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entered the Soviet missile test range splash zone, located missile parts, and using saturated divers, retrieved these parts and brought them back.

And if that wasn't enough, they located several Soviet underwater communications cables and tapped them. At first, the pods they attached recorded information which divers retrieved during the following trip. Later, with the more modern Parche, they were able to get the tapped information real-time. This activity went on for years in both the Sea of Okhotsk and the Barents Sea, even after the Soviets found the Okhotsk taps revealed to them by Pelton.

These courageous men endured unimaginable hardships during several of their clandestine voyages. On at least two occasions, a submarine became mired in the bottom muck, once nearly killing one of the divers in the process of trying to free itself. More than once they were detected, narrowly escaping. All the while, each submarine was outfitted with self-destruct explosives, so that, in the worst possible scenario, they never were there in the first place.

As I said, this reads more like a sci-fi techno thriller than real life, but nothing in real life ever matched the bravery, the heroism, the blood-and-guts courage of the men who carried out John Craven's fantastic dream. It was a Cold War victory the nation should have celebrated, but its essential secrecy made that impossible.

Learn more about this author, Robert Williscroft.
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