Blind Man's Bluff : The Untold Story of Cold War Submarine Espionage - Softcover

Sherry Sontag

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099409984 ISBN 13: 9780099409984

Publisher: Random House, 2000

Synopsis

Stretching from the years immediately after World War II to the spy operations of the Clinton administration, the authors present extraordinary revelations about undersea conflict between the US and British submarines and the Soviet fleet in an unseen intelligence war. The authors reveal stories of adventure, ingenuity, courage and disaster beneath the sea. They show how the American Navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. They unveil evidence that the Navy's own negligence might have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion, a submarine that disappeared, all hands lost, in the 1970s. They disclose details of the bitter war between the CIA and the Navy and how it threatened to sabotage one of America's most important undersea missions. The tell the story of the audacious attempt to steal a Soviet submarine with the help of eccentric billionnaire Howard Hughes, and how it was doomed from the start. The authors also reveal how the Navy used the comforting notion of deep-sea rescue vehicles to hide operations that were more James Bond than Jacques Cousteau.

About this title

Review

Little is known--and less has been published--about American submarine espionage during the Cold War. These submerged sentinels silently monitored the Soviet Union's harbors, shadowed its subs, watched its missile tests, eavesdropped on its conversations, and even retrieved top-secret debris from the bottom of the sea. In an engaging mix of first-rate journalism and historical narrative, Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, and Annette Lawrence Drew describe what went on.

"Most of the stories in Blind Man's Bluff have never been told publicly," they write, "and none have ever been told in this level of detail." Among their revelations is the most complete accounting to date of the 1968 disappearance of the U.S.S. Scorpion; the story of how the Navy located a live hydrogen bomb lost by the Air Force; and a plot by the CIA and Howard Hughes to steal a Soviet sub. The most interesting chapter reveals how an American sub secretly tapped Soviet communications cables beneath the waves. Blind Man's Bluff is a compelling book about the courage, ingenuity, and patriotism of America's underwater spies. --John J. Miller

From the Author

"We've spent our careers as investigative reporters, but this was by far our most challenging story. For one thing, naval investigative agents trailed us, actively discouraging sources from speaking. Still, over the course of five years of research, we eventually interviewed hundreds of men who had never spoken about what they'd done-not even to their wives and children. . . . We'll always remember just how relieved they were to sit down with us and finally tell someone, 'I did this. I was there, too.' They were silent heroes, and this book is their story."

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0099409984
• ISBN 13: 9780099409984
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 363