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Blind Man's Bluff

The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage

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Blind Man's Bluff

By: Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew
Narrated by: George Wilson
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About this listen

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, 30 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 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.

©1998 Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew with Annette Lawrence Drew (P)1999 Recorded Books, LLC
20th Century Armed Forces Freedom & Security Military Military science Modern Naval Forces Politics & Government Russia Espionage Submarine War Soviet Union Cold War Vietnam War Naval Warfare

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A truly great piece of writing opening the lives of men who care to serve their countries on both sides of the fence. If I had a complaint it would be the pronunciations of Russian towns and areas as well as the word 'submariners'. I know the Americans use a different 'English' but it jars. Still a great book and the adding of appendix a & b along with the interview of the investigative writers was really great when you are given some insight in what it takes to bring this to life. One of the truly great points that became apparent was the respect towards their enmities these men who went on these mission had for those they faced and when something went wrong how it played upon their minds that they could have caused the deaths of fellow submariners.

The Cold War that kept the peace.

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Where does Blind Man's Bluff rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Great real world cold war techno-thriller.
The Russians want to kill you, the Sea wants to crush you like spam in a can, and the technology wants to kill you, crap-out on you, or both...

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

007 meets 'Q' in a nuclear powered chariot

007 meets 'Q' in a nuclear powered chariot

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first class in every way, very interesting and the fact that it all happened makes it a great listen

fantastic listen from start to finish

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this was a fascinating book on stories that have not been told before. This really shows how the cold War was fought under the oceans.
thoroughly recommend this book.

Great story that has not been told before

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An good listen, it's a shame this book could not cover the operations in more modern times, but what was covered (1950-1980) was an very good listen. Recommended!

Submarine Espionage

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Series of excellent stories from each decade of the Cold War, must read for submarines geeks.

Must for submarine fanatics

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Anyone will enjoy this story, worth a listen and to remember what was going on out there.

Excellent could not put it down

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Great read and keeps you wondering what on earth we were up to back in the day!

Fascinating!

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I'm a marine engineering officer and I found this fantastic. Detailed enough to not be silly to anyone with knowledge of the subject but not over detailed to the point of boredom.

Fantastic

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I really enjoyed listening to this - informative, well-researched and structured. Although each chapter generally (not always) deals with a new topic, the chapters are more or less chronologically arranged, and there is a nice continuity where a number of characters turn up in several different chapters. If you're into submarines/war stuff then this is on a par with the famous ''Iron Coffins'' by Herbert Werner. I nearly didn't take the risk on buying Blind Man's Bluff after a ghastly experience with a previous audiobook by an American submariner (mercifully I can't remember the name of it) which, despite having absolute rave reviews, was utterly dreadful on many levels (I returned it).

Brilliant

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