US-Soviet Incidents at Sea agreement
Encyclopedia
The US-Soviet Incidents at Sea agreement was a 1972 bilateral agreement between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 to reduce the chance of an incident at sea between the two countries, and - in the event that one occurred - to prevent it from escalating.

The United States proposed having talks on the agreement in 1968, and the Soviet Union accepted. Talks were conducted in Moscow on October 1, 1971 and in Washington DC on May 17, 1972. The final agreement was signed during the Moscow Summit on May 25, 1972, by United States Secretary of the Navy
United States Secretary of the Navy
The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...

 John Warner
John Warner
John William Warner, KBE is an American Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term United States Senator from Virginia from January 2, 1979, to January 3, 2009...

 and Soviet Admiral Sergey Gorshkov
Sergey Gorshkov
Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Sergey Georgiyevich Gorshkov was a Soviet naval officer during the Cold War who oversaw the expansion of the Soviet Navy into a global force....

.

Provisions

The agreement provided for:
  • steps to avoid ship collisions
  • not interfering in the "formations" of the other party;
  • avoiding maneuvers in areas of heavy sea traffic;
  • requiring surveillance ships to maintain a safe distance from the object of investigation so as to avoid "embarrassing or endangering the ships under surveillance";
  • using accepted international signals when ships maneuver near one another;
  • not simulating attacks at, launching objects toward, or illuminating the bridges of the other party's ships;
  • informing vessels when submarines are exercising near them; and
  • requiring aircraft commanders to use the greatest caution and prudence in approaching aircraft and ships of the other party and not permitting simulated attacks against aircraft or ships, performing aerobatics over ships, or dropping hazardous objects near them.


In addition, both sides agreed to provide notice three to five days in advance, as a rule, of any projected actions that might "represent a danger to navigation or to aircraft in flight"; to channel information on incidents through naval attachés assigned to the respective capitals; and (3) to hold annual meetings to review the implementation of the Agreement.

See also

  • Korean Air Lines Flight 007. "Search for KAL 007 in international waters" section for incident of violation of Incident at Sea agreement

Further reading

  • Cold War at Sea by David F. Winkler. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, copyright 2000. ISBN 1-55750-955-7

External links

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