Rating: 
Summary: Horrible games between superpower
Review: The book is real interesting and you won't put it down until finish. The "untold story" tells us that the superpowers are playing fire at the expense of those brave men who sometimes even wasn't told how dangerous their missions were. After all, I show great respects to those men who had to tolerate the sub-standard living condition in a sub for months in order to finish their duty. A good book just if you like spy story.
Rating: 
Summary: Big events, little information
Review: I did enjoy this book immensely, but it almost completely ignored the larger role of the Submarine Force in the Cold War. While I can appreciate the author's need to tell the compelling and gripping stories that most capture public imagination, I felt that the book was far too focused on the "Special Operations" Submarines and the Golf/Glomar Explorer issue. There was a far larger and wider world of Submarine Operations than depicted in this book going on contemporaneously with the events depicted, and I feel that not even mentioning them or analyzing them in any detail was a glaring oversight. From my perspective as a veteran of many Cold War and Post-Cold War missions on both Sturgeon and Los Angeles Class attack submarines I feel almost slighted, so perhaps my review is not as objective as it could be. The title of the book trumpets "The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage" yet focuses almost exclusively on a world in Mare Island that only included 4 Submarines. The one tale of Whitey Mack vastly discounts the risks and efforts of the non "Special Operations" Submarine Force that did a lot of hard work with the efforts of thousands of men and hundreds of Submarines.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read for anyone into submarines or espionage
Review: Imagine if you will that you are onboard a US Navy submarine that has just snuck into Soviet territorial waters to spy on what the other side's navy is doing. From the sonar members of the crew can listen to the screw noise and learn turn counts that identify different Soviet Naval ships and submarines that are plying the seas around you. Your submarine-in this case the USS-Tautog (SSN-639) is here to gather intelligence on Soviet cruise missile submarines that could pose a threat to US carriers. Your captain, in this case Commander Buele G. Balderston drove his sub deeper into Petropavlovsk whereupon they collided with a Soviet Echo-II class attack boat. This was 1970, the half way point in the Cold War, one of three accidents that year, and all of them chronicled in Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew and Annette Lawrence-Drew's 'Blind Man's Bluff-The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage'. While the title may sound like some cheesy hack banged the book out and filled it with questionable information, 'Blind Man's Bluff' takes the moderate approach, the authors admitting that sometimes the information is sketchy at times, and speculate on what probably happened, corroborating information from those directly involved aids in fleshing out the true stories told within the book. It details the disastrous first attempt to spy on the Soviets in 1949 when disaster struck the ill-fated USS-Cochino when one of it's batteries exploded, leaving the submarine to flounder in sixteen foot swells before eventually sinking off the coast of Norway. It's crew was rescued by her sister ship, the USS-Tusk, but not before six crewmen were killed-drowned in the stormy seas. The book also talks at some length about Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the man who singlehandedly created a nuclear navy for the United States. It details Rickover as being a power hungry, arrogant and petty man who made or broke careers as he saw fit, and someone who demanded to know about any projects 'his' boats were involved with. Evidence, whether it be technical or personal, is often presented in anecdotal form, often amusing and always enlightening. It praises the Navy as often as it chastises it and allows the reader to develop their own opinions on whether an action was right or wrong. However, with regards to the 1968 sinking of the USS-Scorpion, it attacks the establishment-the Navy and her departments for a cover-up that has gone on for thirty-two years. When the Scorpion went down, she was in such a sorry state of repair, that one crewmen had been removed over fears expressed in letters written to his superiors. However, it wasn't the fact that Scorpion seemed to be falling apart that caused her to sink, rather a defective torpedo battery leaking within a torpedo and cooked off the 350 lb HBX warhead contained within the weapon that caused her to go down. Memos written from the Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Center told of the defective batteries, but were ignored. At first the Navy announced she may have been sunk by the Soviets, then recounted that in order to deny the torpedo theory-stating steadfastly that there was no way a weapon could 'cook off' while inside a submarine. As well the authors attack, and rightfully so, the CIA for their $500 million boondoggle of the American public for the Glomar Explorer fiasco-code named Project: Jennifer, the Glomar Explorer was the CIA's massive ship that was used to hoist an antiquated Soviet Golf-class diesel electric missile submarine out of sixteen-thousand feet of water 1,700 miles north-west of Hawaii. The submarine had sunk, probably due to the same problem that sank the Cochino-an exploding battery. Suffice it to say that Glomar Explorer utterly failed to raise the sub more than 3000 feet, at which point the grapples failed and the Golf fell almost a mile where it shattered to bits on the ocean floor. This didn't stop the CIA from trying again a year later in 1975, and succeeded in raising only 20% of the sub-minus the three nuclear missiles it carried, minus any code books and minus any usable technology. It was this singular event that led to the CIA being scrutinized and stripped of much of its vaunted power. From submarine delivered wire tapping pods being delivered into Soviet waters to listen in on undersea telephone cables to Snorkel Patty and her collection of hundreds of dolphin pins, 'Blind Man's Bluff' delivers humor, excitement, and an easily readable glimpse into the shadowy and very often murky depths of Navy Intelligence, its operations and its people. The book is personable and detailed, fulfilling its criteria of being both informative and entertaining making it a fine addition to anyone's library who is interested in submarines, the US Navy or espionage in general.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good Sea Stories - Too Much Journalist Gibberish
Review: This book starts out with some pretty good sea stories with only small hits of the "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" that journalists are famous for. The last half of the book was like swimming with concrete overshoes. Journalists love to interject themselves and opinions into the events of the past as if the writer really has some value besides the telling of a story. People who actually made history and had to actually make decisions are routinely second guessed (usually after they died and are unable to defend themselves). The opinions by the authors are often insulting and self-serving. The dropping of the holy grail "Woodward" is unnecessary and obviously ticket-punching by the authors.
