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Commander Ralph W. Eustis (inset) reliquishes command of the USCGC Vigilant after being relieved for mishandling the defection of Lithuanian fisherman Simas Kudirka in 1970. "I have regretted the violation of his [Eustis'] rights ever since," the author laments.
Dec 1, 2005 · Fate of Simas Kudirka. Simas Kudirka is sent first to the Potma prison in the province of Moldova, 225 miles southeast of Moscow. There he engages in a series of protests, hunger strikes, work stoppages, and attempts to alert the West to conditions in Soviet prisons.
On 23 November 1970, during a bilateral negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union regarding fishing rights, he jumped from his ship, the trawler Sovetskaya Litva ('Soviet Lithuania'), onto the American coast guard ship, the USCGC Vigilant (WMEC-617).
Oral history interview with Commander Ralph Eustis, USCG (Ret.) about his Coast Guard career and the events that took place on November 23, 1970 when Simas Kudirka, a Soviet seaman from Lithuania, jumped aboard his command, CGC Vigilant (WMEC 617), to defect, while off Martha's Vineyard.
CBS. Release. January 23, 1978. ( 1978-01-23) The Defection of Simas Kudirka is a 1978 American made-for-television drama film based on actual events, featuring Alan Arkin as Simas Kudirka, a Lithuanian merchant seaman who attempts to defect from the Soviet Union to the United States by jumping onto a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.
Oct 25, 2020 · But that same day, a Lithuanian-born sailor, Simas Kudirka, decided that he would make a daring attempt to defect from the Soviet Union to the United States. He would quite literally jump ship, clearing the three metre gap between the Litva and the Vigilant in order to escape.
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Dec 28, 1970 · Simas (short for Simonas) Kudirka sought asylum aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant during a rendezvous—to discuss North Atlantic fishing rights—between the two vessels in U.S....
