113 it also formed a small committee: The background on TAG comes from Aircraft Salvops Med, Final Report, vol. 1, part I, chap. 2, pp. 8–9; Aircraft Salvops Med, Interim Report, pp. 5, B1, B4, B15.
113 The idea of Alvin: The background on Allyn Vine comes from Naomi Oreskes, “A Context of Motivation: U.S. Naval Oceanographic Research and the Discovery of Sea-Floor Hydrothermal Vents,” Social Studies of Science 33, no. 5 (October 2003), p. 701, and Kaharl, Water Baby, pp. 10–11, 19.
114 By the 1950s: The background on SOSUS comes from Oreskes, “A Context of Motivation,” p. 702.
114 “Manned submersibles are badly needed”: Memo, Allyn C. Vine to Paul Fye, “ASW,” October 10, 1960 (WHOI).
114 signed a contract in 1962: Alvin, originally called Seapup, was contracted from General Mills in 1962. General Mills had a Mechanical Division to build and repair the machines that mixed and cooked cereal. In 1940, the firm began building torpedo and gun parts to support the U.S. war effort.
After the war, “the government contracts kept coming,” as one historian put it. For more on the complicated history of Alvin’s purchase and construction, see Kaharl, Water Baby, chaps. 1–6.
114 Alvin’s curious name: Kaharl, Water Baby, pp. 32–33.
114 On the morning of April 9, 1963: The background on the Thresher comes from the following sources: George W. Martin, “Lasting Legacies of Thresher” The Submarine Review, July 2003, pp. 77–88; George W. Martin, “The Search for Thresher” The Submarine Review, April 2003, pp. 48–58; Frank A. Andrews, “Search Operations in the Thresher Area—1964, Section I,” Naval Engineers Journal, August 1965, pp. 549–561; Frank A. Andrews, “Search Operations in the Thresher Area—1964, Section II,” Naval Engineers Journal, October 1965, pp. 769–779; Frank A. Andrews, “Searching for the Thresher” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, May 1964, pp. 69–77; E. W. Grenfell, “USS Thresher (SSN-593), 3 August 1961–10 April 1963,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, March 1964, pp. 37–47; and Norman Polmar, The Death of the USS Thresher: The Story behind History’s Deadliest Submarine Disaster (Guilford, Conn.: Lyons Press, 1964).
115 “One of the many lessons”: Andrews, “Search Operations in the Thresher Area,” p. 550.
115 the secretary of the Navy formed a committee: Hearings before the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress of the United States, Eighty-eighth Congress, First and Second Sessions on the Loss of the USS Thresher. June 26, 27, July 23, 1963, and July 1, 1964 (Washington, D.C.: Government Reprints Press, 2001), p. 50; author’s interview with John Craven, April 19, 2007.
115 The Stephan Committee released its report: John Pena Craven, The Silent War: The Cold War Battle beneath the Sea (New York: Simon &Schuster, 2001), p. 109; Martin, “Lasting Legacies of Thresher” pp. 85–86.
116 The Deep Submergence Systems Project: Craven, Silent War, pp. 109–111; author’s interview with John Craven, April 19, 2007.
116 Senator William Proxmire: Craven, Silent War, p. 125.
116 a conference called “Man’s Extension”: “Man’s Extension into the Sea,” Symposium Proceedings, January 11–12, 1966 (Washington, D.C.: Marine Technology Society, 1966). The Baldwin quote comes from p. 3.
117 The program called Object Location: U.S. Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Aircraft Salvage Operation Mediterranean (Aircraft Salvops Med), Lessons and Implications for the Navy (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, April 7, 1967), p. 2.
117 We had “almost nothing”: John Craven interview, April 19, 2007.
117 “No assignments had gone on”: J. Bradford (henceforth “Brad”) Mooney interview, March 30, 2007.
117 “The Navy had achieved”: Aircraft Salvops Med, Lessons and Implications for the Navy, p. 2.
CHAPTER 9: THE FISHERMAN’S CLUE 118 he started jotting notes: Notebook shown to author during interview with Joe Ramirez.
119 Maydew had flown to Spain: Maydew arrived in Palomares on January 29. Memo, R. C.
Maydew and W R. Burton to G. A. Fowler, “Chronological Summary of Significant Events in the 9300 Participation in Broken Arrow Operation,” March 29, 1966, Randall Maydew files (SNL).
119 “except for that blue, blue Mediterranean”: Randall Maydew, oral history, conducted by Necah Furman, December 1991, p. 7.
119 he found that Air Force staffers: Randall C. Maydew, America’s Lost H- Bomb, Palomares, Spain, 1966 (Manhattan, Kans.: Sunflower University Press, 1997), p. 58.
119 As a navigator in a B-29: Randall C. Maydew, ed., A Kansas Farm Family (Freeman, S.Dak.: Pine Hill Press, 1992), pp. 128–129.
119 one morning, Joe Ramirez stopped by: The story of Maydew’s meeting with Simo comes from Maydew, America’s Lost H-Bomb, pp. 55–58, and author’s interview with Joe Ramirez, January 27, 2007. See also SAC Historical Study #109, p. 45; and “Staff Study by Systems Analysis Team of Search Operations,” February 7, 1966 (document no. SAC200118390000, Secret, NNSA, FOIA), pp. 11–14. “Staff Study” says the meeting took place on February 2, not February 3, as Maydew states in his book.
120 “Before I left the mayor’s office”: Randall Maydew, oral history, conducted by Necah Furman, December 1991, p. 10.
120 By the time Maydew reported: Maydew was part of a Systems Analysis Team that included experts from Sandia, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and Elgin Air Force Base, and was assisted by U.S. Air Force, Atomic Energy Commission, and Los Alamos personnel. Maydew left numerous descriptions of his role in Palomares, making it possible to tell the Systems Analysis Team’s story from his point of view. The author refers to the team as “Maydew’s team” or “the ballistics experts” to avoid confusion with TAG and the other groups mentioned in the book.
120 In their calculations: The Maydew team’s conclusions are from “Staff Study of Systems Analysis Team,” February 7, 1966 (NNSA); Memo, Delmar E. Wilson to SAC (Gen. John D. Ryan), “Search Operations, Palomares, Spain,” February 13, 1966 (DOD, FOIA); SAC Historical Study #109, p. 49.
121 It is unclear whether Admiral Guest: Guest’s reaction to the Systems Analysis Team report is in Aircraft Salvops Med, Final Report, vol. 1, part I, chap. 2, pp. 36–38. On page 37 it states, “Commander Task Force 65 was skeptical of the conclusions of this Sandia group and did not entirely accept their recommendations.”
121 On February 7, the USS Pinnacle again: Aircraft Salvops Med, Final Report, vol. 1, part I, chap. 2, pp. 38–39.
121 A few days later, Red Moody: Red Moody interview, November 7, 2006.
121 “Slick Willie”: The description of Mac’s relationship with Val Wilson comes chiefly from the author’s interviews with Chester Porembski, November 17, 2006, and John Porteous, September 6, 2006.
