Gunfire Hits West German Ship in Baltic : 3 Crewmen Injured by Stray Shots From Warsaw Pact Vessel

A West German military supply ship in the Baltic Sea was hit today by five rounds of small artillery fire from a Warsaw Pact navy vessel and three crew members were injured, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Spokesman Ulrich Hundt told a news conference that the incident appeared to have been an accident.

He said the West German ship Neckar, a 2,370-ton tender vessel roughly the size of a frigate, with a crew of 98 aboard, had been observing a Warsaw Pact naval exercise in international waters when it was hit.

“We think it was a technical or human error,” Hundt said.

He said the identity of the ship that fired was not known, but Bonn government sources said it was believed to have been a Polish ship.

The sources insisted on anonymity.

Hit by Small Shells

Another ministry spokesman, Peter Monte, said the Neckar was hit by small shells from “what apparently was a Gatling gun” while two to three kilometers (1.2 to 1.8 miles) from the ship doing the firing.

The three injured seamen, who were not identified, were picked up from the Neckar by helicopter to be flown to West Germany, Hundt said. He said their lives were not in danger, but he had no further information on their injuries.

The Neckar was struck at about 9 a.m. in international waters off Soviet Lithuania in the eastern Baltic, north of Poland, Hundt reported.

“We were observing a Warsaw Pact exercise in the area, but our ship was in international waters,” Hundt said.

First of Its Kind

He said it was the first time such an incident had occurred during West German observations of exercises by the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

Hundt said West Germany was investigating, but “we are being very calm about this.”

“We will take up contacts with the Warsaw Pact, we will make inquiries in the usual diplomatic channels,” he said.

He said the ship that fired did not offer to help the Neckar, but added that “it can be they didn’t even notice (that the Neckar was hit).”

Monte said Warsaw Pact authorities had not contacted the West Germans about the incident.

He said the Warsaw Pact unit observed by the Neckar consisted of East German and Polish ships and another of “unknown nationality.”

The Neckar took on water in its stern where it was hit and a fire broke out, but both the leak and the fire were brought under control by the crew, Hundt said.

“The ship is now sailing back to Germany,” Hundt said.