237 worked on several books: Lewis W. Green, “Mountains Keep Calling Him Back,” Asheville (N.C.) Citizen, Feb. 1, 1970.
CHAPTER 17: THE PROJECTS
Little would be publicly known of the secret saturation diving operations covered in this chapter if not for the publication of Blind Man’s Bluff, cited in the text and in the notes below. Also cited below are “anonymous sources.” These are Navy divers who spoke on condition of anonymity for the reasons explained in the text. Their input in interviews, while often guarded, helped to corroborate and occasionally correct previously published accounts about the diving operations. In some cases their input provided new details. A number of divers involved with the projects declined to be interviewed and would not comment at all. Details of the Navy’s rejection of the author’s Freedom of Information Act requests are noted below.
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238 were certain aquanauts and support: Jack Tomsky, taped interview, Escondido, Calif., Dec. 30, 2003; Anonymous sources.
238 Hughes Glomar Explorer: Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew with Annette Lawrence Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage (New York: HarperPerennial, 2000; page numbers below correspond to this paperback edition; original hardcover edition is by PublicAffairs, New York, 1998), pp. 204–5.
238 with an international cast: “Press Handbook,” p. 12-1; Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 173.
238 could have produced real results: Richard A. Cooper, Ph.D., Sealab III aquanaut in charge of the lobster experiment, interview, Panama City, Fla., March 15, 2005.
238 provided a further smoke screen: Tomsky, interview, Dec. 30, 2003; John Piña Craven, The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), p. 277.
238 retrieve the remains: Anonymous sources, who say that a missile retrieval mission came before the cable tapping, a different chronology than presented in Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, pp. 183, 186–87.
238 who knew that “the projects”: Tomsky, interview, Dec. 30, 2003.
239 called back to duty: Tomsky, interview, Sept. 1, 2009.
239 more satisfactory coda: Ibid.
239 Inside one of the buildings: Anonymous sources.
239 Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle: Official U.S. Navy Web site: www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4100&tid=500&ct=4; Lonsdale, United States Navy Diver; pp. 284–88; “Navy DSRV launched,” Undercurrents, March 1970, p. 15.
240 “U.S. Navy DSRV Simulator”: Navy photograph (in author’s possession).
240 Glomar-style cover story: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, pp. 67, 181; “Navy Bares Secret Role of M.I. [Mare Island] Sub,” Vallejo (Calif.) Times-Herald, Sept. 25, 1969, p. 1.
240 four main compartments: Anonymous sources.
241 learn to use this novel system: Ibid.
241 known as the “flat fish”: Ibid.
241 to the desolate Sea of Okhotsk: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 183.
241 winter months of 1971 and 1972: Ibid., pp. 181, 191; Anonymous sources.
241 carefully anchored: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 185.
241 dropping through the hatch: Anonymous sources.
241 range of four hundred feet: Ibid.; Tomsky, interview, Sept. 1, 2009; Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, pp. 196, 225.
241 lowering of a “gondola”: Anonymous sources; Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 250.
241 capture of Francis Gary Powers: James Reston, “U.S. Concedes Flight over Soviet, Defends Search for Intelligence; Russians Hold Downed Pilot as Spy,” New York Times, May 8, 1960, p. 1.
241 some lighthearted moments: Anonymous sources; Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 193.
242 Bradley had a hunch: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, pp. 171–74.
242 device worked by induction: Ibid., p. 186.
242 NSA eavesdroppers on board: James Bamford, Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency from the Cold War Through the Dawn of a New Century (New York: Doubleday, 2001), pp. 370–71.
242 record for months or even a year: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 189.
243 resembled a twenty-foot section of pipe: Ibid.; also shown in photograph section.
243 acknowledged that secret saturation dives: Craven, The Silent War, pp. 154, 161, 187–88, 277–79.
243 published in 2005 with official blessings: Lonsdale, United States Navy Diver, pp. xiii–xv.
243 Navy rejected two recent requests: Author’s first Freedom of Information Act request filed Aug. 30, 2004. Letter to author from Rear Adm. Joseph A. Walsh, director of Submarine Warfare, dated Nov. 16, 2004, denied the request in its entirety because the requested information “remains classified.” Appeal of the decision in author letter of Dec. 7, 2004, was denied in a letter from Capt. A. W. Whitaker IV, deputy assistant Judge Advocate General, dated May 13, 2005. Author’s second FOIA request filed May 1, 2008. E-mail from Jenna Watson, Office of Naval Intelligence Freedom of Information/Privacy manager, dated June 9, 2008, denied the request. Appeal of the decision in author letter of July 31, 2008, was denied in a letter from G. E. Lattin, deputy assistant Judge Advocate General, dated Sept. 16, 2008. As of June 2011, the author had received no final response to a third FOIA request, dated Sept. 1, 2010. An official response was due by the following month, according to statute.
