Hot and Cold Running Wars....

Took a trip down memory lane, read the book "Red Star Rogue: The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine's Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S." by Kenneth Sewell. It was recommended to me by my optometrist. Having been a cold war submariner during a previous period of life, I found the book very interesting.

It certainly brought back lots of memories, both good and bad. The book is about the 1968 sinking of the Soviet submarine which had been designated K129 by the U.S. Mr. Sewell's theory is that the K129 sank while attempting to launch a nuclear armed missile at Pearl Harbor... bet that got your attention.

The official story (U.S.) of that sinking has always been that K129 sank because of an internal explosion from hydrogen buildup while charging batteries or (Soviet) it sank because a U.S. submarine whammed into it. Both are very real possibilities.

The charging of a submarine's batteries does indeed produce copious quantities of hydrogen, which if not properly vented, could cause an explosion or fire... fire on a submarine.... very, very bad. If your house catches on fire you can run outside. If your submarine catches on fire..not much of a place to run. Of course, flooding is very, very bad also. One continuing joke often told during the changing of the watch (new guy taking over the duties of old guy) was, "There was a small fire, but don't worry, the flooding put it out." Bubbleheads have a strange sense of humor.

The U.S. submarines of that era certainly spent a lot of time in trying to get really close to their Soviet counterparts, without actually touching mind you, but sometimes that happened too.

Mr. Sewell, doesn't really offer much verifiable proof for his new theory, but bases it on new interpretations of public info supported by quite a few quotes from unnamed/anonymous sources. That people who actually know the real story are not willing to be named is understandable. Anyone having anything to do with the submarine force during that time period (and I assume still today) at some point signed a non-disclosure document indicating you would be thrown two stories under the prison for the rest of your life if you said anything.

Having been thus restricted, the submarine community often substitutes information in place of what really happened. I once received a letter of commendation for something I didn't do, because what I really did was necessary to continuing our mission but not in accordance with the Navy's rules and regulations. I didn't go rogue, I did it with the full permission of my captain. What I did was a success and he wanted to give me a reward for doing it but he couldn't hardly say he had given me permission to break the regulations. Sometimes when you're out there operating independently, you have to improvise.

Overall, Mr. Sewell weaves a very convincing story. Looking back at that era I would say that his theory has a very good chance of being true. It's quite a chilling theory, but the really scary part is that it's difficult to believe that the essential nature of governments has changed. Today's government (collective mass) are just as likely to be just as devious...certainly makes me not want them to have any more power.

Speaking of rogue. I've noticed that Sarah Palin has a book coming out on Nov 17. It's called Going Rogue: Sarah Palin An American Life. Some apparently liberal publishing house is publishing, on the same day, a book titled, Going Rouge: Sarah Palin An American Nightmare. While I don't currently have any opinion of either book since neither is on the shelf at the moment, it would seem to support the idea that liberals hate book store clerks. Can you imagine the anger of someone with a conservative bent who accidentally picks up Rouge when they thought they were getting Rogue? Or even more so, a liberal thinking they were getting a book trashing Ms. Palin only to open it and find it actually had positive things to say about her...apoplexy would ensue. Note to any in Ms. Palin's publishing camp that happen to run across this... Kindle-ize please. The Rouge folks... don't bother.

If cold war era thrillers are your thing... definitely read Red Star Rogue, it's more exciting that any novel. If you don't have much background in submarine operations from that time, read Blind Man's Bluff first. BMB is a pretty accurate description of U.S. cold war submarine operations and a look has how I spent part of my life.

..take care... t