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Red Star Rogue: The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine's Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S. | 
 enlarge | Authors: Kenneth Sewell, Clint Richmond
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 135649
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0743261127
Dewey Decimal Number: 359.930947
EAN: 9780743261128
ASIN: 0743261127
Publication Date: September 6, 2005
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"One of the great secrets of the Cold War, hidden for decades, is revealed at last. Early in 1968 a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine sank in the waters off Hawaii, hundreds of miles closer to American shores than it should have been. Compelling evidence, assembled here for the first time, strongly suggests that the sub, K-129, sank while attempting to fire a nuclear missile, most likely at the naval base at Pearl Harbor. We now know that the Soviets had lost track of the sub; it had become a rogue. While the Soviets searched in vain for the boat, U.S. intelligence was able to pinpoint the site of the disaster. The new Nixon administration launched a clandestine, half-billion-dollar project to recover the sunken K-129. Contrary to years of deliberately misleading reports, the recovery operation was a great success. With the recovery of the sub, it became clear that the rogue was attempting to mimic a Chinese submarine, almost certainly with the intention of provoking a war between the U.S. and China. This was a carefully planned operation that, had it succeeded, would have had devastating consequences. During the successful recovery effort, the U.S. forged new relationships with the USSR and China. Could the information gleaned from the sunken sub have been a decisive factor shaping the new policies of detente between the Americans and the Soviets, and opening China to the West? And who in the USSR could have planned such a bold and potentially catastrophic operation? Red Star Rogue reads like something straight out of a Tom Clancy novel, but it is all true. Today our greatest fear is that terrorists may someday acquire a nuclear weapon and use it against us. In fact, they have already tried. "
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Conspiracy candy January 6, 2008
D. Burke (Opelika, AL United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I looked at this book as an academic. I study nuclear weapons development, delivery systems, and all that stuff. If it blows up real big, I am into it. So please do take this into consideration as I go into my review.
This book is about as plausible as the last Sasquatch sighting. But perhaps that is why so many people seem to desperately want to cling to it. The author makes several unforgivable lapses in judgement, such as reconstructing the last days of the K-129 - a Golf II class ballistic missile sub that he asserts was on its way with 11 "mysterious" personnel who somehow were trying to launch an SLBM at Pearl Harbor in 1968, in the hopes that the U.S. would automatically suspect the CHINESE and attack them, thus eliminating Russia's main continental threat. He furthermore maintains that the warhead suffered a low-order detonation of the warhead as a result of the Permissive Action Lock failsafe device triggering some of its plastic explosives as a means of somehow punishing a crew severely if it tried something sneaky.
PUH-LEEZE!!!!!
First, the author needs to content himself with some facts: he claims to have worked as in the reactor space of one of our snooper-boats, yet he obviously doesn't recall ever having "Spooks," or CIA intelligence-gathering operatives on his boat. If he does, then why doesn't he think that the Soviets did the same thing? Or they could have been technicians working on the newly-installed navigational gear. But of course, these were just mystery men who seized the boat. I'm getting spooked already...
Then there is his reconstruction of the events of the sub just prior to its loss. HE CANNOT KNOW THIS STUFF - THE ONLY ONES WHO DID DIED ON THE BOAT. But it is a "Non-fiction novel," right? La la la la la... Now the psychopathic commies raise to fire their missile and...
This gets goofy: he describes a "cold launch" system to fire the missiles FROM A SURFACED POSITION - in essence this system uses compressed air to blow the missile free from its launch tube AS THE SUBMARINE IS SUBMERGED. The predecessor to the submarine, the Golf I class HAD to fire while surfaced, and used an elevator platform to lift the missile clear of the launch tube, of which there were three located in the sail. The Golf II was specifically created to be able to utilize the R-21 missile, which GAVE IT AN UNDERWATER LAUNCH CAPABILITY. If the author had even bothered to actually read Pavel podvig's book, "Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces," WHICH HE CITES, he would know that the K-129 would not have fired from the surface, but submerged. But well, that would conflict with the story... La la la la la....
So the permissive action lock triggered the missile's warhead to self destruct? IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY. It prevents the missile from firing, or the warhead from detonating, but it DOESN'T POP THE EXPLOSIVES ON THE WARHEAD. It would render it inert - and THAT IS ASSUMING THAT THE R-21 HAD A PAL SYSTEM. Not to mention that such an explosion would have opened up the missile's fuel tanks (it was a liquid-fuelled missile after all) and most likely would have blown open the missile hatches covering the other two birds in their tubes. GUESS WHAT HAPPENS THEN? You have two more missiles blowing their fuel tanks, and in the end, there wouldn't be enough of that sub left to fit in a sardine can. Boom. Big rocket fuel explosion. Bye bye boat, and Mr. Hughes doesn't build the Glomar Explorer.
