Sherry Sontag;Christopher Drew
Page 42
Holly, Bob, Emily and Anya Carter were always there to listen to submarine tales and anything else as were Jon Stewart; Alexis Thomason; Julianne, Greg and Peter Genua; and Joe Gallant. Bethany Birkett and Larry Howard guided me through all of the rough spots with great love and wisdom. Michael Dalby; Lima Kim; Shirley Loci; Mala Felt; Manfred Fulda; Martin Weidner and his sons Chris and Josh; Carlos and Marina Trovar; Mark Peterson; Chris DeMarco; Michael Whitlow; and Joan Yager stepped in whenever they were needed, which was often. I couldn't have gotten through without any of them.
Edgar levins gave endless time and support, fostered my cat all the months I spent on the road doing research, and handled much of the paperwork of running life and a business. Julie Whitney forced me to relax and celebrate as small pieces of this book got finished and kindly ignored all the work that still had to he done.
Tim Sheetz and Gary Leib at AT&T Global Information Solutions kept the laptop computer we used on the road functioning long past its natural life. Barry Sears, a fellow author, and his brother Doug Sears offered reams of advice and crucial help.
There are other people who have been terrific friends and who have picked up the slack wherever and whenever. Some of them are Leah Dilworth, Rick Birkett, Debra Strell, Carol Neal, Carl Allocco, Ruth Stone, Jane and Emily Hall, Jeanie Walsh, James O'Conner, Jodi Lambert, Mike Taranto, Jeremy Lampel, Rob Childs, Rob Wolfson, Larry Vedi- lago, Walt Bogdanich, David Millman, Paula Lovejoy, Brian Hoffman, Judith Spindler, Cara Hogue, Ann Day, Greg (Tauron) Mitchell, Lissie Mitchell, Mike Mullen, Kim Brewer, Randy Cooper, Bruce Harlan Boll, Ernie Foster, Tom Hruby, Josh Mills, Harvey Goldschmid, James M. Milligan, Dominick Oliver], Martin Baskin, Robert From, Richard Klein, Julie Mitnick, Lila Nachtigal, Donald Rubell, Adriana Semnicka, Anna Sposej, Maria and Juayuin Valdez, Gene Andre, the gang at Muffin, and the folks at Marin Management. I would especially like to thank Maggie Hopp and (:he Graham for shooting the author photos for the publisher's catalogue and the hook.
Finally I would like to thank Mary O'Conner Spinner and my grandparents, Sydell and Abraham Bockstein and Harry and Dora Sontag. I wish they could have read this hook. I will miss them forever.
From Christopher Drew and Annette Lawrence Drew:
We also would like first and foremost to thank our parents, brothers and sisters and other relatives. Chris's parents, Leon and Helen Drew; his sisters, Cynthia Drew and Laura Bussey; Laura's husband, David, and daughter, Chelsea; and Jane Stevens provided constant love and support. Annette's mother, Maxine S. Lawrence, a gifted researcher in her own right, showed her enormous love and patience-and was always ready to sympathize and offer encouragement. Annette's brothers and sisters and their spouses, Mark and Catherine Lawrence, John and Priscilla Lawrence, Paul and Mary-Elise Lawrence Soniat, and Betsy Lawrence all offered support and encouragement throughout this long process, and one of Annette's aunts, Irma M. Stiegler, cheerfully volunteered to spend days microfilming old news articles for us in a public library. And a note of thanks to my deceased father, John W. Lawrence, who strived for excellence in all things; he set a wonderful example.
Chris also would particularly like to thank top editors at the New York Times Joseph Lelyveld, Bill Keller, John M. Geddes, Allen M. Siegal, Soma Golden Behr, Dean Baguet, Glenn Kramon, Joyce Purnick, Matt Purdy and Stephen Engelberg-for providing the flexibility he needed at crucial moments to help see this project through. Others at the Times- Jeff Gerth, Michael Wines, Steven Erlanger, Philip Shenon, Don Van Natta, Lizette Alvarez, Lora Korbut, Timothy L. O'Brien and Adam Liptak-were helful as well.
Chris and Sherry first got interested in submarine spying when Chris coordinated the reporting on a series of articles for the Chicago Tribune that began to peel away the secrecy surrounding these missions. That series was published jointly in January 1991 by the Tribune and its sister paper, the Newport News Daily Press, which had ample interest in the subject given its proximity to Newport News ship building, one of the country's largest submarine construction yards. Michael L. Millenson, then a Tribune reporter, and Robert Becker, then the Washington correspondent of the Daily Press and now a Tribune reporter, also devoted themselves to the project, and Jill Olmsted, Ruth Lopez, Mary Ann Akers, and Linda Harrigan handled some of the research. Nicholas M. Horrock, then the Tribune's assistant managing editor for Washington news, and Jack W. Davis Jr., the president and publisher of the Daily Press, oversaw the effort, both as wonderful friends and two of America's finest teachers of investigative reporting. Jack and his wife, Mimi, have since opened their home, as well as the library and photography archives of the Daily Press, to us in the long process of giving birth to this book. Will Corbin, the editor of the Daily Press, also graciously helped.
