Navy practices under sonar limits

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy is complying with a new court order restricting the use of sonar during ongoing exercises off California that feature mock submarine encounters.

Sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are shutting down their sonar whenever whales are in the neighborhood as the aircraft carrier gets ready for its next patrol.

A federal judge ordered that sonar be turned off when ships operating off the West Coast come near whales or dolphins. Environmentalists contend the mammals can be injured or killed by the booming noises produced by modern sonar.

The Los Angeles Times said the exercise included incursions by U.S. submarines playing the role of an adversary lurking in the waters off San Clemente Island. In one instance, a sub got close enough to the Lincoln that it surfaced and announced its presence by radio.

"It's very embarrassing that the submarine got in on us," an unidentified Navy captain told the Times. "But it shows how a submarine can hide among pinnacles and seamounts, and we'll have to learn from it."