{"product_id":"operation-ivy-bells-a-mac-mcdowell-mission-9781732478824","title":"Operation Ivy Bells: A Mac McDowell Mission","description":"\u003cp\u003e A super-secret, off-the-books spy organization; a security-clearance starting at Top Secret and going up from there; an attack by giant squid during a thousand-foot dive while breathing an exotic gas; a cat's whisker escape from death during a three-day decompression-and that's just the first two chapters of \u003cem\u003eOperation Ivy Bells\u003c\/em\u003e, before the action really gets underway.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a fast-paced, personal narrative, J.R. \"Mac\" MacDowell details a breathtaking series of events during a super-secret intelligence gathering operation at the height of the Cold War. Riding the nuclear submarine \u003cem\u003eHalibut\u003c\/em\u003e, Mac and his saturation diving team surreptitiously enter Soviet-controlled Sea of Okhotsk on a proof-of-concept mission. They install a tap on an underwater communications cable at 400 feet, and narrowly escape death when a storm snaps \u003cem\u003eHalibut's \u003c\/em\u003eanchor cables. They retrieve missile parts from a Soviet missile-test splash-zone, getting caught in a sonar-web set by the crafty skipper of an old Soviet diesel submarine. Mac's divers temporarily disable the sub, and \u003cem\u003eHalibut\u003c\/em\u003e escapes to Guam, dogged by the sub Skipper.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Having proved the concept, they return in a \u003cem\u003eHalibut\u003c\/em\u003e, outfitted with skids so she can sit on the bottom, to attach a 12-thousand-pound pod to the cable for future retrieval. In the missile splash-zone, they lock in deadly underwater combat with Soviet divers. With the free world at stake, they capture one and kill the rest.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eHalibut's\u003c\/em\u003e submariners and saturation divers finally return home without ever publicly revealing their crucial contribution to winning the Cold War, receiving an unpublicized Presidential Unit Citation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWilliscroft, Robert G.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Dr. Robert G. Williscroft is a retired submarine officer, deep-sea and saturation diver, scientist, author, and a lifelong adventurer. He spent 22 months underwater, a year in the equatorial Pacific, three years in the Arctic ice pack, and a year at the Geographic South Pole. He holds degrees in Marine Physics and Meteorology and a doctorate for developing a system to protect SCUBA divers in contaminated water. A prolific author of both non-fiction, Cold War thrillers, and hard science fiction, he lives in Centennial, Colorado.","brand":"Starman Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51749321441554,"sku":"9781732478824","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9d014447-6db5-4ee1-8936-f69a489f57cb.jpg?v=1764076962","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/operation-ivy-bells-a-mac-mcdowell-mission-9781732478824","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}