Kamchatka, incidentally, was a place the Americans were constantly interested in. The peninsula, like a shield held up at a distance from one’s body, served as defense for the mainland. It was no coincidence that the Americans’ nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and escorting vessels often came into the vicinity of Kamchatka and the Commander Islands. Planes would take off from the aircraft carriers along with E-2 Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft; five such planes were based on every aircraft carrier.
After the planes had taken off from the aircraft carrier, they would fly toward Kamchatka, but once they were within a whisker of Soviet airspace they would usually turn back. These maneuvers performed by the Americans’ ships and planes naturally annoyed the Soviets, and at times the A
