protest to moscow. we ll have military to military conversations with the russians and of course to me safety is what is important. it will not deter us from conducting our operations. reporter: a collision was narrowly avoided when the american commander ordered the ship into full reverse at high speed. that is a very aggressive engine maneuver to conduct. to reverse the direction of those propellers to try to get the some into stop or to slow down as quickly as possible, to 10,000 ton cruiser, it won t stop on a dime. reporter: despite the severity of the episode, russian sailors are captured sun bathing on the deck of their ship. the russian state run news agency claim the u.s. instigating the encounter. tuesday a russian fighter yet flew right in front of a navy patrol aircraft over the