Action in the Gulf of Sidra (1986)

Action in the Gulf of Sidra (1986)
Part of the Cold War
A VMFA-314 F/A-18A lands on USS Coral Sea
Date 24 March 1986 Location Gulf of Sidra, Mediterranean Sea Result American victory
Belligerents
United States	Libya
Commanders and leaders
Ronald Reagan	Muammar Gaddafi
Strength
30 warships 225 aircraft	2 missile corvettes 3 patrol boats
Casualties and losses
none	72 killed 6 Soviet technicians wounded[1] 1 corvette sunk 1 patrol boat sunk 1 corvette crippled 1 patrol boat damaged several SAM sites destroyed or damaged

This article is part of a series about Muammar Gaddafi
Personal Early life and career Arab nationalism Nasserism Third International Theory The Green Book Escape to Hell Killing International reactions Reception and legacy Loyalism Affiliations Free Officers Arab Socialist Union Revolutionary Command Council General People's Committee Libya under Muammar Gaddafi Politics Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution Secretary General of the General People's Congress Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council Prime Minister of Libya Chairperson of the African Union Military (Armed Forces) 1969 Libyan revolution Yom Kippur War Lebanese Civil War Egyptian–Libyan War Chadian–Libyan War Action in the Gulf of Sidra in 1986 1986 United States bombing of Libya Toyota War First Libyan Civil War NATO invasion of Libya Leadership (History) Libyan Arab Republic Federation of Arab Republics Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 1970 expulsion of Italians from Libya 1973 oil crisis Cultural Revolution Weapons of mass destruction West Berlin discotheque bombing Lockerbie bombing UTA Flight 772 Support for rebel and paramilitary groups Elections and referendums 1971 Libyan Federation of Arab Republics referendum
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In the Action in the Gulf of Sidra, codenamed Operation Prairie Fire,^[2] the United States Navy deployed aircraft carrier groups in the disputed Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea. Libya had claimed that the entire Gulf was their territory, at 32° 30' N, with an exclusive 62 nautical miles (115 km; 71 mi) fishing zone.^[3] Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi asserted this in 1973, and dubbed it "The Line of Death". The United States claimed its rights to conduct Freedom of Navigation (FON) naval operations in international waters, a standard of 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) territorial limit from a country's shore. This engagement followed the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident and preceded another in 1989.