A Russian trawler dubbed "Ivan" constantly shadowed the Carrier groups to gather intelligence, especially about Flight Ops. Aboard the ocean-going (Fleet) tug USS Moctobi, ATF-105, we shadowed Ivan.
Sixty days at a time, always 2,000 yards away. During Flight Ops, Moctobi would position itself between Ivan and the carrier. From portable antennas placed on the Moc's side facing away from the carrier,
we would transmit a low-power "garbage" transmission of random characters on the same frequency as Flight Operations. Since we were so close to Ivan, it was assumed that it blocked them from listening.
Upon departing, we received a flashing-light message from Ivan thanking us for the company. We answered wishing them "smooth seas and following winds".
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