1986 Black Sea incident

March 2021 American ships' use of innocent passage 1986 03 13 Black Sea 44 13.5 N 34 09.3 E inline,title Deliberate naval collision United States Navy vessels: USS Yorktown USS Caron Soviet Navy vessels: Russian frigate Ladny 2 Border guard vessels Dozorny and Izmail On March 13, 1986, the American cruiser Yorktown CG-48 6 and the destroyer Caron DD-970 6 exercised the right of innocent passage under international law through Soviet territorial waters in the Black Sea near the southern Crimean Peninsula. They were confronted by Soviet frigate Russian frigate Ladny 2 and border guard vessels Dozorny and Izmail.Aceves 1993 249 Yorktown and Caron stayed in Soviet territorial waters for roughly two hours. The situation de-escalated when the US ships left; diplomatic repercussions continued for several weeks.Rob McLaughlin United Nations Naval Peace Operations in the Territorial Sea https://archive.org/details/unitednationsnav00mcla_721 limited Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2009 121 978-9004174795 Background 300 left 2 Starboard bow view of USS Yorktown (CG-48) underway in Caribbean c1985.jpg USS Yorktown USS Caron.jpg USS Caron Project 1135 Ladny 2012 G3.jpg Ladny "The Rules of Navigation and Sojourn of Foreign Warships in the Territorial Waters and Internal Waters and Ports of the USSR", enacted by the Soviet Council of Ministers in 1983, acknowledged the right of innocent passage of foreign warships only in restricted areas of Soviet territorial waters in the Baltic, Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan.Aceves 1993 248 There were no sea lanes for innocent passage in the Black Sea. The United States, starting from 1979, conducted a freedom of navigation program as the US government believed that many countries were beginning to assert jurisdictional boundaries that far exceeded traditional claims. The program was implemented because diplomatic protests seemed ineffective.Aceves 1993 245 The US actions in the Black Sea were challenged by the Soviet Union several times prior to the 1986 incident, particularly on December 9, 1968, August 1979 and on February 18, 1984. At the time, the Soviet Union recognized the right of innocent passage for warships in its territorial waters solely in designated sea lanes.Kraska Pedrozo 2013 255–256 The United States believed that there was no legal basis for a coastal nation to limit warship transits to sea lanes only.Kraska Pedrozo 2013 256 Subsequently, the U.S. Department of State found that the Russian-language text of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Article 22, paragraph 1 allowed the coastal state to regulate the right of innocent passage whenever necessary, while the English-language text did not.William J. Aceves Diplomacy at Sea: U.S. Freedom of Navigation Operations in the Black Sea International Law Studies 68 Incident Black Sea 300 right Location of the 1986 Black Sea incident Black Sea 44 13.5 34 09.3 On March 10, 1986, the Ticonderoga cruiser 2 USS Yorktown, accompanied by the Spruance destroyer 2 USS Caron, entered the Black Sea via the Turkish Straits.http://www.iilj.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Butler-Innocent-Passage-and-the-1982-Convention-1987.pdf The Black Sea Affair W.E. Butler American Journal of International Law April 1987 September 7, 2017 Their entrance was observed by a Krivak frigate 2, Ladny, which was ordered to continue observation. On March 13, Yorktown and Caron entered the Soviet territorial waters and sailed west along the southern Crimean Peninsula, approaching within 6 nmi km of the coast. Having entered from the direction of Feodosia, the US warships sailed for two hours and 21 minutes. Both American warships also confronted the Soviet border guard vessels Dozorny and Izmail.http://pogranichnik.ru/mchpv/korabli-mchpv/25-let-pskr-dozorniy.html 25 лет ПСКР "Дозорный" Pogranichnik.ru ru January 27, 2016 February 6, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160206120111/http://pogranichnik.ru/mchpv/korabli-mchpv/25-let-pskr-dozorniy.html dead The commander of Ladny, Captain Zhuravlev, reported the incident to his superiors.http://izvestia.ru/news/374013 ru:Морская эпопея "Известий" Izvestiya Вячеслав Лукашин ru April 20, 2012 September 7, 2014 The Russian state-run Izvestiya editor Vyacheslav Lukashin claimed that "at the time of the incident the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy Vladimir Chernavin knew that the order for the U.S. warships to proceed into Soviet waters was given by the U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger with the consent of President Ronald Reagan." Aftermath Soviet protest The Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs held two press conferences concerning the incident. The US charge d'affaires, Richard Combs, was summoned to the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive the Soviet protest. The Soviet Union stated that the US "violation" of its territorial waters "was of a demonstrative, defiant nature and pursued clearly provocative aims". Vladimir Chernavin claimed that "the innocent passage of foreign warships through the territorial waters of the USSR is permitted only in specially authorized coastal areas which have been announced by the Soviet government [and] there are no such areas in the Black Sea off the coast of the Soviet Union". US stance Replying to the Soviet note verbale about the incident, the US stated that "the transit of the USS Yorktown and USS Caron through the claimed Soviet territorial sea on March 13, 1986, was a proper exercise of the right of innocent passage, which international law, both customary and conventional, has long accorded ships of all states".J. Ashley Roach Robert W. Smith Excessive Maritime Claims Third Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2012 234 978-9004217737 The U.S. Department of State's instructions to the American embassy in the Soviet Union noted the US "would not want to lend any validity to a Soviet position that their domestic law was at all relevant in determining U.S. navigational rights under international law". An article in the American Journal of International Law argued in 1987 that "the course of the American warships indicated on a map published in Izvestiia confirms that the passage of the vessels was a lateral one" and that "at no time did they take a course that could be construed as expressing an intention to enter the internal waters or ports of the USSR". In the subsequent incident of 1988, the same USS Yorktown and USS Caron, while claiming innocent passage again in the Black Sea, were bumped by the Soviet vessels.http://articles.philly.com/1988-02-13/news/26243991_1_soviet-ships-soviet-coast-soviet-protest https://web.archive.org/web/20140907172512/http://articles.philly.com/1988-02-13/news/26243991_1_soviet-ships-soviet-coast-soviet-protest dead September 7, 2014 Soviet, U.S. Ships Bump In Black Sea Philadelphia Media Network Mark Thompson February 13, 1988 September 6, 2014 See also 1988 Black Sea bumping incident 2003 Tuzla Island conflict 2018 Kerch Strait incident 2021 Black Sea incident Notes References Aceves William J. 1993 Diplomacy at Sea: U.S. Freedom of Navigation Operations in the Black Sea Naval War College Review 46 2 59–79 0028-1484 44642450 Kraska James International Maritime Security Law Pedrozo Raul A. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2013 978-90-04-23356-0 Leiden collapsed Category:1986 in international relations Category:1986 in the Soviet Union Category:Cold War military history of the Soviet Union Category:Cold War military history of the United States Category:International maritime incidents Category:Military history of the Black Sea Category:Maritime incidents in 1986 Category:Cold War conflicts Category:Maritime incidents in the Soviet Union Category:Soviet Union–United States military relations Category:Military history of Crimea Category:20th century in Crimea