American Notes NAVY

Freedom of navigation, a principle the U.S. Navy fought to assert against Libya in the Gulf of Sidra in 1986, was at stake again last week in the Black Sea. Two U.S. warships, the destroyer Caron and the cruiser Yorktown, sailed about ten miles off the Crimean peninsula in the Soviet Union. The ships were warned that they were violating Soviet territorial waters and then were bumped, the Caron by a Soviet patrol craft and the Yorktown by a destroyer. Damage was slight, and there were no casualties.

The Soviets claim a twelve-mile territorial limit, while the U.S. asserts the so-called right of innocent passage, which permits ships to stay on course even when they cut across that limit. The Soviets might well question the term innocent, knowing that the Caron is packed with high-powered intelligence- gathering gear.