On a February Day on the Black Sea in 1988...

In case you didn't know, U-96 is by far and away the most interesting Russian language Navy blog on the internet.

The other day, while looking for information on the Akula class submarine Nerpa accident I checked out U-96 to see the coverage. To date, it has been nothing short of brilliant.

However, because the incident was still relatively new at the time, another post on u-96 caught my attention. The picture posted in this post tells the tale, and the language barrier doesn't prevent one from understanding the topic. While reading through the comments, I came across a link to a very interesting post by another Russian blogger, and lets just be honest... this is cold war naval history at its finest.

Once upon a time, the USS Yorktown (CG 48) and USS Caron (DD 970) had a little adventure in the Black Sea. The following is the entry in Wikipedia regarding the February 1988 incident.

In February 1988, Caron operating with Yorktown, entered the Soviet Union's 12 mile (22.2 km) territorial waters limit in the Black Sea off the Crimean Peninsula without permission. Under established international law, this act was permissible if the transiting foreign ship is progressing from one point in international waters to another point in international waters via the shortest course possible. The Soviet Union had however claimed the right to authorize or prohibit travel in selected areas within the 12 mile limit. The United States did not recognize the Soviet claim. To prevent it from becoming accepted precedent, the US Navy had sailed warships through such areas at regular intervals in the past.

On this occasion, Caron had onboard a ships signal exploitation spaces system, operated by a crew of 18 personnel in support of the U.S. National Security Agency. This system was capable of recording data on Soviet defense radars and communications.

In response, the Soviets deployed a destroyer and a Mirka II class light frigate as well as many other Soviet Navy, Coast Guard, KGB and "civilian" ships to intercept the U.S. ships. Soviet aircraft continuously buzzed the Caron and Yorktown as smaller vessels weaved to an fro in front of the American ships. Several times, Soviet vessels and aircraft obtained radar "lock" on the Caron and Yorktown. Both American ships maintained a constant course and speed throughout the incident. Eventually, the Soviets lightly rammed both Caron and Yorktown. No significant damage resulted to any of the ships involved. The much beloved (by the crew) Captain of the Caron Lou Harlow, ordered that people go over the side of the Caron to paint over the superficial marks created by the "ramming" within minutes of the event.

If you have the time, it is well worth it to run this entry through the Google translator bit by bit and read a Russian sailors point of view on the incident. It is a fascinating perspective on one of those cold war events that has been lost in the memory hole of time.

Below are two videos of the incident taken by a US Navy sailor.

Scrolllock, well done!

As for a Nerpa update, U-96 still continues to give excellent updates (in Russian) for that too, but you can get a great English update over at the Russian Navy Blog.