Blind Mans Bluff, Sherry Sontag
Blind Mans Bluff, Sherry Sontag
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Blind Man's Bluff
The Untold True Story of American Submar

Author: Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, Annette L. Drew

Narrator: Tony Roberts

Abridged: 6 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 01/16/2007

Synopsis

No espionage missions have been kept more secret than those involving American submarines. Now, Blind Man's Bluff shows for the first time how the Navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. It unveils how the Navy's own negligence might have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion, a submarine that disappeared, all hands lost, thirty years ago. It tells the complete story of the audacious attempt to steal a Soviet submarine with the help of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, and how it was doomed from the start. And it reveals how the Navy used the comforting notion of deep sea rescue vehicles to hide operations that were more James Bond than Jacques Cousteau.Blind Man's Bluff contains an unforgettable array of characters, including the cowboy sub commander who brazenly outraced torpedoes and couldn't resist sneaking up to within feet of unaware enemy subs. It takes us inside clandestine Washington meetings where top submarine captains briefed presidents and where the espionage war was planned one sub and one dangerous encounter at a time. Stretching from the years immediately after World War II to the present-day operations of the Clinton Administration, it is an epic story of daring and deception. A magnificent achievement in investigative reporting, it feels like a spy thriller, but with one important difference'everything in it is true. Read by Tony Roberts.

About Sherry Sontag

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.

About Christopher Drew

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 Times-Picayune in New Orleans, where he was born and raised and graduated from Tulane University. Annette Lawrence Drew, the book'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.

About Annette L. Drew

Annette Lawrence Drew, the book'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.

About Tony Roberts

Tony Roberts is a familiar face from his appearances in numerous Woody Allen and other films, and his starring roles on Broadway in Arsenic and Old Lace, Promises, Promises, The Allergist's Wife, and Xanadu.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kevin on August 03, 2021

I did time on two submarines during my six year naval enlistment, first in the Atlantic (USS Simon Bolivar) and then the Pacific (USS Ohio). As a nuclear missile technician, MT2/SS, I have a few Cold War stories of my own. Nothing I have though would rival the events Sontag & Drew describe here. Dec......more

Goodreads review by Tim on July 16, 2023

A fun book with lots of Cold War era submarine stories. I didn’t realize that there were so many US – Soviet collisions, including one incredible story where (view spoiler)[after a collision the US was sure the Soviet sub would be sunk, killing everyone on board. The US hightailed it out of there and maintained se (hide spoiler)]......more

Goodreads review by David on April 22, 2012

This book is a fascinating look at the spy missions of American submarines during the Cold War. The authors did a phenomenal amount of research, to ascertain the true nature of the Navy's and the CIA's underwater spy missions. The book briefly describes some of the new technologies that were applied......more

Goodreads review by Nooilforpacifists on September 30, 2017

When released, this book was a revelation: the first peek into Soviet-American "hide-and-seek" among nucular-armed, nucular-powered "Boomer" submarines. Until Tom Clancy, it was Naval Institute Press's biggest seller. And according to a client, an ex diving officer on an Ohio Class, everything writt......more

Goodreads review by Edward on January 02, 2012

I find the story interesting having lived through some aspects of it long ago as a submariner. Nice to know what might have been going on in the forward section of the boat while I spent my time in the after section in engineering. However, I'm taking some of these stories with a grain of salt since......more

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