I hope that I haven't ruined anyone's fun here, and if you like sea stories, this one might keep you company on a rainy night, but it is absolutely implausible. Oh, I didn't mention that he states that a secret "Jennifer" satellite "detected" the missile fuel explosion. I thought that "Jennifer" was the code name for the attempted recovery, not surveillance of the world for infrared sources... And being able to discern "between house fires and rocket fuel." Errr, right. I am familiar with the Vela satellites, and I am familiar with the early warning satellites that sit in geosynchronous orbits at great distance that look for rocket plumes, but this satellite system is unfamiliar to me... OH, THAT'S RIGHT - he cites THAT information FROM A DISCOVERY CHANNEL TV PROGRAM. Now if that isn't an accurate source, I don't know what is. When the television becomes part of the basis of a book that claims to be somewhat factual, I blanch. If that is the case, the author may wish to ask Starfleet if Scotty would be so kind as to beam him up to the Enterprise so he can look at the dilithium crystals.
He discounts the possibility that there was a missile fuel leak, or another scenario where the sub might have surfaced briefly to try and vent its missile tube - such as in the scenario portrayed in the book "Hostile Waters" where a leaking launch tube caused a missile detonation and the eventual loss of the sub and several of its crew. But that would dismiss the idea that psycho Reds were trying to get us to blow up the Chinese...
AND THE CHINESE DID NOT HAVE A BALLISTIC MISSILE SUB OF THEIR OWN UNTIL 1988. How would they have nuked us at Pearl Harbor?
Oh, and there's lots of Glomar Explorer conspiracy hooplah, but I have probably taken up enough of your time.
This book requires a willing suspense of disbelief. As I study this stuff for a living, I ain't that willing.
 good read from a reader October 28, 2007
a reader (ohio)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Recenly, I read Red Star Rogue. Controversial did get my attention.
Prior to reading, I checked the internet for information about the K129 and Project Jennifer.
Reading the book was worth the time. The book does offer believable explanations rather than general statements about the events surrounding the K-129, its location, and salvage. There certainly seemed to be interest in salvaging the K-129.
In the 1960's and 1970's there was concern about the Russians, Cold War activities, and the Chinese. Henry Kissinger was admired for his skillful negotiations and contributions in detente and opening the door of China.
Within the context of the book, the special bond submariners share is described along with an Armageddon situation that could have occurred had a rogue mission been successful.
I am interested in more information about the R/V Teritu and the radioactive oil slick sailed into during an academic,ecological research in the area of Oahu in 1968 along with the FOIA concerns presented by Harriet Ann Phillipi in regard to Project Jennifer.
 Believe it or not October 22, 2007
C. Johnson (Indiana)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
While not necessarily all believable the detail of research is very good. Well written but stretched a little long. It was nice to stroll down memory lane as to the facts and fears of the Cold War era.
Red Star Rogue September 30, 2007
David Lewis
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book accurately relates parts of history that have remained a mystery for years. There is some speculation, however, the author is very convincing and has done his homework. I throughly enjoyed reading this book.
Red Star Rogue Belongs on the Bad Fiction Shelf September 8, 2007
R. B. RULE
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As discussed by William Twist and the originator of this review in earlier reviews of RED STAR ROGUE (RSR) posted on this site, RSR has serious credibility problems in several technical areas.
One of these problems is so egregious that the entire conspiracy theory edifice propounded by RSR stands or falls on this single issue.
Kenneth Sewell, the author of RSR, conjectures that K-129, a GOLF Class Soviet diesel submarine sank in March 1968, while attempting to launch a missile at Pearl Harbor to trigger a Sino-American war. The launch position was estimated in RSR to be about 350 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii, well within the range of the GOLF missile system.
The enormous problem with the RSR position is that the Air Force Technical Applcations Center (AFTAC) compared the arrival times of underwater acoustic signals generated by the GOLF when it sank at five locations (Wake Island, Midway Island, Eniwetok Island, Kaneohe, Hawaii and Adak, Alaska) to establish the position of the sinking with what is known as a time-difference-fix solution.
The AFTAC position, provided by a now declassified Navy document, was 40.1N, 179.9E or 1600 nautical miles from Honolulu, 700 NAUTICAL MILES BEYOND THE MAXIMUM RANGE OF THE GOLF R-21 MISSILE.
The AFTAC position also is OVER 1000 NAUTICAL MILES from the position postulated by Kenneth Sewell in RSR.
The AFTAC position is the position to which US forces went and it is the position where they found the wreckage of the GOLF in 16,400 feet of water. Where the GOLF sank is beyond dispute.
On this single point, the RSR conspiracy edifice collapses and the book is is exposed as a fictional invention without substance or credibility. For whatever reason the GOLF sank, it had nothing to do with any conspiracy to attack Honolulu with a nuclear-warhead-equipped missile.
End of discussion.
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