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I spent 10 years as a US Navy Submariner. It was lonely, boring, terrifying, fun, and exhilarating in turns. We do amazing secret things every day as a force. I'll always cherish my time below the waves in the service of my nation. Also Simon, USS Parche is pronounced Par-chee
My late uncle was a crewmember on the USS Seawolf SSN575. His submarine and hits sister ship did similar work of tapping undersea coms in the late 70s and 1980. Apparently they got into some really hazardous situations His family did not learn of his exploits until many years later after he died. There’s a battery interesting book called” blind man’s bluff. “ Might be a great web article to follow up to this one
@jasonmcmillan6598 Blind Man's Bluff is an exceptionally good book. They told the story of stashing a cow's head in the unit in case the Soviets found it.
Honestly, the most impressive thing might not even be the tap... it's the fact that even though it was just a cover mission, they still gathered enough parts to reverse engineer the missile!
The Captain didnt think of it, his son said it whilst fishing near a 'do not anchor cable subsurface' and his son said can we plug a telephone in here and listen to peoples calls. A child with a benign comment made the cold war that bit colder...
Those were facinating days in the US Navy. I served on those kinds of boats in those days and most of us had some good stories. Not this good but good none the less.
The book Blind Man's Bluff (by Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew & Annette L. Drew) tells this story and many others. It's a fun, informative and interesting read into the history of submariners (a "special" breed), military intelligence and the individuals involved. Wouldn't it be fun to know what the USSR's Navy thought of these events and what crazy feats they pulled off?
They didn’t pull anything off. The only reason this whole story is not classified is due to the treasonous CIA agent that betrayed the whole operation for $. Can’t remember which particular Russian mole Richard Reid possibly
The U.S. military found out that the Russians had a mole in nasa & were attempting to acquire the blueprints or plans for our space shuttle program and when president Regan was informed he said. “ perfect!! Let’s let them think they are getting the plans when in fact the plans are all wrong and won’t work. So they developed their own space shuttle program & it blew up on the launch pad. Never to be heard from again. Thats one of their feats they pulled off. Helped bankrupt the Soviets and cause the collapse of their country
I used to work in the recording studio occupying one of the buildings that was used for research and testing for IVY BELLS. In fact, when the building was purchased by the current owner, it had been abandoned for some time. They left behind tons of material and top secret documents which we discovered right before renovations. Had to call the local Navy base (Panama City Beach) and talk to some nice men in suits
Growing up in St.Louis, not much makes me happy to hear about this city. But finding the cable how the cptn did cracks me the fuck up since my father talked about those same signs when he was younger.
There is a fascinating book on this, that goes into detail on the Halibut's skids sinking into the sand on the bottom from a storm over the area. The skids in the sand were keeping the sub from lifting off of the bottom had to be torn off by one last desperate blow of ballast tanks and the sub limped out making a racket with Soviet anti sub ships trying to blow it to the surface with depth charges and the sub creeping along as it dragged the last skid under its hull making all sorts of noise. Until it got into international water the USN could do nothing to help it. You also left out one of the chiefs getting hammered at Pearl Harbor, calling the White House public phone number demanding to talk to POTUS and screaming into the phone how he wanted to tell POTUS how bad ass his captain was. Plus another chief decided he was done on subs after that particular mission and said he was not going out again on a sub. The USN told him yes he was to which he replied "Subs are volunteer and I am unvolunteering." and they could not stop him.
Such missions still happen today - perhaps a video on SSN-23 USS Jimmy Carter. The third, and final, Seawolf class, she was heavily modified during construction to add a 100-foot long special missions section to the hull, as well as additional thrusters for precise station keeping.
Hey I have a suggestion for a video....There was a gas pipeline the supplied natural gas to Germany from Russia. Maybe you could look into it and tell us who dunnit...
I am literally staring at the USS (aka the triple nickel) Halibut, standing on the docks here in San Diego, right now. Super crazy to think this (kind of small) sub changed history. It is Humbling. Also, the other boat you keep referencing is not pronounced “parch”. It’s pronounced “par-chee” as explained by my buddy who served on that sub for 15 yrs. 😊
Do’h!!! Apparently I got my subs mixed up! Thanks for the correction. After checking it appears that I was at the Dolphin. Still a “special projects” boat, Number 555, but I goofed on the name. (Feeling sheepish). Either way It’s at the pier in San Diego for all to see. Apologies for that confusion on my part!
global marine (glomar) was a legitimate offshore oil drilling company…the drill ship glomar discovered a commercial oil formation on The Grand Banks of Newfoundland in 1979
@edward6902 For many years, the Glomar Explorer was part of the mothball fleet in Suisun CA. I used to commute over the Benicia bridge which is right next to it. One day in the late 80's the Glomar was simply gone. Never saw it again.
It’s pronounced “Par-chee,” not “Parsh.” It’s the most decorated vessel in USN history, and I have a family member who served on it. Also, go read “Blind Man’s Bluff.” Great insight into what those spy subs did.
I learned of this stuff through a friend of mine who was an anti- submarine warfare technician, not this specific probe necessarily, but of the general technique.
I enjoyed your description of saturation diving, but question your assertion about nitrogen. Surely, at 120m, any diver would be totally incapacitated or even poisoned by nitrogen if breathing compressed air. I'm sure they must have been breathing helium and oxygen at that depth.
Saturation divers typically breathe a helium-oxygen mixture to prevent nitrogen narcosis, and limit work of breathing, but at shallow depths saturation diving has been done on nitrox mixtures.
I've heard that at least once the Soviet ships intercepted the sub, but pretended it was an impromptu anti-sub exercise they had won... In exchange for a crate of whisky. The American captain, knowing the best alternative was to claim he had scammed his crew in an unauthorized operation and the worst was World War III, happily paid.
You are correct. People don’t understand that the government doesn’t have to tell you anything. And therefore they think the UAP’s in the recent fighter jet videos have to be extra terrestrial cause the government said they don’t know what they are. Amazing to me that such a lack of common sense could exist these days. Obviously don’t know anything about history
Facts cuz my dad worked on the nuclear submarines and has told me there are missions he went on that are STILL classified and if caught by the Soviet Union the US government would have denied knowing them
@slappomatthew Same great people here now as was then. What's gone to heck in a hand basket is our political class. No question they are enemies of the people.
I, a civilian, will now laugh out loud, again, about this. I watched the cables break, sequentially, over time. Every break got into the press (eventually), and the sum was to drive the entire world's cable traffic thru either the E or W coast of the US. I laughed my ass of then, and they told me to shut up and don't be stupid. Then Mark Klein [go look it up] made himself the world's most famous geek (and not just of the week) . I laugh my ass off now, again, about this. Geeks rock. I am a geek. I laugh a lot.