243 bound by their long-standing oaths: Anonymous sources.
243 trailblazing Halibut missions: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 198.
243 code-named “Ivy Bells”: Ibid.
243 first the Seawolf: Ibid., pp. 223–24; Lonsdale, United States Navy Diver, p. 309.
244 learned of the Okhotsk taps: Blind Man’s Bluff, pp. 251–53.
244 defector put U.S. officials onto the trail: Ibid., p. 273.
244 Pelton was arrested: Ibid., pp. 274, 276.
244 convicted of selling intelligence secrets: Sharon La Franiere, “Sentencing Is Delayed in Pelton Espionage Case,” Washington Post, Nov. 11, 1986, p. 16.
244 Russians were able to pluck: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 252.
244 Parche placed a first tap: Ibid., pp. 232–33, 237–38; Ed Offley, “Secret Navy Sub Finds New Home at Bangor Base,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nov. 23, 1994, p. A1.
244 and others followed: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, pp. 240, 256, 267; Lonsdale, United States Navy Diver, p. 310.
244 divers had to work at greater depths: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 238; Lonsdale, United States Navy Diver, p. 310; Tomsky, interview, Sept. 1, 2009.
244 reading of Soviet military minds: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 197.
244 not designed for a first nuclear strike: Ibid., p. 268.
244 conduit for real-time taps: Ibid., p. 270.
244 the Richard B. Russell: Ibid., pp. 262, 297.
244 “research and development” equipment: Lonsdale, United States Navy Diver, p. 311.
244 tap cables and to pick up pieces: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 297.
244 shifted to other parts of the world: Ibid.
244 USS Jimmy Carter came specially equipped: Ibid., p. 298; Matt Apuzzo, “Last and Largest of the Seawolves, USS Jimmy Carter to Be Commissioned,” Associated Press State and Local Wire, Feb. 19, 2005.
245 “multi-mission platform”: Official U.S. Navy Web site, www.navy.mil/list_all.asp?id=17173.
245 “tactical surveillance”: Journalist 3rd Class Adam Vernon, “USS Jimmy Carter Arrives at New Home,” Naval Base Kitsap Public Affairs, Department of Defense, U.S. Navy Releases, Nov. 15, 2005.
245 “intelligence collection”: Master Chief Communications Specialist Gerald McLain and Chief Mass Communication Specialist Terry L. Rhedin, “USS Jimmy Carter Gets ‘Depermed,’ ” Northwest Region Fleet Public Affairs, Department of Defense, U.S. Navy Releases, Aug. 17, 2006.
245 very little doubt among experts: Norman Polmar, former consultant to senior N
avy and Defense Department officials who also worked for the Deep Submergence Systems Project and author of more than thirty books on naval, aviation, and intelligence projects, taped interview, March 17, 2009; official Navy Web site schematic drawing of USS Jimmy Carter showing hull extension with its “innovative ocean interface module for accommodating new capabilities in Naval Special Warfare, tactical surveillance, and mine warfare,” online as of June 2009, www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_11/ship_sensors_weapons.html; Bill Sweetman, “Exposing the Spy Sub of the Future—Robot Mini Subs, Navy SEAL Launches, High-Tech Espionage: The Submarine of the 21st Century Has Arrived,” Popular Science, Aug. 1, 2005, p. 81.
245 whose namesake approved: Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff, p. 229.
245 continue the cable-tapping tradition: Ibid., p. 298; Apuzzo, “Last and Largest of the Seawolves,” Feb. 19, 2005; John J. Lumpkin, “USS Carter Will Be Able to Tap Undersea Cables, Experts Say,” AP Worldstream, Feb. 18, 2005; James Bamford, “NSA Confidential,” Newsweek Web exclusive, May 19, 2001; Bob Drogin, “NSA Blackout Reveals Downside of Secrecy,” Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2000, p. 1.
245 fiber-optic lines too problematic: Neil King Jr., “As Technology Evolves, Spy Agency Struggles to Preserve Its Hearing; Its Limited Success in Tapping Undersea Cable Illustrates Challenges Facing NSA,” Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2001, p. A1.
