Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage

Written by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew

Narrated by George Wilson

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Aug 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9780062642424

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.

Reviews for Blind Man's Bluff

[nicolesch-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The information was interesting, but the way that the author conveyed it made it seem dull.

[philly · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good stories but audiobook seemingly skipped frequently. That got slightly annoying

[Jon Coughlin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant, careful, sympathetic stories for the submariners who risked their lives on both sides of the cold war.

[Espen Hansen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Intriguing tale of dark ops through the cold war years. Some new and interesting stories from an author who clearly has earned his dolphins the proper way.

[Ryan DeHaas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book may be the most comprehensive overview of submarine operations from the end of WWII to the end of the Cold War. Due to the high level of secrecy involved, the authors had to talk to the men who were there when it happened, and who were willing to take the significant personal risk of talking about it. Since the narrative contains a look at a very wide world, it tends to chronicle the most notable missions and incidents. The authors do a great job of providing that is necessarily subjective without coming to premature conclusions. That is hard to imagine in 2020, but they do a great job showing what they really learned from the submariners who sacrificed so much to help the cold war stay cold. If you enjoy submarine movies or stories about subs in general, this will definitely be a good read.

[Noski Justin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

great data and well narrated. i wish it ws updated to include the last 20 years that I am sure have been just as intwresting

[renzomalo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Blind Man?s Bluff read like something out of an Ian Fleming novel, made all the more remarkable because it?s true. Without political bias, it lays out the deadly cat-and-mouse game that unfolded beneath the world?s oceans in the years following the Second World War. It?s fascinating and humbling knowing that brave souls put their lives on the line, and sometimes lost them, in the service of their country. Having served in the Navy at the time much of this was playing out, I take off my hat to those of us in Naval Air who referred to the quirky submariners as ?bubble-heads.? By the way, their unofficial motto is: There are two kinds of ships, submarines and TARGETS. Love those guys! A great read. Four and a half stars.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

5669. Blind Man's Bluff The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage, by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew with Annette Lawrence Drew (read 15 Jan 2020) This book, published in 1998, is essentially the story of the Cold War so far as submarines were involved therein. It is mainly told from the American side, though there is data as to the Russians as well. It is quite an amazing account, though episodic . Four American submarines were lost in the Cold War, one of them being the Scorpion, the loss of which is carefully examined in one of the accounts in the book though why it was lost is only tentatively decided, Much time in the book is spent telling of placing of taps on Russian cables , which taps went on for years--though that they were especially useful is not shown. There are highly interesting episodes related, but a lot of detail was not overly absorbing in interest, at least to me. It is of course good to read of the amazing events of the late 1980's which ended with the dissolution of the USSR--it being one of the moist gratifying events in my lifetime.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was a surprising delight to read. Selected for our March book club, I was dreading this book. I'm more of a literary or historical fiction buff and the idea of reading a non-fiction book about military submarines made me think that this was going to be a chore. Instead I found myself immersed in these tales of different submarine missions and especially the fate of the sailors aboard the subs. Sontag has done an amazing job of researching the history of the underwater war between the US and the Soviet Union. The stories are interspersed with quite a bit of science and detail -- pretty amazing, especially, since much of this information is probably classified. But her real skill is taking all this historic data and creating a tale filled with suspense and some very colorful characters.

[calavari · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I remember when this book first came out. I was a teenager and my father picked it up immediately and was so excited about it that he told me about half the book in an evening when he was done. I remember lots of stories from it but always felt like I was missing some. It was one of those books he had insisted on me reading one day and even gave me but that I didn't feel like I needed to read because I knew most of the stories (which did not turn out to be true).

Then I came across it again this month. It's been a week or so since I finished it, my reviews this month have been woefully behind. I had come across the audiobook version in my library when I was looking for a new book and it is on one of those few subjects that I knew my husband wouldn't mind listening to on our two day drive back home from visiting my parents. It turned into the easiest part of the drive.

I have always had a particular fondness for history surrounding boats and the sea, so this book was especially fascinating for me. I loved all the crazy stories about espionage and the way that became a big job for submarines to do. I don't remember all the names, unfortunately, but the man who used bets to factor intuition into calculations of where to look for things was amazing. That's an interesting concept all by itself.

It was crazy to get into the mindset of the Cold War while listening to this book. I don't remember much from that timeframe but I'm old enough to remember just a little. The fear and paranoia were strangely different from what terrorism has done in the last few decades. It's hard to explain but the book really brings you back there. I appreciated that the authors included that element, particularly since I'm reading it so long after both the period it covers and its publication.

I know herstories are normally my thing for the blog but I decided to include a review when I noticed that two out of the three authors were women. I enjoyed the narrator, Tony Roberts. He got a little monotone sometimes but kept the sense of suspense throughout the book.

[composingcomposer · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The information was interesting, but the way that the author conveyed it made it seem dull.

[tillywern · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good read if you are into the development of submarines through the cold war.

[buffalogr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Surface treatment of submarine ops during the cold war. Despite that, it was very interesting.

[whiskey3pa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A different look at the Cold War. What was happening below the ocean surface was really intense. Only a gov't spy agency could bug a phone trunk thought totally safe and use equipment marked Property of US Gov.

[neilandlisa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An exciting, edge-of-your seat account of US submarine espionage operations from the end of World War II to the post-Cold War era. Meticulously researched and with excellent appendices, "Blind Man's Bluff" reads like a spy novel, divided into chapters that explain either a different incident or operation of Cold War submarine surveillance.

[meegeekai · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

OK, having served on a nuke fast attack, it would be embarrasing if I did not read this. Great book on the submarines roll in the Cold War. My boat is actually mentioned! (USS Sargo), but only given a few sentences. I do know that the Sargo was one of the most decorated subs in the Navy, ironically, most of the commendations were classified. This is a very accurate glimspe of the Cold War navy. Great book and a must read for anyone interested in submarines.

[berthirsch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A quick read. Exciting. Interesting. Gives you a good sense of those unsung heroes of the Cold War who lived undersea while defending this conutry's borders and spying on the Soviet Union Forces.

[michaelcruse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good collection of stories from the history of Cold War submarine activities