ROUGH SEAS SHRINK MEMORIAL FLOTILLA\Service honors pilots killed by Cuba.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Memorial services by air and sea for the four men killed a week ago when their two planes were shot down by Cuba ran into rough weather Saturday, forcing a flotilla of boats to turn back before reaching their destination in international waters north of Cuba.

Only 15 of the largest among 35 boats made it to a point 43 miles south of Key West, about 20 miles short of the site where the two planes went down and where a memorial ceremony had been planned, Coast Guard officials in Key West said. Mourners still threw flowers overboard and prayed under the watch of two Coast Guard cutters escorting the group.

Eighteen planes took off Saturday afternoon for their own ceremony at the site of the attack, but three turned back shortly after takeoff. They had already scaled back from an original group of 22 planes after federal aviation officials warned them that only those equipped to fly by instrumentation would make it.

Although the return to the vicinity where the two planes went down was an act of defiance against the Cuban government, organizers of the event said their main purpose was to conduct an act of mourning and a memorial for the four men who died: Armando Alejandre Jr., 45; Carlos Costa, 29; Mario de la Pena, 24; and Pablo Morales, 29. Jose Basulto, the leader of Brothers to the Rescue, the volunteer pilot group that lost the two Cessna planes, warned members of the flotilla before the departure today to avoid speeches or insults while in contact with Cuban air traffic officials.

"Treat them with due courtesy," he said. "Stay legal."

Two Brothers' planes later flew over the Orange Bowl in Miami, where more than 60,000 Cuban-Americans gathered for a memorial service for the slain exiles.

The crowd waved U.S. and Cuban flags, created a thunderous noise by banging on the bleachers and chanted, "Libertad! Libertad!" The audience roared its approval when Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, stood to speak.

"We will tighten sanctions against the government of Cuba but without harming the people we want to protect," she said. "We will employ every diplomatic strategy we can devise to bring about a transition to democracy. We will deprive (Cuban President Fidel) Castro the satisfaction of driving us to violence."

Brothers to the Rescue was best known for its relief flights over the Florida Strait to search for people fleeing Cuba in flimsy rafts and boats, but it had increasingly turned to acts of civil disobedience.

Clinton administration officials took decisive steps to head off the potential of another conflict. Clinton ordered the Coast Guard to escort the flotilla both to protect it and to keep the boats and planes from straying across the internationally recognized 12-mile offshore limits for Cuba. American military ships and aircraft were put on alert for backup support.

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Photo A vessel navigates heavy swells on its way to the memorial for the four pilots killed over Cuba. Less than half the boats made the service. Associated Press