245 individual lines can be tapped: Govind P. Agrawal, interviews, Oct. 8 and 9, 2009; e-mail to author, Oct. 22, 2009; Agrawal, author of Fiber-Optic Communication Systems and coauthor and series editor of Undersea Fiber Communication Systems, is professor of optics at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics.
245 usefulness of a mobile workshop: King, “As Technology Evolves, Spy Agency Struggles,” p. A10.
CHAPTER 18: ANSWERS AND QUESTIONS
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247 depth of eighteen hundred feet: Bennett and Rostain, “The High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 4th ed. (London: W. B. Saunders, 1993), pp. 203, 213; U.S. Navy Diving Manual, revision 4, Jan. 20, 1999, p. 1–24.
247 get worse over time: Bennett and Rostain, “The High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 4th ed., p. 214.
247 A similar British experiment: Ibid., pp. 202, 213.
247 Navy established a diving limit: Peter Bennett, interview, June 8, 2009.
247 called Atlantis: Bennett and Rostain, “The High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 4th ed., pp. 218–22.
248 to cover the substantial expenses: Peter Bennett, interview, May 10, 2007.
248 Duke’s new experimental chambers: Michael Mulcahy, “Duke’s F. G. Hall Laboratory—A Center for Excellence in Experimental Diving,” Sea Technology, December 1979, p. 25.
248 shot of Scotch: Bennett and Rostain, “The High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 4th ed., p. 218.
248 trimix seemed to alleviate: Ibid., pp. 215, 218.
249 made eating uncomfortable: Bennett, interview, May 10, 2007.
249 Send a robot or a machine: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, pp. 721, 724, 736.
249 After the final Atlantis dive: Bennett and Rostain, “The High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 4th ed., p. 221.
249 these Comex dives: Guy Imbert, Thomas Ciesielski, and X. Fructus, “Safe Deep Diving Using Hydrogen,” Marine Technology Society Journal 23 (December 1989): 29; Hydra 8, an in-house Comex video of the dives.
249 replicating some common oil field jobs: Hydra 8 video.
249 method for adding hydrogen: Imbert et al., “Safe Deep Diving Using Hydrogen,” p. 26; Bennett and Rostain, “The High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 4th ed., p. 226; Claude Gortan, manager, Comex Hyperbaric Experimental Center, interview at Comex, Oct. 29, 2004.
250 push downward largely ended: Bennett and Rostain, “The High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving (New York: W. B. Saunders, 2003), 5th ed., p. 337.
250 West German government had poured: Ibid., p. 339; Bennett, interview, June 11, 2009.
250 real modern-day marvel: Bennett, interview, June 11, 2009.
250 continuing through 1990: Ibid.; Bennett and Rostain, “The High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 5th ed., p. 339.
250 experimental series called Hydra: “COMEX Hyperbaric Experimental Centre, 1965–2000, 36 Years of Deep Diving Development, from Helium to Hydrogen,” an in-house pamphlet that catalogues the highlights of company research, April 12, 2001.
251 divers were compressed slowly: B. Gardette, J. Y. Massimelli, M. Comet, C. Gortan, H. G. Delauze, “HYDRA 10: A 701 msw Onshore Record Dive Using ‘Hydreliox,’ ” Proceedings of the 19th Annual Meeting of the European Underwater and Baromedical Society, Trondheim, Norway, 1993, p. 32; Bennett and Rostain, “High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 5th ed., p. 343.
251 Just one of the three: Gardette et al., “HYDRA 10,” p. 36.
251 minor signs of HPNS: Ibid.
251 held at 2,200 feet: Ibid., p. 33; Bennett and Rostain, “High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 5th ed., p. 343.
251 they were not eliminated: Gardette et al., “HYDRA 10,” p. 36.
251 forty-two consecutive days: Ibid.
251 deepest diver in the world: “COMEX Hyperbaric Experimental Centre,” p. 12; H. G. Delauze, B. Gardette, C. Gortan, “COMEX Hydra Program: 35 Years of Research on Hydrogen,” MAJ (?), February 2000, p. 4 (copy in author’s possession).
251 at least as meaningful a record: Bennett, interview, May 10, 2007.
