THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 9, 1995 TAG: 9512090302
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
For perhaps the first time since the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union, Russian submarines patrolled in international waters off Norfolk and near other major U.S. Navy bases earlier this year, the Navy confirmed Friday.
One Russian Akula class sub, which the Pentagon rates as among the quietest and deadliest in the world, continues to operate in the Pacific off Washington state, the service said. That would put it in position to monitor movements of American ballistic missile subs to and from the Bangor Naval Submarine Base near Bremerton, Wash.
An Akula operated in the Atlantic off Norfolk, home of the Navy's largest base, and Kings Bay, Ga., site of another U.S. missile sub base, from April through July, said Lt. Conrad Chun, a Navy spokesman.
``While the Russians have a very capable submarine fleet, we have no reason to expect any negative intentions toward U.S. forces,'' Defense Secretary William J. Perry said.
``We don't see them as a threat,'' Chun said. Another defense official acknowledged privately that the Russian patrols are not unlike those U.S. subs sometimes conduct in waters near Russian bases.
Chun said two other Russian subs, both in the Oscar II class, operated in the vicinity of American warships in the Atlantic and Pacific earlier this year.
In August and September, an Oscar II was tracked in the mid-Atlantic near the aircraft carrier America and the Wasp, an amphibious ship, as they steamed toward the Mediterranean. A second Oscar II operated this fall in the vicinity of the carriers Abraham Lincoln and Independence in the western Pacific, Chun said.
The spokesman declined to comment on how the Navy was aware of the Russian subs' presence. U.S. aircraft carriers and their battle groups carry a variety of planes and other equipment - including U.S. attack subs - designed to locate and track potential undersea threats.
The Akula's deployment off Norfolk and Kings Bay is believed to be the first time Russian subs have patrolled so close to the East Coast since 1987.
Strapped for cash, the Russians essentially have shut down their once-proud surface fleet since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989.
They are expected to deploy their lone remaining operational carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, to the Mediterranean early next year. And they continue to build and deploy subs.
``Subs have a high priority in their Navy . . . the highest priority in their Navy,'' said Norman Polmar, a Washington-based author who follows naval issues. Their activity in waters near the United States is no particular cause for concern, he added.
The Navy has cited the development of the Akula as a major reason why Congress should continue to support construction of a third and last Seawolf-class attack sub and the development of a new class of American subs.
Though the United States and Russia are now officially allied, the service has warned that the newest Akulas rival the best American subs in stealth and thus could pose a threat if relations between the two countries worsen. The Russians also are continuing to develop even stealthier subs, the Navy says. ILLUSTRATION: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE file
A Russian Akula class sub, like the one shown in a 1955 file photo,
is said to be operating off Washington state. The Pentagon rates the
sub among the deadliest in the world.
Color map of sub activity
KEYWORDS: RUSSIAN SUBMARINES by CNB