A spy ship or
reconnaissance vessel is a dedicated ship intended to gather intelligence,
usually by means of sophisticated electronic eavesdropping. In a wider sense,
any ship intended to gather information could be considered a spy ship.
Spy ships are usually controlled by a nation's government, due to the high costs and advanced equipment required. They tend to be parts of the nation's navy, though they may also be operated by secret services.
Naval trawlers masquerade as civilian ships such as fishing trawlers, which could be reasonably expected to remain in a certain area for a long time.
Ships which are used to infiltrate spies or special forces are sometimes also called "spy ships.”
Spy ships in the modern sense have been used at least since the early Cold War, and they are in use by all major powers. Their uses, in addition to listening in on communications and spy on enemy fleet movements, were to monitor nuclear tests and missile launches (especially of potential ICBMs).
One of the most important functions for both Cold War spy ship fleets, especially in the 1960s, was the gathering of submarine "signatures" – the patterns of noise that could often identify the specific type of submarine and were thus valuable in anti-submarine warfare. During that era, theUnited States
fielded about 80 vessels, usually classified as "environmental
research" craft, while the Soviet Union
had around 60 ships, often converted trawlers or hydrographic research ships.
In the late 1980s, the Soviet fisheries fleet was known for having equipped many of their thousands of ships with sophisticated SIGINT and ELINT equipment, thus functioning as auxiliary spy ships tracking western naval vessels and electronic communications (though their main function remained commercial fishing.
A spy ship usually stays in international waters (or at least outside territorial waters), so as to not violate territorial borders. From there, it will use its electronic equipment to monitor sea and air traffic, radio and radar frequencies and also try to intercept and decrypt coded radio or phone communications. This is mostly done via passive means such as radio receivers or passive sonar. Sometimes however, active measures such as radar or sonar may also be used to detect the movement of aircraft, missiles, ships or other vehicles or troops. However, this risks revealing the ship's purpose.
As it is located much closer to the surveilled area than a fixed installation (given a close-by shoreline), the monitoring is usually much more efficient and in some respects better than even that of spy satellites.
Tracking vessels also have some of the capabilities of spy ships, and as they are controlled by their national governments, they are also intermittently used for similar purposes, such as tracking enemy missile tests.
As the United States Navy began deploying ballistic missile submarines in 1960, theSoviet
Union attempted to obtain more information about the capabilities
of the UGM-27 Polaris missile and the locations of the submarines capable of
launching them. While the Soviet Navy requested more sophisticated ships, they
were allocated trawlers (called tral’shchiki) from the fishing fleet
equipped with more sophisticated sensors and communication equipment. Very
capable crews were assigned to these trawlers of unremarkable appearance. They
were assigned to patrol stations off United
States naval bases to photograph and report arrival and
departure of United States
An AGI might be assigned to a single patrol station for as long as six months. These ships were not fast enough to keep up with most warships, but they sometimes congregated around aircraft carriers conducting air operations of the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean or United States Seventh Fleet in the westernPacific
Ocean , or in suspected patrol areas of ballistic missile
submarines. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Joint Chiefs of Staff
authorized a counter AGI program for United States
Spy ships are usually controlled by a nation's government, due to the high costs and advanced equipment required. They tend to be parts of the nation's navy, though they may also be operated by secret services.
Naval trawlers masquerade as civilian ships such as fishing trawlers, which could be reasonably expected to remain in a certain area for a long time.
Ships which are used to infiltrate spies or special forces are sometimes also called "spy ships.”
History of Spy Ships
Spy ships in the modern sense have been used at least since the early Cold War, and they are in use by all major powers. Their uses, in addition to listening in on communications and spy on enemy fleet movements, were to monitor nuclear tests and missile launches (especially of potential ICBMs).
One of the most important functions for both Cold War spy ship fleets, especially in the 1960s, was the gathering of submarine "signatures" – the patterns of noise that could often identify the specific type of submarine and were thus valuable in anti-submarine warfare. During that era, the
In the late 1980s, the Soviet fisheries fleet was known for having equipped many of their thousands of ships with sophisticated SIGINT and ELINT equipment, thus functioning as auxiliary spy ships tracking western naval vessels and electronic communications (though their main function remained commercial fishing.
Operation
A spy ship usually stays in international waters (or at least outside territorial waters), so as to not violate territorial borders. From there, it will use its electronic equipment to monitor sea and air traffic, radio and radar frequencies and also try to intercept and decrypt coded radio or phone communications. This is mostly done via passive means such as radio receivers or passive sonar. Sometimes however, active measures such as radar or sonar may also be used to detect the movement of aircraft, missiles, ships or other vehicles or troops. However, this risks revealing the ship's purpose.
As it is located much closer to the surveilled area than a fixed installation (given a close-by shoreline), the monitoring is usually much more efficient and in some respects better than even that of spy satellites.
Tracking vessels also have some of the capabilities of spy ships, and as they are controlled by their national governments, they are also intermittently used for similar purposes, such as tracking enemy missile tests.
Soviet AGI Trawlers
As the United States Navy began deploying ballistic missile submarines in 1960, the
An AGI might be assigned to a single patrol station for as long as six months. These ships were not fast enough to keep up with most warships, but they sometimes congregated around aircraft carriers conducting air operations of the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean or United States Seventh Fleet in the western
List of Spy Ships
- Argentine ARA Narwal
- Chinese Navy:
- Type 813 spy ship
- Type 814A spy ship
- Type 815 spy ship
- Finnish Navy Kustaanmiekka
(Decommissioned)
- French Dupuy de Lôme
- German Oste-class fleet service ship
- Italian Elettra multipurpose ship
- Royal Norwegian Navy
- Marjata (1992)
- Marjata (2016)
- Polish Navy has two officially acknowledged
to be electronic surveillance ships
- ORP Nawigator,
originally claimed to be a navigational training ship.
- ORP Hydrograf,
originally claimed to be a research ship.
- Russian Navy
- See also: List of active Russian Navy
ships#Special-purpose ships
- Primor'ye-class surveillance ship
- Balzam-class intelligence ship
- Vishnya-class intelligence ship
- Yanta
- Spanish Alerta, former East German AGI
Jasmund refitted with modern equipment.
- Swedish Navy
- HSwMS Orion
- HSwMS Carlskrona
- USS Oxford
- USS Georgetown
- USS Jamestown
- USS Belmont
- USS Liberty -- Attacked
and damaged by
- USS Banner
- USS Pueblo -- Attacked
and captured by
- USS Palm Beach
- USNS Private Jose F.
Valdez
- USNS LT. James E.
Robinson
- USNS Sgt. Joseph E.
Muller
- USS Sphinx
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