251 Bond had optimistically predicted: George Bond, “Man-in-the-Sea Program” (paper presented to Association of American Medical Colleges, Seventeenth annual session, San Diego, Calif., Sept. 29, 1966, in author’s possession), p. 10.
252 pressure created the ultimate barrier: Bennett and Rostain, “High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in Bennett and Elliott’s Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 5th ed., p. 349; Peter Bennett, interviews, May 10, 2007, and April 29, 2009.
252 some people, like Theo: Bennett and Rostain, “The High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,” in Bennett and Elliott’s Physiology and Medicine of Diving, 5th ed., p. 328.
252 no one knew for sure: Bennett, interview, April 29, 2009.
252 breathing a liquid instead: J. A. Kylstra, “Liquid Breathing and Artificial Gills,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving and Compressed Air Work, 2nd ed., p. 155.
252 Bond, too, once saw great potential: Bond, “Man-in-the-Sea Program” (paper presented to AAMC), pp. 10–11; Bond, “Sealab III: Next Step Toward the Depths,” Astronautics & Aeronautics, July 1967, p. 88.
252 still couldn’t escape the effects of pressure: Bennett, interview, June 8, 2009.
253 “carried Cousteau’s bags”: Delauze, interview, Comex headquarters, Marseille, Oct. 29, 2004.
253 spent millions: Michael Balter, “SAGA Submarine Fulfills Fantasy of Undersea Life,” International Herald Tribune, Oct. 31, 1990, p. 16; Delauze, e-mail to author, Oct. 19, 2009, says Comex and IFREMER each spent $20 million.
253 Cousteau asked for royalties: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 536.
253 Sous-marin d’Assistance: J. Mollard and D. Sauzade, “SAGA, premier sous-marin industriel autonome,” IFREMER, Actes de Colloques, no. 12, 1991, p. 95, www.ifremer.fr/docelec/doc/1990/acte-1166.pdf; Delauze, e-mail to author, Oct. 20, 2009, confirming proper wording of the sub’s French name, which can be found in several forms and is referred to only by acronym in this paper.
253 hoped to build a larger version: Dunoyer de Segonzac, Un conquérant sous la mer, p. 182.
253 submerged for up to four weeks: Delauze, e-mail to author, Oct. 16, 2009.
253 depths down to nearly fifteen hundred feet: Ibid.
253 lau
nch of the first SAGA: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 536.
254 end of August 1989: Yvon Calvez, “Saga: vingt ans d’histoire sous-marine,” Navires Ports et Chantiers, October 1989, p. 514.
254 depth of 1,040 feet: Mollard and Sauzade, “SAGA, premier sous-marin industriel autonome,” p. 101.
254 relics from a Roman shipwreck: Capt. Jacques-Yves Cousteau, “Fish Men Discover a 2,200-year-old Greek Ship,” National Geographic, Jan. 1954.
254 archaeological missions: Delauze, interviews, Marseille, Nov. 2 and 3, 2004; Sténuit, interview, Nov. 26, 2004.
254 where Cousteau shot the film footage: Omnibus, no. 16, Part 1, on CBS, Jan. 17, 1954, viewed at Museum of Television and Radio, New York City, March 28, 2003.
254 with Nicolas Hulot: Delauze, e-mail to author, April 27 and May 20, 2009.
254 storage hangar: Delauze, e-mail to author, April 27, 2009.
254 solution looking for a problem: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 538.
254 could not foot the bill alone: Ibid., p. 536.
255 NOAA got a million and a half dollars: “A History of NOAA,” p. 12.
255 vessel envisioned was called Oceanlab: Ibid.
255 four hundred research proposals: “Oceanlab Concept Review—Report of a Study by a Subcommittee of the Ocean Sciences Board,” National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., 1980, p. 9.
255 got a look at the plans: “A History of NOAA,” p. 12.
256 Russians were planning: Lee H. Boylan, “Underwater Activities in the Soviet Union” (revision of a paper prepared for the Workshop on Medical Aspects of Noncombatant Submersible Operations, San Diego, Calif., Nov. 19–20, 1974), pp. 45, 56–60; Miller and Koblick, Living and Working in the Sea, p. 406.
256 press scarcely took note: United Press International, “$21.5 Million Lab Is Being Designed for Oceanic Studies,” New York Times, July 24, 1977, p. 37. This brief wire story, which contains the Times’s only mention of Oceanlab, appeared below the daily weather reports and forecast. Reports in other media are similarly rare.
256 Ed Link died on Labor Day: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 320.
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