Navy undertakes efforts to protect sea life

The whooshing sound of bubbles created by the submarine's propeller had been picked up by passive acoustic monitoring, made famous in the movie "The Hunt for Red October." The detection -- part of a sophisticated naval training exercise over the weekend -- popped up on green- and red-lighted screens in command centers aboard the aircraft carrier and its support ships.

If not for a recent federal court order, the accompanying destroyers would have begun to track the submarine by activating a powerful sonar that issues a loud ping and then waits for the echo to reveal the target's location.

But at times this weekend, the sonar had to be turned off. A judge, concerned about the potential harm to whales and dolphins, forbade its use in the area between the islands, waters known for their rich abundance of marine mammals. The submarine soon got away in the murky depths.

And so began the war games that will continue this week, a final exam after months of training to determine if the carrier strike group lead by the Abraham Lincoln is prepared to meet threats of all kinds -- including submarine attacks -- before it heads to the Persian Gulf in March.

"This is a game of cat and mouse," said Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter, who flew out from Washington to observe the training. "Any time we have to shut down our sonar creates huge problems for us. We want to do everything we can to protect the whales but not risk compromising our training."

These training missions in Southern California waters have become a classic case of competing interests: environmental protection versus troop readiness. The training runs have been entangled in lawsuits, federal court orders and recently a move by President Bush to override the courts -- setting up a struggle between the executive and judicial branches of government.

The 6,500 sailors on six ships in the carrier group aren't tuned in to the legal and constitutional challenges happening on shore. Each is focused on individual tasks in an elaborate choreography masterminded by Vice Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III, commander of the U.S. 3rd Fleet.