SOVIET UNION: All the Ships at Sea

Around the world last week, ships of the Soviet navy were under full steam. Off the Azores, NATO spotter planes reported one of the 10,000-ton Kara-class two-year-old missile cruisers that Western naval experts rate among the world's best modern warships. In the Mediterranean, where the U.S. Sixth Fleet customarily roams while Soviet vessels lie in Syrian and North African ports—except for a few "tattletale" scouts dogging American carriers—the roles were reversed. The Soviet fleet was out in force and the Sixth Fleet was doing the tattling. Other Soviet task forces were...