Several other friends took us in off the road or otherwise helped out: Curt and Sharon Hearn, Leonard and Rhoda Dreyfus, Richard E Hoefer, Annie Tin, Cindy Lerner and her sons Elliot and Austin, Eric and Gaby Shilakis, Jeff and Sarah Kestner, Terry Atlas, Peter and Kate Goelz, Mimi Read, Charlie Burke, and George Wallace. Robert Becker and his wife, Karen Heller, remained steadfast in their encouragement, as did Michael Tackett and Julie Carey, Husein and Carol Jafferjee, Mike Kar- ras and Kathy Macor, Don and Meryl McCusker, Brian and Eileen Machler, James T. High Jr., and Jeffrey T. Werner, who has no peer in his enthusiasm for learning every last fact about the submarine force.
From All of Us:
All three of us also would like to thank several military and political analysts who were always ready to help: William. M. Arkin, Bruce G. Blair, Richard J. Boyle, Dr. Michael Gold-Biss, Chuck Hansen, Hans M. Kristensen, Barry M. Posen, Jeffrey Richelson, Richard Russell, and Zong-Yee Willson Yang.
To all the people at the Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C., who gave us their interest, support and professional expertise we express much gratitude: Kathleen Lloyd, Operational Archives Division; Bernard E Cavalcante, Operational Archives Division; John C. Reilly Jr., Ships' History Branch and the members of his staff; the staff of the library at the Naval Historical Center. We also thank the library staff at the Submarine Force Library & Museum at Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Connecticut, and Arlyn Danielson and Aldona Sendzikas of the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park in Honolulu. For all their help in providing access to the extensive holdings of the Naval Institute, particularly their superb oral histories, we would like to thank Paul Stillwell and Linda O'Doughda. Sue Lemmon, Mare Island historian, was invaluable in saving historical materials when that naval base was shut down amid all the recent base closings. We owe special gratitude to Kathy Vinson and the staff of the Defense Visual Information Center and to Bill Tiernan of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.
For help in checking various submarine subjects, we would like to thank Rhonda Coleman, the Vallejo Times-Herald; Alex S. Weinbaum III, John M. Pfeffer, The Free Library of Philadelphia; Wendy Sheanin, San Francisco Chronicle; Stephen Johnson of the Houston Chronicle; Dorothy Marsden, Tom Lucy, The Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum; Axel Graumann, National Climatic Data Center, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; T. J. Tucker, Naval Safety Center, Norfolk, Virginia; Dennis Filgren, The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library; Michelle Dzyak, Penn State University; the staff of the Martha Washington Library in Fairfax County, Virginia; and the staff of the Research Correspondence Division of the National Geographic Society.
We also owe a special debt to some of the wonderful men we met along the way who helped us ensure that this history got told before it was lost forever. Among them were several fine submarine and intelligence officers who died over the last several years, such as Bernard A. "Chick" Clarey, Frederick J. "Fritz" Harlfinger II, Roy S. Benson, Levering Smith, Ray S. Cline, and scientist Waldo K. Lyon. We feel very fortunate that we got to hear their stories.
Index
PHOTO CREDITS
In 1900 the Navy purchased...: U.S. Navy photo
Almost one hundred years later...: Electric Boat Co.
The last picture of Cochino ..
.: photo courtesy of Harris M. Austin
Cochino's commander.. : U.S. Navy photo, courtesy of Rafael C. Benitez
Tusk traveled with...: U.S. Naval Historical Center
Cochino's men survived...: photo and back note courtesy of Harris M. Austin's son, Richard M. Austin
Red Austin, 1939... : courtesy of Richard M. Austin
Gudgeon ...: U.S. Naval Historical Center
Gudgeon inset: courtesy of a Gudgeon crew member
With the undying belief...: Electric Boat Co.
Nautilus was the first...: Electric Boat Co.
