of 6,331 miles (10,189 km).

Recognizing the need to meet this Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) challenge, the following actions were taken: Operation Strikeback was the final deployment for the battleships Iowa and Wisconsin until their re-activation in the 1980s by the Reagan Administration.