Operation Ivy Bells
Robert G. Williscroft
An aging nuclear submarine—A lockout saturation-diving system—A handful of daredevil heroes!
“Over the past few decades, action-adventure stories about submarines and diving have become a popular genre. Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler come to mind as exemplars. But Robert Williscroft really raises the bar with this book. Not only is he an outstanding writer, but he is also a ‘doer,’ having participated in the events described in Operation Ivy Bells.”—Captain Don Walsh USN, PhD, USN Submersible Pilot #1, Officer in Charge Bathyscaph Trieste, 1959-1962
A super-secret, off-the-books spy organization; a security-clearance starting at Top Secret and going up; an attack by giant squid during a thousand-foot dive while breathing an exotic gas; a cat’s whisker escape from death during a 3-day decompression—and that’s just the first two chapters of Operation Ivy Bells, before the action really gets underway.
In a fast-paced, personal narrative, J.R. “Mac” MacDowell details a breathtaking series of events during a top-secret intelligence gathering operation at the height of the Cold War. Riding the nuclear submarine Halibut, Mac and his saturation diving team surreptitiously enter Soviet-controlled Sea of Okhotsk to install a tap on an underwater communications cable at 400 feet, and narrowly escape death when a storm snaps Halibut’s anchor cables. They retrieve missile parts from a Soviet missile-test splash-zone, getting caught in a sonar-web set by the crafty skipper of an old Soviet diesel submarine. Later, Halibut is outfitted with skids so she can sit on the bottom. Mac and his team attach a 12-thousand-pound recording pod to the cable. In the missile splash-zone, they lock in deadly underwater combat with Soviet divers.
Halibut finally returns home without ever publicly revealing their crucial contribution to winning the Cold War.
Duration - 12h 31m.
Author - Robert G. Williscroft.
Narrator - Mark Budwill.
Published Date - Sunday, 12 January 2025.
Copyright - © 2015 Robert G. Williscroft ©.
Location:
United States
Networks:
Robert G. Williscroft
Mark Budwill
The Mac McDowell Missions
Starman Press
English Audiobooks
INAudio Audiobooks
Description:
An aging nuclear submarine—A lockout saturation-diving system—A handful of daredevil heroes! “Over the past few decades, action-adventure stories about submarines and diving have become a popular genre. Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler come to mind as exemplars. But Robert Williscroft really raises the bar with this book. Not only is he an outstanding writer, but he is also a ‘doer,’ having participated in the events described in Operation Ivy Bells.”—Captain Don Walsh USN, PhD, USN Submersible Pilot #1, Officer in Charge Bathyscaph Trieste, 1959-1962 A super-secret, off-the-books spy organization; a security-clearance starting at Top Secret and going up; an attack by giant squid during a thousand-foot dive while breathing an exotic gas; a cat’s whisker escape from death during a 3-day decompression—and that’s just the first two chapters of Operation Ivy Bells, before the action really gets underway. In a fast-paced, personal narrative, J.R. “Mac” MacDowell details a breathtaking series of events during a top-secret intelligence gathering operation at the height of the Cold War. Riding the nuclear submarine Halibut, Mac and his saturation diving team surreptitiously enter Soviet-controlled Sea of Okhotsk to install a tap on an underwater communications cable at 400 feet, and narrowly escape death when a storm snaps Halibut’s anchor cables. They retrieve missile parts from a Soviet missile-test splash-zone, getting caught in a sonar-web set by the crafty skipper of an old Soviet diesel submarine. Later, Halibut is outfitted with skids so she can sit on the bottom. Mac and his team attach a 12-thousand-pound recording pod to the cable. In the missile splash-zone, they lock in deadly underwater combat with Soviet divers. Halibut finally returns home without ever publicly revealing their crucial contribution to winning the Cold War. Duration - 12h 31m. Author - Robert G. Williscroft. Narrator - Mark Budwill. Published Date - Sunday, 12 January 2025. Copyright - © 2015 Robert G. Williscroft ©.
Language:
English
Opening Credits
Duration:00:00:10
Dedication
Duration:00:00:31
Foreword
Duration:00:05:44
Acknowledgements
Duration:00:02:32
Disclaimer
Duration:00:01:34
Chapter One
Duration:00:12:11
Chapter Two
Duration:00:32:00
Chapter Three
Duration:00:07:16
Chapter Four
Duration:00:18:07
Chapter Five
Duration:00:13:53
Chapter Six
Duration:00:16:26
Chapter Seven
Duration:00:10:27
Chapter Eight
Duration:00:21:50
Chapter Nine
Duration:00:18:56
Chapter Ten
Duration:00:19:41
Chapter Eleven
Duration:00:21:45
Chapter Twelve
Duration:00:28:16
Chapter Thirteen
Duration:00:27:13
Chapter Fourteen
Duration:00:12:50
Chapter Fifteen
Duration:00:13:04
Chapter Sixteen
Duration:00:20:13
Chapter Seventeen
Duration:00:31:05
Chapter Eighteen
Duration:00:16:21
Chapter Nineteen
Duration:00:27:57
Chapter Twenty
Duration:00:29:50
Chapter Twenty-one
Duration:00:17:22
Chapter Twenty-two
Duration:00:19:25
Chapter Twenty-three
Duration:00:10:49
Chapter Twenty-four
Duration:00:28:53
Chapter Twenty-five
Duration:00:11:42
Chapter Twenty-six
Duration:00:13:23
Chapter Twenty-seven
Duration:00:22:04
Chapter Twenty-eight
Duration:00:11:13
Chapter Twenty-nine
Duration:00:14:07
Chapter Thirty
Duration:00:11:13
Chapter Thirty-one
Duration:00:27:15
Chapter Thirty-two
Duration:00:10:20
Chapter Thirty-three
Duration:00:16:53
Chapter Thirty-four
Duration:00:21:48
Chapter Thirty-five
Duration:00:12:05
Chapter Thirty-six
Duration:00:17:33
Chapter Thirty-seven
Duration:00:13:41
Chapter Thirty-eight
Duration:00:26:27
Chapter Thirty-nine
Duration:00:13:51
Epilog
Duration:00:11:40
Afterword
Duration:00:09:39
Ending Credits
Duration:00:00:21