October 1971.
USS Halibut (SSGN-587), a special operations-capable sub, leaves port. Within its hulk, lies a mysterious 20ft long device, which will be wrapped around the cable, thus limiting the chances of compromise, and three-feet tape recorder. The recorder (which was probably history’s largest telephone tap) can be detached in the event the Soviets raise the cable for maintenance.
The mission is so classified that few onboard know about it. The rest of the crew believe that they’ll be recovering debris from a sunk Soviet anti-ship cruise missile, the P-500 Bazalt (a variation of which is still in use by the Russian navy).
USS Halibut reaches the Sea of Okhotsk undetected and sets to work. Her divers find the cable at 400ft. But the water temperature is insanely low, and they retreat into the sub. A solution comes in the form of a cord that will pump warm water in their dive suits. It works. The divers then finish the bugging.
Like a whisper in the dark, USS Halibut vanishes. On her way home, she retrieves the P-500 debris (eventually, the U.S. Navy managed to reconstruct the missile and built countermeasures for its ships).
Immediately, a wave of intelligence reaches Washington. Success.
For the next decade, U.S. subs would make the dangerous biannual journey to the Sea of Okhotsk to retrieve and replace the tapping apparatus. U.S. intelligence gathered valuable intelligence on the Soviets’ nuclear intentions and their navy.
The crew of USS Halibut received a Presidential Unit Citation for their daring.
And if it weren’t for the treachery of Ronald Pelton, an NSA employee with financial troubles who in 1980 sold the secret to the Soviets, Operation Ivy Bells would’ve continued.
Why didn’t the Soviets encrypt the line? They were, after all, famous for their ciphers and codes. Although no answer exists, it was probably because they didn’t believe someone could pull off an Ivy Bells.
It’s like the patrol commander who after a long day pitches camp on top of a hill and leaves the cliff unguarded, confident that the terrain is a sufficient defense. But then the night comes and with it the enemy.
Some aspects of Operation Ivy Bells remain classified.
This article was originally published in February 2020. It has been edited for republication.
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