Spy Sub

Book excerpt: This is the true story of an American nuclear submarine's desperate search for a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine lost in the depths of the north Pacific. Told by a sailor on board the U.S. spy sub, it reads like a techno-thriller, but the events recorded here actually happened. To this day - some twenty-eight years later - the U.S. Navy has never publicly admitted the operation took place. The mission remains so sensitive that it is still classified "compartmentalized top secret". With slight technical modifications and name changes, however, Roger Dunham's story was cleared for publication by the Department of Defense. It offers the first eyewitness account of what the Pentagon calls one of the most successful military operations of the Cold War. Dunham brings readers into his submarine as the crew struggles to accomplish their mission in spite of flooding, emergency shutdowns of the nuclear reactor, depletion of uranium fuel, the loss overboard of a chief petty officer, and the mental breakdown of a crewman vital to the engine room. The ultimate success of this dangerous operation earned the crew the Presidential Unit Citation, presented in a top secret ceremony.