Red Warships in Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico

A small group of Soviet warships that arrived in Cuba late last month has been conducting exercises in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea for the last five days under continuous American surveillance, the Pentagon said today.

“The group is currently at sea north of Cuba,” spokesman Michael I. Burch said of the Soviet “surface action group,” which consists of one guided-missile destroyer, two guided-missile frigates, an oiler and a diesel-powered submarine.

The ships have remained under constant surveillance, Burch said, although the United States has not mounted any type of special surveillance operation that would rival the operation conducted by the Soviets last month off their eastern shores.

Pentagon officials have said the Soviets sent more than 150 planes to keep tabs on an American aircraft carrier group in December when it steamed through the Sea of Japan. That response was described by some Navy officers at the time as “unusually heavy.”

A Navy source, asked about the new Soviet deployment, said the ships left Havana on Jan. 17 and traveled into the Gulf of Mexico for “what we assume were regular naval training exercises.” The source, who agreed to discuss the matter if not identified, said the group had then proceeded back toward the coast of Cuba and is heading in an easterly direction.

“They could be leaving or just going around Cuba to another port on the southeast coast,” the source said.