American Notes THE NAVY

After Greenpeace protesters forced the cancellation of a test-firing of the Trident 2 missile last July by hanging an antinuclear banner on the communications mast of an American submarine, the Navy vowed that it would never again be similarly embarrassed. Last week, when the U.S.S. Tennessee launched a Trident 50 miles off Cape Canaveral, Fla., the protesters discovered how determined the Navy can be.

As the activists' customized salvage tug Greenpeace shadowed the sub, the support ships Kittiwake and Grasp repeatedly rammed the vessel, punching a hole in her side just above the waterline. Meanwhile, sailors trained fire hoses on the Greenpeace, flooding her engines, while Navy SEAL frogmen cut the fuel lines of one of two antinuke motorboats trying to disrupt the test. "A terrible outrage . . . an unbridled act of aggression!" cried Greenpeace's executive director as the group prepared legal action against the Navy. Just | outside the launch area, the battle -- and the test-firing -- were monitored by a Soviet trawler bristling with electronic equipment.