Most recently a public image of Craven is emerging titillating the public with the suggestion that Tom Clancy's famous book The Hunt for the Red October is not fictional but embellished fact, that the title is derived from a top secret legendary mission of the submarine Halibut that may or may not have been called The Hunt for the Red September by participants long before the title was originated in the mind of an individual who had no access to classified material. The mission of the Halibut is described in a new book published by the Naval Institute and authorized (but not verified) by the United States Navy. The Halibut is given a fictional name but is pictorially and uniquely displayed. The Captain of the Halibut is also given a fictional name but his picture is also prominently displayed. One name is not changed. It is that of an individual described by reporters he has never met as "the Chief Scientist of the U. S. Navy who supervised the construction and the operations of the Halibut." Good Heavens, his name is my name too and whenever I go out people who I do not know shout that I am the master mind of Red October.
Fortunately I have never read Clancy's book or seen the movie, nor have I read any other books associated with the alleged mission or missions. But I do not recognize myself in these public descriptions and public perceptions. Well who do I see that I am or was.
The submarine Thresher was lost at the time that I occupied the position of Chief Scientist of the Special Projects Office charged with the responsibility of developing the Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missile System. A committee was established under Admiral Stephan, the oceanographer of the Navy to assess the implication of the Navy's loss. His committee concluded that the Navy did not have the operational assets to conduct its legitimate missions in the deep sea and to rectify this deficiency his committee developed a program called the Deep Submergence Systems Project which set forth a plan for developing a deep ocean capability. Ordinarily this mission would have been assigned to the Ships System's Command, but because of the urgency of the need it was assigned to the Special Projects Office and then to the office of the Chief Scientist. For purely bureaucratic purposes this position had the titillating designation SP001. Once a central focus for this development was established other associated development programs were assigned to the office. First was the "man in the sea" program under the leadership of Captain George Bond. For pure deviltry he was assigned the designator SP007. Shortly thereafter Admiral Rickover chose the office to manage the development of the NR-1 a small deep ocean nuclear powered oceanographic research submarine. Then unbeknownst to almost anybody, the intelligence community laid on it's own development requirements. Thus for a short period of time all the Navy development projects were under the purview of the Deep Submergence Systems Project.
Now as life would have it a number of significant Naval Missions arose before the hardware was fully developed. It was then necessary to employ equipments under development and not yet operational to carry out the missions. There was no choice but to include the developers in real, rather than hypothetical mission analysis in order to adapt their equipment for immediate and future missions. So it was that operational missions were also under the purview of the Director/and or the Chief Scientist of the Project or Projects. It was only fate that placed that individual in those multiple roles on the management charts during that short but fateful period of time. I was not czar (although I, as a civilian had the legal status of a commanding officer). I was not master mind for there were many master minds involved in the totality of the development and operation. I was simply focal point because there was not time to develop the organizational and operational structures that were required for the deep submergence capability.
How can I explain this? Aha I uncovered the picture that you see on this page. It was prepared as a loving spoof by my colleagues. Here I am, bewildered, in the center of chaos. Behind the doors of secrecy the water is pouring in carrying divers, submarines, ships and marine creatures. In my hands are models of missiles and submarines whose contents are only vaguely known to me. Behind are the chemicals for propellants and propulsion and to the left a rotating model of a travel agency that vectored me nearly 200 thousand miles a year from operational and development site to operational and development site. If anything, I was, at best, the messenger for a vast, evolving and emerging underseas fleet and the surrogate for naval officers who were testing and evaluating new careers and new missions.
And what were my real line responsibilities ? I was placing my priority where every individual places his or her priority - on the nuclear family. I was Happy Harry Homeowner for my wife, I was building model train sets with my son, I was singing lullaby's to my little daughter and most of all I was directing the Junior Choir at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. You can visit that world by clicking on or the larger oceanic world by returning to the home page