The Mediterranean was a main region in the policy of the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1980s. This part of the world was one of the most important areas of rivalry during the Cold War after 1945. At that time it was the most militarized region in the world. In the postwar world, despite rapid advances in all types of communication, the Mediterranean retained its importance as a unique strategic maritime passageway because of the continuity of naval routes, air routes and strategic directions which largely coincide with the strategies of bloc activity. This article describes the presence of the naval forces of the USA and the USSR in the basin of the Mediterranean, the diplomatic and military rivalry between these superpowers and the implications of this competition for international relations at the end of the Cold War.