Caviar off their coasts. Beluga caviar is prized for its soft, extremely large (pea-size) eggs. It can range in color from pale silver-gray to black. It is followed by the small golden sterlet caviar which is rare and was once reserved for Russian, Iranian and Austrian royalty. Next in quality is the medium-sized, light brown to rich brown Ossetra, also known as Russian caviar. Others in the quality ranking are the gray sevruga caviar, the Chinese Kaluga caviar, and the American osetra. The Siberian variety with black beads is similar to sevruga and is popular because of its reduced (5 years)
USS Sterlet (SS-392) and rapidly closed on "Sterlet". This pursuit forced "Sterlet" to retire; and, after more than an hour of running from the frigate and undergoing his bombardment, she managed to open range by firing four torpedoes "down the throat" at him. This tactic did not allow her to escape, and the chase continued until the frigate turned broadside to fire both his forward and after guns in salvo. That curious maneuver allowed "Sterlet" to open range to at which point, the enemy's radar wavered. "Sterlet" shut her radar down, came hard to starboard and opened out. A minute before midnight, "Sterlet"