The sleek new 12,800-ton Russian cruiser Sverdlov* appeared off the Isle of Wight last week, bound for the coronation naval review. A British pilot went aboard, but Captain Olimpey Rudakov had no need for him. Silent on the bridge, his chest diagonally festooned with medals, Captain Rudakov manipulated a series of levers behind him to convey his orders to the engine room and the helmsman. At the correct spot, the correct time, he dropped anchor. Simultaneously, with a flick of another switch, he set off a 21-gun salute.
"According to British naval estimates," said Radio Moscow, "the anchoring of the Sverdlov...
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