Sub Flub

Nuclear mystery near Japan

For days a Soviet Golf II-class submarine zigzagged erratically across the strategic Sea of Japan. Occasionally the vessel would dive, resurface and send off clouds of heavy smoke, while support ships waited near by. Finally an oceangoing Soviet tug took the obviously stricken sub in hand and began towing it at a snail's pace in the general direction of Vladivostok, headquarters of the Soviet Pacific Fleet. As the Japanese press closely followed the drama, defense officials in Tokyo quietly pondered a couple of minor mysteries: What was the warship, of a type capable of launching nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, doing only 56 miles off Japan's westerly Oki Island? And what had gone wrong? The Soviets were volunteering no answers.

Japanese surveillance aircraft first spotted the 3,000-ton sub on Thursday.

Dense white smoke was spewing from its conning tower. That was a sign, Japanese officials later speculated for a time, that fire might have ignited the solid fuel of the three SSN5 missiles (range: about 750 miles) that the diesel-powered warship can carry. A day later, the sub was spotted again, this time with smoke billowing from the stern while accompanying tugs trained streams of water on it. Whatever the problem, the ship now seemed incapable of diving or even cruising on its own power.

After the sub's eventual rescue, Japanese officials noted that the Golf II class dates back as far as 20 years, meaning that the mystery vessel could be one of the oldest--and perhaps most decrepit--in the Soviets' 127-sub Pacific Fleet. The presence of that formidable force has made the Sea of Japan a hub of subsurface activity and, not coincidentally, the scene of a growing number of underwater accidents. Last week's incident took place not far from where the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk collided with a Soviet nuclear-powered submarine in March.