U.S.–Soviet Incidents at Sea agreement
The US-Soviet Incidents at Sea agreement is a 1972 bilateral agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union to reduce the chance of an incident at sea between the two countries and, in if one occurred, to prevent it from escalating. The United States proposed having talks on the agreement in 1968, and the Soviet Union accepted. Talks were conducted in Moscow on October 11, 1971 and in Washington, D.C. on May 17, 1972. The final agreement was signed during the Moscow Summit on May 25, 1972, by United States Secretary of the Navy John Warner and Soviet Navy Commander-in-Chief Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union Sergey Gorshkov. Provisions The agreement provides for: steps to avoid ship collisions not interfering in the "formations" of the other party; avoiding maneuvers in areas of heavy sea traffic; requiring surveillance ships to maintain a safe distance from the object of investigation so as to avoid "embarrassing or endangering the ships under surveillance"; using accepted international signals when ships maneuver near one another; not simulating attacks at, launching objects toward, or illuminating the bridges of the other party's ships; informing vessels when submarines are exercising near them; and requiring aircraft commanders to use