Escorting a Soviet Nuclear Missile Sub
By Fredrick Gary Hareland, East Sierra Branch
I was recently surfing the Web looking for information about the Soviet Juliett class submarines when I saw the following online ad: “SUBEXPO, LTD” — offering an ex-Soviet Juliett-class nuclear missile submarine for hire or sale. This ad surprised me; however, I wasn’t too surprised when I tried to access the webpage and got the message that this page cannot be found!
We’ve come a long way from somewhere out in the North Pacific in December 1969, during the height of the Cold War when such subs were roaming about loaded for bear with nuclear anti-ship cruise missiles and manned by Soviet sailors.
This is how things were when the USS McMorris DE-1036 intercepted a surfaced Juliett and followed it for three days almost to her home port of Vladivostok. The Soviets had a sense of humor and invited the officers and crew in for a port visit. We promptly declined and after offering our appreciation turned toward our next destination Sasebo, Japan.
The McMorris was fitted out for electronic intelligence and she stayed busy performing special operations assignments. Our home port was Pearl Harbor; however, we were frequently in and out of Subic Bay in the Philippines.
We got the word to get underway for Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to participate in Taiwan patrols and then return to Subic.
On the way back we received orders to head north to intercept and accompany a Soviet sub and her watchdog trawler. We sped up to about 21 knots. But it took about 10 hours to arrive at the position 200 miles away. The Soviets were underway at a leisurely pace.
All sixteen deployed Juliett class subs were built between 1961 and 1968. The Julietts by the late sixties had morphed from a nuclear missile platform into a platform for anti-carrier operations. Our Juliett sub probably carried four of the nuclear armed P-6s (NATO designation SS-N3A Shaddock). These carried 20-kiloton nuclear warheads, big enough to vaporize any surface vessel.
I don’t know her name or hull number because the Soviets routinely painted them out. But she was one of only four Julietts assigned to the Pacific.
We suspected that our quarry had suffered some engineering damage forcing her to surface and make way for Vladivostok. McMorris maintained a parallel course on her port side at a distance of 350 yards.
On the third day a Soviet Harmone helicopter flew around our ship several times taking photographs. So we had our photographer’s mate take photos also. Crew members on the “Mighty Mac” observed our enemy and his armament.
I went to the signal bridge to look through the binoculars. This was my first time to see Soviet military sailors. They were dressed in dark blue jumpsuits with patches. The officers wore shoulder boards with gold piping. All wore those furry-looking caps.
They were a sharp and professional-looking group of adversaries, men who we knew would not hesitate at attempting to annihilate our ship and crew.
As an epilogue – I recently completed a seven-month stint working for Norwegian Cruise Line and being trained to become the ships Communications/Electronics Officer. Two of my mentors were Russian, Victor and Alexey. They were good people, and I was happy to know that we (the US) never had to nuke them. They returned the sentiments.
The above article is reprinted by permission from the November 2009 Adventures Club LA Magazine.
Six-year East Sierra Branch president Gary served in the Navy and aboard ships in the Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command, Maersk Line Limited, and Norwegian Cruise Line, once even surviving the sinking of his ship. Proud Member #1138 of the Adventurers Club, he died in 2015.