Playing Chicken of the Sea

Sailors with the U.S. Sixth Fleet call it chicken of the sea. It is a seaborne version of the highway hot-rodders' "chicken" that is frequently played in the crowded Mediterranean by Soviet and American warships. Typically, a Russian vessel will dart and weave among U.S. ships, trying to frighten their skippers into turning sharply to avoid collision. These episodes usually end harmlessly--but not always.

One day last August a Soviet Echo Il-class submarine cruising almost submerged trailed a slowly steaming American frigate, the U.S.S. Voge, for nearly an hour. Suddenly, the sub turned straight toward the Voge and sped up sharply. The American sailors, who photographed the sub as it charged toward them, waited for it to turn away. But it kept coming. Moving fast--about 17 knots--the sub slammed into the left quarter of the Voge, bounced off, then wallowed in the frigate's wake. The Voge limped off with one injured crewman and a gashed hull. The sub, with damage visible on its bow, deck, conning tower and missile ports, eventually churned off slowly in another direction.

U.S. and Russian naval authorities have formed a joint committee aimed at trying to control the chicken game, but it remains a hazard of the sea. Navy officials, who released pictures of the Voge incident last week to publicize the continuing gamesmanship in the Med, reckon that the Soviet skipper did not mean to hit the Voge but simply miscalculated. Said one officer: "He just goofed, that's all."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.