Скачать или смотреть KGB Stunned When Submarine USS Parche Tapped Soviet Underwater Communication Cables

When Soviet naval commanders in Petropavlovsk sent classified orders to Moscow through underwater cables in the Sea of Okhotsk, they believed those communications were absolutely secure. The cables lay 400 feet below the surface in restricted Soviet waters, protected by geography, depth, and constant naval patrols. For nine years, American submarines proved them catastrophically wrong.

Operation Ivy Bells represented one of the most audacious intelligence operations of the Cold War. USS Halibut and later USS Parche—specially modified attack submarines—deployed saturation divers to attach recording devices directly to Soviet military communication cables. The induction taps didn't cut the cables or interrupt service. They simply read the electromagnetic fields around the wires, recording every conversation, every order, every piece of telemetry that passed through. The NSA collected years of Soviet Pacific Fleet communications, submarine deployment schedules, missile test data, and command structure intelligence. The KGB never suspected American technology could reach that deep or operate that boldly in Soviet territorial waters.

The operation continued successfully from 1971 until 1980, when NSA analyst Ronald Pelton sold the secret to the KGB for just 35,000 dollars. Soviet divers retrieved the recording pods and displayed them at press conferences as proof of American espionage. But the damage was done—nine years of intelligence had already been collected, analyzed, and used to maintain American naval superiority throughout the Pacific.

Key Facts:
Operation Ivy Bells duration: 1971-1980 (nine years undetected)
Cable location: Sea of Okhotsk, connecting Petropavlovsk to Soviet mainland
Depth: 400+ feet (requiring saturation diving techniques)
Recording pod weight: 6 tons (contained batteries, magnetic tape storage, induction coils)
USS Halibut: First submarine to conduct operation, converted missile submarine
USS Parche: Most decorated ship in US Navy history (10+ Presidential Unit Citations)
Intelligence collected: Soviet submarine schedules, fleet movements, missile telemetry, command communications
Compromise date: 1980 (Ronald Pelton betrayal)
Pelton payment: 35,000 dollars from KGB
Soviet response: Retrieved pods 1981, increased cable security, propaganda victory
Result: Nine years of invaluable intelligence that couldn't be undone by eventual compromise

USS Parche continued classified intelligence missions until decommissioning in 2004, becoming the most decorated vessel in US Navy history. The operation proved that no communication system was truly secure when American submarine technology, skilled divers, and NSA expertise combined to turn the ocean floor into an intelligence collection platform.

📚 Sources: This video is based on "Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage" by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew, declassified NSA documents on Operation Ivy Bells, USS Parche operational history records, Soviet post-Cold War accounts of cable security compromises, Ronald Pelton espionage case trial transcripts, and US Navy submarine special operations historical archives.

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