Rating:
Summary: At last - the truth
Review: This book had me riveted. My father was on the boat in this book, and I can remember - in detail - the top secret stories he told me as a child. This book has real accounts, and actual data - that has been kept inside many submariners for years. The truth is finally known. For all submariners, and those who helped my father and his shipmates return to me and my family at MINS, and also the authors - who took the time and courage to finally bring the importance of these missions to light - I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I know that this haunted my father for years, and I just wish it could have come to light while he was still here to see it.
Rating:
Summary: Blind Mans Bluff
Review: I was involved as a civilian Design Engineer during the 80's at Mare Island Navshyd in a group called Ocean Engineering. That was our cover name. We installed alot of the systems that enabled the Parche, Seawolf, and RB. Russell to operate inside Soviet waters. I helped design alot of the systems that Sherry talks about but we haven't been able to even tell our wives. This book had my jaw on the floor for we have been sworn to absolute secrecy! Alot of this book brings out the work and dedication that we put in for (for me was 5.5 yrs of hard work)countless hours of design and integration. This is a must read and can be appreciated by those who know submarines, the men that served on them and missions they carried out. My thanks to Sherry for telling the story that we couldn't even tell our families what we were designing and working on. I'm proud to have worked on such an important part of our history.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Events Revealed " At last "
Review: I initially saw a report based on this book, on a "NOVA" rebroadcast. I was amazed to see the quality and accuracy of the presentation. After seeing the report, I purchased the book, to get the complete story. This is absolutly, the most accurate presentation of those events as they took place,and a description of those dedicated men ( As well as the families who supported them )who put themselves on the line for our country, and the free world. That I have ever seen. Some have critized the lack of a strong story line, and plot. Some have said the story bogs down in places. Well, so be it, That is only because it is the Real story, Not fiction. It follows life, it has up's and downs, it tells it like it was. Reality isn't always a fast paced plot. The authors have done an exemplary job. they have researched an astounding amount of history. They have opened doors that have been closed for decades. And throughout it all, they have maintained the highest level of honesty, to all of us. The men who faced these challanges first hand, the support facilities and personel, the families who loved them and let them go to off to unknown dangers of which they could not speak, and to those who were never to return, lost forever to the cold and silent sea. This is perhaps, one of the most important books ever put in the hands of the general public, for it opens the doors of history, and valor, and a subject that most would never have known about. But most of all, it has given those of us who were there, who were a part of this silent challange, a voice. ( freedom of information, is a wonderfull point in time ) Most of those who had a place in these events have never spoken out about it. Either due to loyality, or the very nature of the work and lives of others involved. I know, I was there, not as a submarine crewmember, but as a support team member. We also saw the events, we also helped the crews, and repaired the damaged ships, and kept them in the very best condition. How else could they survive and return to home port. We also morn the loss of those who are still on patrol. We also understand. Yes, it's real. Yes, it's worth reading. Yes, it's something to keep in your heart. This book, like life itself, will touch you. While we may not always support the policy makers, the men who served were, and continue to put thier lives on the line, for all of the rest of us. And that is Fact, Not Fiction. There may be More to the story, if those who were there find the strength and path to come forward. This book may give them the chance, and the willingness to try. There must be way. Sign me: ( Mr."T" )
Rating:
Summary: Untold Stories that deserve to be told
Review: Writing about the military by non-military authors is always a bit suspect; vid. the horribly sensationalist "Fall From Glory" by Gregory Vitasca. This goes doubly so for books about military espionage. But what we are seeing now, as the last of the dust from the Cold War begins to settle, is the work of serious historians trying to chronicle its untold stories. Just as Bruce Catton and Stephen Ambrose told the stories of the foot soldiers of the Civil War and World War II, now Sontag and Drew, though not academics, do the same for the foot soldiers of the Cold War, and they do an admirable, balanced, and thorough job. While the armies faced off across the Brandenburg Gate and the air forces stood on alert by their bombers and missiles, the navies, especially the submariners, of NATO and the Warsaw Pact were the true front line adversaries. Blind Man's Bluff tells the story of the men in the trenches, and does a wonderful job of capturing the flavor of a cold, dark steel can, hundreds of feet beneath freezing water, full of brave men doing a dangerous and utterly thankless job. The book is admirably balanced and nearly devoid of sensationalism. A piece of jornalism to be proud of, and all the more gripping a tale for its truth.
Rating:
Summary: It will make you appreciate the world as it is.
Review: What struck me about this book were the revelations of what was really going on during the Cold War. The USSR toppled when I was in High School and to see the friction that existed when I was a child is remarkable. If you think back to the 70s and 80s, the real struggle that existed can be lost. As for the book itself--it starts off somewhat slow, but turns into a gripping account that is a joy to read. To all the submariners who served: Thank You.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent travel companion
Review: I got into this book from page 1. Really tells a lot about the cold war, and the reality behind the secrets that the goverment kept. Perfect complement to Hunt for Red October.. The final could have been better...
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