Labels:text | watercraft | ship | newspaper | transport | boat OCR: PERSPECTIVE A Sea Story: My last tale is of Then, suddenly, one after the an encounter between Russia other, all the missiles-while and Japan that was almost a still three kilometres or so from tragedy. The events occurred the target-fell into the water. in the late 1960s, when I was Nobody knew what happened. working on the development of In accordance with usual proce- cruise missiles for Soviet sub- dures, a commission was ap- marines. pointed to investigate the mis- As with any new weapon, siles' failure. But a thorough ex- missiles should be tested un- Soviet missiles had aclose encounter amination could not find any der conditions that are close to with a Japanese liner during the 1960s technical errors. The missiles reality. For this reason, a Soviet Pacific Fleet sub- seemed to have been aimed correctly; the target marine had been assigned to fire the Styx cruise should have been annihilated. missile into a target zone in the Sea of Okhotsk, After analysing all available information, fleet in- just west of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The target telligence concluded that there could have been only was a small ship whose size had been enhanced one explanation-an unauthorised ship present in with special equipment so that it would appear on the region. radar screens as a US aircraft carrier. On further investigation, suspicion fell on a Japa- The test's early stages went according to plan: nese passenger liner travelling close to the forbid- The submarine released several missiles, which den zone. found and locked their sights on the target. Self- Either ignorant or dismissive of the wamings the aiming (the process by which the missiles' own Soviet Pacific Fleet had issued about the imminent electronics assume control of the mission) started tests, the Japanese captain had apparently decided to take place. The sub marine commander sighed to shorten his route, taking his ship close to the with relief: "The exercise is completed!" boundary of danger.
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