If the president could have Airforce One...: U.S. Navy photo
John Craven dreamed...: U.S. Navy photographic center, R.P. Allan, 1969
Even before the Navy sent...: U.S. Navy photo taken by crew of Trieste II
Halibut had a mammoth...: U.S. Navy photo
Halibut patch: U.S. Navy photo
As he pushed Westinghouse engineers...: photo taken for this book of Westinghouse wire brush bestowed upon Craven
Commander C. Edward Moore...: U.S. Navy Photo
Scorpion was outside of Naples, 1969...: U.S. Naval Historical Center courtesy of H. John R. Holland
Craven (left) Harry Jackson and...: U.S. Navy photo
Scorpion's shattered hull, 1969...: U.S. Navy photo
Commander Whitey Mack...: Newport News (Va.) Daily Press
When Lapon rode home...: photo taken by a Lapon crew member
Lapon and Mack were immortalized...: photographs of original album cover taken for this book
After Tautog crashed...: Defense Visual Information Center, March Air Reserve Base, California
Tautog patch: U.S. Navy photo
Commander Buele Balderston...: U.S. Navy photo, courtesy of Irene L. Balderston
Boris Bagdasaryan...: Courtesy of Joshua Handler
Captain .lames Bradley, 1973...: U.S. Navy Photo, courtesy of Peggy Bradley
The Navy announced that Halibut...: U.S. Navy photo
Fritz Harlfinger, 1963...: U.S. Naval Historical Center, W. R. Maip
Crammed full of stolen...: Sherry Sontag
The CIA commissioned...: Times front page, Copyright © 1975 by the New York Times Co. Reprinted by permission
Glomar Explorer photos...: Sherry Sontag
One of the oldest and most broken...: U.S. Navy Photo
When the Soviets discovered...: Russian Ministry of Security's museum at the notorious Lubyanka Prison
The Navy feared. .. : U.S. Navy photo
When Richard Buchanan...: Defense Visual Information Center, March Air Reserve Base, California
Waldo Lyon's decades-long adventures, 1958...: U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory
The Soviets had also, 1966...: U.S. Navy V.P. Surveillance Aircraft photo, U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory
Subs traveled to the Arctic, 1987, taken at North Pole of HMS Superb, USS Billfish, (SSN-676), USS Sea Devil (SSN-664), U.S. Navy photo; sub close-up, 1987, U.S. Navy photo
Susan Nesbitt, sits with...: Anniversary Memorial Service for the loss of Scorpion, Bill Tiernan, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
Danielle Petersen-Dixon hugs...: Bill Tiernan, The Virginian-Pilot
Throughout the United States...: Bill Tiernan, The Virginian-Pilot
About the Authors
Sherry Sontag is an investigative journalist who, before turning to Blind Man's Bluff, was a staff writer for the National Law Journal. While there, she wrote about the Soviet Union, international affairs, and domestic scandals in securities and banking. Prior to that, Sontag wrote for the New York Times. A lifelong resident of New York, she has degrees from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and Barnard College.
Christopher Drew is an investigative reporter and projects editor at the New York Times. He joined the Times in 1995 after working for nearly a decade in the Washington, D.C., bureau of the Chicago Tribune, where he wrote about national security issues and won two awards from the White House Correspondents' Association. Drew also has worked for the Wall Street Journal and the TimesPicayune in New Orleans, where he was horn and raised and graduated from Tulane University.
Annette Lawrence Drew, the hook's researcher, has a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University. She and Christopher Drew are married and live with their daughter, Celia, in Montclair, New Jersey.
PUBLICAFFAIRS is a new nonfiction publishing house and a tribute to the standards, values, and flair of three persons who have served as mentors to countless reporters, writers, editors, and book people of all kinds, including me.
I. F. STONE, proprietor of I. F. Stone's Weekly, combined a commitment to the First Amendment with entrepreneurial zeal and reporting skill and became one of the great independent journalists in American history. At the age of eighty, Izzy published The Trial of Socrates, which was a national bestseller. He wrote the book after he taught himself ancient Greek.
BENJAMIN C. BRADLEE was for nearly thirty years the charismatic editorial leader of The Washington Post. It was Ben who gave the Post the range and courage to pursue such historic issues as Watergate. He supported his reporters with a tenacity that made them fearless, and it is no accident that so many became authors of influential, best-selling hooks.
ROBERT L. BERNSTEIN, the chief executive of Random House for more than a quarter century, guided one of the nation's premier publishing houses. Bob was personally responsible for many books of political dissent and argument that challenged tyranny around the globe. He is also the founder and was the longtime chair of Human Rights Watch, one of the most respected human rights organizations in the world.
For fifty years, the banner of Public Affairs Press was carried by its owner, Morris B. Schnapper, who published Gandhi, Nasser, Toynbee, Truman, and about 1, Soo other authors. In 1983 Schnapper was described by The Washington Post as "a redoubtable gadfly." His legacy will endure in the books to come.
Peter Osnos, Publisher
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
One - A deadly Begining
Two - Whiskey A-Go-Go
Three - Turn To The Deep
Four - Velvet Fist
Five - Death Of A Submarine
Six - "The Ballad Of Whitey Mack"
Seven - "Here She Comes..."
Eight - "Oshkosh B'Gosh"
Nine - The $500 Million Sand Castle
Ten - Triumph And Crisis
Eleven - The Crown Jewels
Twelve - Trust But Verify
Epilogue
Appendix A
Appendix B
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
PHOTO CREDITS
About the Authors