In 2006 Vigilant completed another yard period, updating her with the most modern electronic and engineering equipment available.

On November 23, 1970, Simonas "Simas" Kudirka, a Soviet seaman of Lithuanian origin, leapt from the 400-foot (120 m) mother ship Sovetskaya Litva, anchored in U.S. waters near Aquinnah, Massachusetts, on Martha's Vineyard, aboard Vigilant, sailing from New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Subsequent investigations revealed that Kudirka could claim American citizenship through his mother and was allowed to come to the United States in 1974.

The book helped spur further investigations into the incident that eventually led to Kudirka's release by the Soviets.

The incident is also portrayed in a 2020 documentary film The Jump[1] directed by Giedrė Žickytė, with Simonas Kudirka as himself and Ralph E. Eustis as himself.