[chiph]

My Cold War trash story - One of my roommates in college served on the USS Peterson (DD-969, a Spruance class destroyer), and in the middle of the Atlantic they decided to have some fun with the Soviet "fishing trawler"[0] that was shadowing them. Normally, the crew would weigh the trash bags down so that they immediately sank.[1] But this time they "forgot" to put the weights in and filled the trash bag with adult reading material with all the good parts cut out. And then coated it with the kitchen slops (potato peelings, spoiled meat, etc).

As the Soviet trawler swooped in to claim their floating prize, the Peterson crew was at the fantail laughing at what their reaction would be when they opened the bag up. Yes, they trolled the Soviet Navy.

[0] https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/encyclopedias-almanacs...

[1] No classified material was in them - it was mostly to keep the surface of the ocean clear and prevent it from washing up on shore. These days only degradable garbage is thrown overboard. Trash is compressed and stored until the ship makes port.