Armaments: Jane's Defensive Ships

U.S. Navy commanders are only too keenly aware of the growing strength and aggressiveness of the Soviet navy. Russian ships shadow every NATO maneuver, break into allied formations, and show the red flag in the world's most sensitive trouble spots. Last week the Pentagon received reassurance of sorts. According to the 1968-69 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships, the longtime civilian authority on all the world's navies, "Soviet maritime strategy is defensive or containing rather than provoking or aggressive."

In fact, said Jane's, the Soviet navy's activity may be no more than "a determination to mark the ships of other navies...