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Soviet warships and electronic intelligence trawlers stalk U.S., British and other Western fleets far from the shores of the Soviet Union. Soviet subs and destroyers shadow the U.S. carriers in the Mediterranean, keeping a watch offshore when the carriers go into port and taking up the chase again when they come out. A fleet of espionage ships keeps watch off U.S. Polaris submarine bases at such places as Holy Loch in Scotland, Rota in Spain and Charleston, S.C. Other snoopers sit off Seattle, New England, and Cape Kennedy, where the Soviets monitor the U.S. space shots.
Soviet behavior at sea is becoming increasingly cocky. From the Mediterranean to the Sea of Japan, Soviet destroyers and trawlers boldly maneuver into the midst of formations of U.S. ships. Frequently, the intruders suddenly cut across the bow of an American ship to test the skill and technique of the helmsmen. The Russians also try to ruin maneuvers between the U.S. and its allies. In the Sea of Japan last year, Soviet warships scraped the U.S. destroyer Walker twice in an obvious attempt to break up a joint antisub exercise between U.S. and Japanese fleets. "Seafaring nations for centuries have allowed ships to proceed peacefully on the high seas," says Vice Admiral William I. Martin, commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet. "This is quite new—to barge in on a formation."
Carrier v. Bomber. Because the Russians consider the U.S.'s seaborne air-power to be a major threat in case of all-out war, one of their favorite tricks is to harass and probe U.S. carriers. Soviet destroyers and trawlers try to break a carrier's screen of protective smaller ships in order to force the flattop to change course while launching or landing aircraft and thus maybe dump a few planes into the sea. In the air, bombers of the Soviet navy^s 750-plane, land-based air force continually test to see how close they can approach U.S. carriers before they are detected by radar and intercepted by the carrier's own planes. Their aim is to avoid being caught until they have got within 100 miles of the carrier. Reason: from that range, the Russians would have a good chance of scoring a hit with their air-to-ship missiles before the carrier could scramble fighters to shoot down their bombers.
The U.S. Navy has become increasingly watchful and wary of the Soviet navy. To keep track of its movements. U.S. reconnaissance planes overfly Soviet warships at sea at least once daily and sometimes more often in areas near the U.S. coasts and Viet Nam. U.S. planners plot the course of every Soviet ship in the Pacific on a huge map in the war room of the U.S. Pacific Fleet headquarters in Hawaii; the U.S.'s Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets keep similar grids on the location of Red warships. As a precautionary measure, U.S. carriers keep a so-called Air Cap of three or four fighters in the air at all times whenever they sail within range of Soviet navy bombers. The Air Cap mission is to intercept the Soviets at least 200 miles out and to "escort" the Russians as they fly over the U.S. task force.
Search for Scars. The most dangerous game of all takes place beneath the seas. For the U.S., the game involves chiefly the detection and tracking down of Soviet subs. For the Russians, it is largely a matter of attempting to elude the American searchers.