She was something of an oddball, an ugly duckling, with the missiles being carried in a cavernous hanger which took up the entire forward section of the submarine. In the early days of nuclear deterrence USS Halibut was the only nuclear powered submarine designed to launch nuclear cruise missile. The thruster was removed when the cylinder was added. ![]() Real DSRV (top) and Halibut's fake DSRV.Īs first modified in 1965 she had an externally mounted thruster (forward of hangar door) and no diver cylinder. The specialized MH-11 helmet was made by Kirby-Norman. The Westinghouse Mk-11 'Abalone' rebreather was worn on the back and enabled divers to operate deeper than regular breathing apparatus. This 'Saturation diving' was developed secretly at SEALAB (see below). Also key to their survival was that they breathed a mixed gas rather than air or pure oxygen. So the USN developed a way to keep the divers at deep sea pressures for days on end so that they only had to depressurize once. This takes up time and is ALWAYS dangerous. Normally when divers are operating a great depths they have to depressurize every time they come to the surface, and if they come up too fast they get the bends. It was designed to look like a dummy Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle(DSRV) and the cover story was that it was a training device for DSRVs. Key to IVY BELLS' success were the USN Divers who lived in the pressure cylinder mounted above the rear torpedo room. There were many technical innovations and developments which enabled Halibut to perform its Top Secret missions. Original artwork - CLICK for HIGH-RESOLUTION image. Obviously photos of Halibut's bug are hard to come by! This example is a later model captured by the Soviets. The tap itself was a large cylinder which had to be put in place by divers operating from the hovering submarine which was anchored to the sea floor. The Soviet Navy considered this as its own private sea in the Pacific and it was heavily guarded. Halibut is most famous for performing the first wire-tap on the Soviet military's undersea communication cables in the Sea of Okhotsk in 1970. ![]() ![]() This Covert Shores Recognition Guide Covers over 80 classes of submarines including all types currently in service with World Navies. Get The essential guide to World Submarines Skids were added to the bottom of the hull and larger anchors were fitted. A cylinder was added over the rear hatch for elite USN divers. The Hangar became known as the Bat Cave for obvious reason. She was modified with a well for two remotely-operated undersea drones beneath the hangar which was itself turned into a dedicated space for the intelligence personnel and their massive computer. With the passing of time there are many accounts of her operations under the Sea of Okhotsk (most from the excellent book Blind Man's Bluff), but official details remain scarce. This was when she was converted into a secret spy submarine. In 1965, within 5 years of entering service as a nuclear deterrence missile submarine, the USS Halibut was already outmoded and surplus to requirements. In particular, the configuration below the waterline. Because her missions were kept Top Secret, photo or illustrations of her modifications are virtually non-existent. Thank you to everybody who has made this article possible.ĭuring the Cold War the USS Halibut was modified for 'Underwater Engineering', a euphemism for covert intelligence gathering operations. It may still be fun (in some sense) but I would not consider it a war / strategy game anymore.If you like it, share it. It might be reasonable to allow for the initial range of nuclear weapons and some "tactical" devices but simply put, once it gets to the point where nuclear weapons are being deployed every turn, any "realism" in the game is lost. Crossing that nuclear threshold in a war invites escalation that is potentially the end of humankind. ![]() One thing I believe is missing from the "let's put nuclear weapons in the game" is that using nuclear weapons meant that all sorts of bad things were going to happen. Follow-on submarine based nuclear deterrence went with the Polaris system on the George Washington class of submarines. The last Regulus boat was nuclear powered. The first four boats converted to carry Regulus missiles were not nuclear submarines. With a range of 500 nautical miles, it led to some very cold Cold War missions for the Regulus Missile Boat Submarine Squadron. It was a ship and submarine launched nuclear cruise missile. 1955 is when the US deployed the SSM-N-8 Regulus system.
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