Her Majesty’s Silent Service

How the attack sub HMS Conqueror pulled off one of the most audacious heists of the Cold War. Thirty years later, the story of Operation Barmaid can finally be told.

“The British believed they were selected because they had more skilled submariners, and exercises do seem to bear this out. British submariners tend not to play by the book to the extent that the Americans do.

“The more cynical view has it that if a British sub was caught the diplomatic fall-out would be less severe than if an American one was involved. No one wanted to provoke a superpower confrontation.”


Submariners as a group did some pretty hairy stuff during the Cold War, but this took an iron will and brass giblets. For more stories like this, I highly recommend a book called Blind Man’s Bluff.

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