Spy ships II

Conserver, Narragansett, Alpinist, Moma.  Sea of Japan.  A Soviet Alpinist class intelligence ship and a Soviet Moma class intelligence collection ship shadow the fleet tug USNS Narragansett (T-ATF-167) and the USS Conserver (ARS-39) during salvage operations for downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007.  Official U.S. Navy photo by PH2 Paul Soutar

Soviet intelligence trawlers shadowing US Navy vessels involved in the search for KAL 007 in 1983.

The Russian Intelligence Trawler AGI Vertikal. Photographed by PH1 Fred Martin from USNS Duttton, 1965

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).

Modern Russian/Soviet Phishing Fleet Boats