Clues (and video) to Why Submarines are Always Silent and Strange

Back in December, M.E. brought you news of what appeared to be an interesting story THE RED SUBMARINE that could eventually be made into a submarine thriller:

It began in 1981, when a Soviet Whiskey class submarine ran aground near a Swedish naval base. The Soviets claimed that the sub captain had been lost. The incident became known as Whiskey on the Rocks. The Swedish military wasn't laughing.May. 09, 1983 - TIME - After a six-month investigation, an official commission concluded that up to six submarines had been involved in a bold intrusion into the waters near Sweden's Musk Island naval base last October. The fleet was said to include three advanced miniature submarines, some equipped with tanklike treads for crawling along the sea floor. One of the minisubs, the report disclosed, may have crept 50 miles to the north, right into a waterway that runs through the center of Stockholm. ... Some experts think the Soviets could have been gathering intelligence to plan the invasion of Sweden and Norway, so as to gain control of the vital northern Atlantic sea-lanes in the event of war. '


UPDATE: An agent contacted us with the following:
Everything is correct, but if you read its press release, the film, THE RED SUBMARINE is in the planning stage and is looking for financing. ---The novelette has not been published for public distribution. Askin Ozcan's other five books are available though at major internet book-shops.

2nd UPDATE (January 27, 2008): Margaret Thatcher told navy to raid Swedish coast -
MARGARET THATCHER ordered the Royal Navy to land Special Boat Service (SBS) frogmen on the coast of Sweden from British submarines pretending to be Soviet vessels, a new book has claimed. ... The cold war under the Baltic is detailed in a book by Ola Tunander, research professor at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo. ... The West claimed the vessels were all Soviet, probing the country’s defences. Tunander believes many were part of a CIA-run operation by Britain and America that continued until the collapse of the Soviet Union. ...
One British naval captain told him: “Margaret Thatcher signed approval for every single operation.”
One of the boats used was HMS Orpheus, a submarine kitted out for SBS operations.
Tunander said he had once sat next to a British admiral at dinner and questioned him about the operation. He replied that it was “none of my business”, Tunander said. “The admiral then added jokingly, ‘Don’t people fall under buses sometimes?’ ” This weekend Sir Keith Speed, navy minister from 1979 to 1981, was asked if the missions had happened. He replied, “Yes,” but added: “I cannot say any more as I am bound by the Official Secrets Act until the day I die.” read the rest of the full news account from the UK TIMESONLINE [emphasis added]

Perhaps there is really a new book by Tunander, but the 2004 Tunander book seems to have already made that very claim.

Whiskey on the Rocks pictorial here. And YouTube:



Russian submarine in Swedish
waters ...