Intended AudienceTrade
Reviews"Packed withreal life adventures that Tom Clancy could only have guessed at. . . . Morethan a collection of sea stories. It reveals how submarine operations duringthe cold war had a profound impact on strategic decisions made in the Kremlinand Washington. . . . With Naval agents on their heels . . . Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew have made a successful end run around stacksof secrecy oaths and the locked lips of the Silent Service to make public some ofthe most astounding military operations of the cold war. . . . Lock the doorsand draw the shades, because this book is a well written, highly readable accountof man and machine working together to do the impossible for the highest ofstakes."-- Washington Monthly, "The authors write oftop-secret operations to tap underwater Soviet cables, recover a live H-bombmistakenly lost on the ocean floor, and steal a Russian sub. Better yet, all ofit is true- and revealed on these pages for the first time."-- Investor's Business Daily, "Hard-core investigativereporting at its crispest. . . . The stories are exciting, the personalities borderon the eccentric, and the constant turf battles among various U.S. governmentagencies in those often top-secret submarine activities make for intriguing reading."-- Library Journal, "An immensely readable lookat some of the blackest secrets of the cold war, as U.S. and Soviet subs engagein subterfuge as intriguing as a thriller novel."-- Providence Journal-Bulletin, "The most comprehensive lookat the work of these intrepid sailors . . . A celebration of their ingenuityand valor."-- Baltimore Sun, "The book is filled with specifics . . . but thankfully not presented in the dry techno-speak of many military histories . This one is very human and easy to read."-- Washington Post, "It's almost impossible tomake up stuff this good."-- John Weisman,author of the Rogue Warrior Series, "A tale that has the Navyrefusing to comment and retired submariners rejoicing that their story isfinally being told. . . . Espionage missions described in this book are amongthe most sensitive and secret intelligence operations of the cold war. Most havenever been described in detail, if at all, and the Navy to this day refuses toacknowledge them publicly."-- Associated Press, "Strong stuff! . . . Highlyrecommended. . . . A compelling testimony to the courage and ingenuity of thesubmariners and the intelligence wizards and operators who made use of thisweapon during the cold war and up to this day."-- Roy Jonkers, AFIO ExecutiveDirector, Weekly Intelligence Notes, "Impressive . . . Theauthors managed to capture the flavor of submarine life, the innovation and ingenuityof men who have to fix complex equipment when there is no supply line, thecommand structure that seems casual to an outsider but which works better in anundersea environment than the more rigid arrangements on surface or shorecommands."-- NewLondon Day (CT), "The veterans of the 'SilentService' are silent no more."-- John Lehman,former secretary of the Navy, WallStreet Journal, "As exciting as early TomClancy novels . . . engrossing. . . . Highly recommended for everyone with aninterest in submarines or intelligence."-- Sea Power
SynopsisA New York Times bestseller The secret history of America's submarine warfare is revealed for the first time in this "vividly told, impressively documented," ( The New York Times ) and fast-paced chronicle of adventure and intrigue during the Cold War For decades, only a select and powerful few knew the truth about the submarines that silently roamed the ocean in danger and in stealth, seeking information and advantage. Based on six years of groundbreaking investigation into the "silent service," Blind Man's Bluff uncovers an epic story of adventure, courage, victory, and disaster beneath the surface. With an unforgettable array of characters from the Cold War to the twenty-first century, Sontag and Drew recount scenes of secrecy from Washington, DC, to the depths of the sea. A magnificent achievement in investigative reporting, Blind Man's Bluff reads like a spy thriller with one important difference: everything is true., Originally published in 1998 and a best seller in its hardcover and paperback publications, Blind Man's Bulff is a dramatic, and riveting history. Over the course of five years, investigative reporters Sherry Sontag and Chris Drew interviewed hundreds of men who had never spoken about their underwater lives,not even to their wives and children. They uncovered a wealth of classified information: the tapping of undersea Soviet telephone cables, the stealing of Soviet weapons, the tragic collisions of enemy submarines. They tell of medals awarded in secret and deaths disguised with disinformation. Blind Man's Bluff is a critical work of history that reads with all the excitement of a Tom Clancy novel and all the tragedy of Das Boot., Discover the secret history of America's submarine warfare in this fast-paced and deeply researched chronicle of adventure and intrigue during the Cold War that reads like a spy thriller. Blind Man's Bluff is an exciting, epic story of adventure, ingenuity, courage, and disaster beneath the sea. This New York Times bestseller reveals previously unknown dramas, such as: The mission to send submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. How the Navy's own negligence may have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion , a submarine that disappeared, all hands lost, in 1968. The bitter war between the CIA and the Navy and how it threatened to sabotage one of America's most important undersea missions. The audacious attempt to steal a Soviet submarine with the help of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, and how it was doomed from the start. A magnificent achievement in investigative reporting, Blind Man's Bluff reads like a spy thriller, but with one important difference-everything in it is true.
As told toSontag, Sherry, Drew, Annette, Drew, Christopher