Sasgen - Stalking the red bear : the true story of a U.S. Cold War submarines covert operations against the Soviet Union

STALKING THE RED BEAR

ALSO BY PETER SASGEN

War Plan Red

Red Scorpion: The War Patrols of the USS Rasher

Red Shark

THE TRUE STORY
OF A U.S. COLD WAR
SUBMARINES
COVERT OPERATIONS
AGAINST THE
SOVIET UNION

PETER SASGEN

ST . MARTINS PRESS NEW YORK

STALKING THE RED BEAR . Copyright 2009 by Peter Sasgen.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
For information, address St. Martins Press,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Book design by Victoria Hartman

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sasgen, Peter T., 1941

Stalking the red bear : the true story of a U.S. Cold War submarines covert operations against the Soviet Union / Peter Sasgen. 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-312-38023-6

ISBN-10: 0-312-38023-2

1. Blackfin (Nuclear submarine) 2. Submarine warfareUnited States. 3. Submarine warfareSoviet Union. 4. United States. NavySubmarine forcesHistory20th century. 5. Military intelligenceUnited StatesHistory20th century. 6. Espionage, AmericanSoviet UnionHistory. 7. Cold War. 8. Arctic OceanStrategic aspects. I. Title.

V210.S37 2008

359.930973dc22 2008035452

First Edition: March 2009

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

To PJS

Stalking the Red Bear is a true story about the U.S. Navys covert submarine espionage operations against the Soviet Union. Code-named Holystone, this top-secret operation began in the late 1940s and continued through the cold war and beyond the collapse of the USSR. Stalking the Red Bear tells how in the 1970s, arguably the most dangerous decade of the cold war, the U.S. nuclear-powered submarines collected visual, electronic, and acoustic intelligence on Soviet military capabilities. It also tells how the U.S. Navys nuclear-powered Sturgeon-class submarines, the workhorses of Americas undersea spy program, were developed, designed, and built. Most important of all, it explains how they functioned and cloaked themselves in virtual invisibility to avoid detection by the Soviets.

Stalking the Red Bear also looks at the doctrine and tactics of what the Soviet navy called the struggle against submarines and the U.S. Navy called antisubmarine warfare or ASW. Indeed, it was a struggle, as the Soviets for decades lagged far behind the United States in submarine and sonar technologies. In their mostly failed effort to thwart American cold war submarine operations in waters bordering Russia, the Soviets had to deploy submarines whose seaworthiness and reliability were questionable, to say nothing of the safety of their nuclear reactors and weapons. Stalking the Red Bear also examines other issues related to Holystone, such as the training U.S. and Soviet submariners underwent during the midcold war period, submarine weapons and tactics, and the effects of long deployments on submariners and their families. To place Holystone in its historical context, there is a brief look at some of the clandestine U.S. and Axis submarine missions that were carried out during World War II.

As for Holystone, during the cold war very few individuals outside the intelligence and submarine communities knew anything at all about it. With good reason: The curtain of secrecy surrounding submarine operations, beginning in World War II and continuing today, was and is nearly impenetrable. The U.S. Navy doesnt call it the silent service for nothing!

As information about Holystone began to leak out, first in the 1980s, then after the end of the cold war, the revelations proved electrifying. Who knew that U.S. submarines had for years been penetrating Soviet-controlled waters to spy on the Soviet navyits ships, bases, and missile testsor to tap into the USSRs undersea communications cables? Yet as hair-raising as these missions must have been, it struck me that most of the Holystone operations described in print seemed rather tame. Thinking about it, I realized the reason was that most of the reporting on Holystone concentrated almost exclusively on its historical and anecdotal sides. What had been left out was all the details, the texture, of the submarine espionage operations themselves, which would have brought the Holystone story to life in an exciting way.

Interesting as these accounts were, I wanted to know more. For instance, what was it really like to carry out a top-secret covert submarine intelligence-gathering mission against the Soviet Union? How risky was it? How difficult? What was life like aboard one of those Holystone subs operating north of the arctic circle or in the Sea of Okhotsk? What special skills did these submariners possess and what motivated them? What about the physical and mental toll Holystone exacted from the crews and the strain it put on marriages and families? Where did the idea for Holystone come from in the first place?

I sought to answer these questions and bring Holystone to life by writing a book that described the action principally from the perspective of a commanding officer (CO) of a Holystone submarine. Not that I wanted to ignore the officers and enlisted menafter all, its not a one-man showbut the CO is the one guy aboard a submarine who makes it happen, while the crew plays an important but supporting role.

I also wanted to show readers what it was like to stand watch shoulder to shoulder with shipmates aboard a submerged submarine. I wanted them to experience, as much as words can convey, the sights, sounds, and smells unique to submarining. When its sub versus sub in Soviet-controlled waters, anything can happen, and I wanted them to feel that tension. Finally, I wanted to take them closer to the Soviet target than any work on submarine espionage had ever done before.

To do this, I knew, Id have to tell the Holystone story from the inside out, that is, from inside a U.S. submarines hull, in the drivers seat, so to speak. Part of telling that story had to include a look at a Soviet submarine, her commanding officer and crew, and their operations against U.S. subs. Therefore, Ive reported on a typical Soviet submarine operation into the Barents Sea. In addition, in the three appendices, Ive included capsule descriptions of historically significant and trailblazing operations that were carried out by submarines during World War II and, later, the cold war. These operations showcased some of the innovative tactics submariners employed against the British, Japanese, and Soviets; perhaps someday theyll receive the full treatment they deserve.

I knew that to write Stalking the Red Bear Id need help from a veteran submariner whod commanded one of the nuclear subs that had penetrated Soviet-controlled waters, a man who knew his way around in the Barents Sea. He also had to know his way around Americas defense establishment and the labyrinthine intelligence community that serves it.

Fortunately I found such a man, and after I convinced him that I had an exciting story to tell, he agreed to coach me through the intricacies of Holystone and share his experiences and recollections. Thus were born Roy Hunter and his submarine the USS Blackfin, both of whom appear in Stalking the Red Bear as pseudonyms.

Hunter and I have not divulged or compromised any current secret submarine operations or tactics, nor have we identified any individuals or submarines currently involved in such operations. Everything outside of Hunters recollections was gleaned from open sources.