Synopses & Reviews
One of the great secrets of the Cold War, hidden for decades, is revealed at last.
Early in 1968 a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine sank in the waters off Hawaii, hundreds of miles closer to American shores than it should have been. Compelling evidence, assembled here for the first time, strongly suggests that the sub, K-129, sank while attempting to fire a nuclear missile, most likely at the naval base at Pearl Harbor.
We now know that the Soviets had lost track of the sub; it had become a rogue. While the Soviets searched in vain for the boat, U.S. intelligence was able to pinpoint the site of the disaster. The new Nixon administration launched a clandestine, half-billion-dollar project to recover the sunken K-129. Contrary to years of deliberately misleading reports, the recovery operation was a great success. With the recovery of the sub, it became clear that the rogue was attempting to mimic a Chinese submarine, almost certainly with the intention of provoking a war between the U.S. and China. This was a carefully planned operation that, had it succeeded, would have had devastating consequences. During the successful recovery effort, the U.S. forged new relationships with the USSR and China. Could the information gleaned from the sunken sub have been a decisive factor shaping the new policies of detente between the Americans and the Soviets, and opening China to the West? And who in the USSR could have planned such a bold and potentially catastrophic operation?
Red Star Rogue reads like something straight out of a Tom Clancy novel, but it is all true. Today our greatest fear is that terrorists may someday acquire a nuclear weapon and use it against us. In fact, they have already tried.
Review
"Reads like the latest Tom Clancy thriller....Fascinating...frightening."andlt;BRandgt; -- andlt;iandgt;The Flint Journalandlt;/iandgt;
Review
"Frightening....As exciting as any novel."andlt;BRandgt; -- andlt;iandgt;The Associated Pressandlt;/iandgt;
Review
"A remarkable account [from] a veteran submariner."
-- Bookspan
Review
"A remarkable account [from] a veteran submariner."andlt;BRandgt; -- andlt;iandgt;Bookspanandlt;/iandgt;
Synopsis
March 7, 1968: Several hundred miles northwest of Hawaii, the nuclear-armed K-129 surfaces and then sinks; all of its crewmen and officers perish at sea. Who was commanding the rogue Russian sub? What was its target? How did it infiltrate American waters undetected? Navy veteran Kenneth Sewell, drawing from newly declassified documents and extensive confidential interviews, exposes the stunning truth behind an operation calculated to provoke war between the U.S. and China -- a nightmare scenario averted by only seconds. In full, authoritative detail, Red Star Rogue illuminates this history-shaping event -- and rings with chilling relevance in light of today's terrorist threat.
Synopsis
andlt;bandgt;andlt;bigandgt;March 7, 1968:andlt;/bigandgt;andlt;/bandgt; Several hundred miles northwest of Hawaii, the nuclear-armed K-129 surfaces and then sinks; all of its crewmen and officers perish at sea. Who was commanding the rogue Russian sub? What was its target? How did it infiltrate American waters undetected? Navy veteran Kenneth Sewell, drawing from newly declassified documents and extensive confidential interviews, exposes the stunning truth behind an operation calculated to provoke war between the U.S. and China -- a nightmare scenario averted by only seconds. In full, authoritative detail, andlt;iandgt;Red Star Rogueandlt;/iandgt; illuminates this history-shaping event -- and rings with chilling relevance in light of today's terrorist threat.
About the Author
andlt;bandgt;Kenneth R. Sewellandlt;/bandgt; is a nuclear engineer and a U.S. Navy veteran who spent five years aboard the USS Parche, a fast attack submarine that was the Navy's most decorated ship. andlt;Iandgt;Parcheandlt;/iandgt; conducted a number of special operations, some of which were revealed in andlt;Iandgt;Blind Man's Bluff.andlt;/iandgt; Since leaving the Navy, Mr. Sewell has held both Department of Defense and Department of Energy security clearances. In researching andlt;Iandgt;Red Star Rogue,andlt;/iandgt; Mr. Sewell had access to recently declassified intelligence files in the U.S. and Soviet military archives that were opened after 1991, among other sources. A andlt;Iandgt;New York Timesandlt;/iandgt; bestseller, andlt;Iandgt;Red Star Rogueandlt;/iandgt; has been optioned for film by Warner Brothers.andlt;bandgt;Clint Richmondandlt;/bandgt; is a veteran journalist and author based in Austin, Texas. His book andlt;Iandgt;Selena!,andlt;/iandgt; about the murder of the legendary Tejana singer, was a #1 bestseller.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword
Prologue
Part One: The Incident
Part Two: The Intelligence
Part Three: The Cover-Up
Epilogue
Notes
Index