The United States Coast Guard monitored a Russian spy ship operating about 15 nautical miles south of the Hawaiian island of Oahu in late October. An HC-130 Hercules airplane from Air Station Barbers Point and a Coast Guard cutter were dispatched to keep an eye on the intelligence vessel Kareliya by “conducting a safe and professional overflight and transiting near the vessel,” officials said in a news release November 13.
The Coast Guard said it was still tracking the vessel’s movement near U.S. waters “to provide maritime security for U.S. vessels operating in the area and to support U.S. homeland defense efforts.” International law allows foreign military ships to travel outside other nations’ territorial waters, which extend up to 12 nautical miles from shore.
“The U.S. Coast Guard routinely monitors maritime activity around the Hawaiian Islands and throughout the Pacific to ensure the safety and security of U.S. waters,” Capt. Matthew Chong, chief of response for the Coast Guard Oceania District, said in the news release. “Working in concert with partners and allies, our crews monitor and respond to foreign military vessel activity near our territorial waters to protect our maritime borders and defend our sovereign interests.”
The Kareliya is one of seven Vishnya-class intelligence collection ships built for the Soviet Navy in the 1980s. A typical hull measures around 94.4 meters long with a full-load displacement of nearly 3,500 tons, a U.S. Army website says. The Kareliya was commissioned in 1986.
The ships gather signals intelligence using an array of sensors. Each ship is armed with two AK-630 close-in weapon systems and SA-N-8 surface-to-air missile launchers “for last resort self-defense,” the Army website says.
The Kareliya also was spotted off Hawaii in May 2021, USNI News reported then. In January 2023, the U.S. Coast Guard tracked a Russian vessel near Hawaii that was believed to be a spy ship. In January 2025, Defense Secretary John Healey of the United Kingdom told Parliament that the Royal Navy was tracking a Russian spy ship that passed through U.K. waters, warning Russian President Vladimir Putin: “We know what you’re doing.”
The Coast Guard Oceania District works with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and interagency partners to constantly monitor foreign military vessels operating near U.S. territorial waters to ensure homeland security and defense. That includes the waters off U.S. territories Guam and American Samoa.