The Baltic
The Baltic Sea was a bit of a hotbed at the time. Working purely from memory which may be wrong, I think the USS Ticonderoga Battle Group was in the Baltic at the time, probably with submarines too. Regularly approached by Soviet fighters and aircraft such as this Soviet Navy TU-142 Anti-submarine aircraft, there was great potential for a serious kick-off, but the professionalism of both Navy’s seamen prevented any incidents, even though, there was a suggestion which appeared in a news outlet at the time, that Ticonderoga had been hit by a dummy wooden-warhead torpedo.
Soviet Navy playing a watching (closely) brief in the Baltic.
Photo: tar9 - 123rf.
B-52 launches from RAF Fairford, UK, on a mission to drop sea mines in the Baltic to stop Soviet warships from deploying. Photo: ©Layla Harber
There were also B-52s from the USAF base at Fairford in the UK, buzzing around the Baltic too, as one of their duties in the exercise was minelaying to prevent Russian ships breaking out. Seeing B-52s approaching Kaliningrad and the Baltic sea-ports, would surely have added many ticks to the Operation RYaN spreadsheet.