CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
USS Halibut – Underway, Shelikhov Gulf
Suppressed cavitation or not, the divers were still my first priority. I had six saturated divers in the Can – one of them a potential saboteur, or at least a possible troublemaker. I thought it best that we treat Sergyi with respect, but hold him at arm’s length.
Obviously, he knew about our scavenging activities, and I had little doubt that the Soviet high command was certain an American submarine had been scavenging missile pieces from the Okhotsk seafloor. I was just as certain they had no idea about the pod. I personally cautioned each of the divers in the Can to refrain from any mention of anything but the scavenger hunt. Ham explained to Sergyi as best he could our decompression procedures.
Within a half hour of Sonar’s a
