In early June 1957, in the small seaside town of Chichester, West Sussex in South East England, fishermen fished out the headless body of a scuba diver. The news of the terrible find shook the whole of England. Forensic examinations showed that the slain diver's double rubberized lightweight overalls were custom made by the United Kingdom Admiralty. By the decision of the British government, all the circumstances of the death of a military scuba diver were strictly classified for 100 years until 2057. What was the cause of the death of the mysterious drowned man? Why did special secrecy arise around this case? What danger during the Cold War was the information obtained during the investigation for the British Crown?
Later, the identity of the killed submariner was revealed. It turned out that the body belonged to the well-known saboteur submariner Crabbe Lionel of the 12th Special Forces Flotilla in the Royal Navy of Great Britain, known far outside England. But neither Crabb's friends nor his family accepted the experts' arguments. Crabb's ex-wife refused to recognize the deceased as her husband.
There were obvious discrepancies in the identification. On the body of the missing Lionel, the hair color was light brown, and the disfigured corpse had absolutely black hair. All the lifetime scars of the famous saboteur mysteriously disappeared from the body. The ankles of the corpse had obvious indentations of rust, indicating that under water a person was chained to a sinker so that he would not float. In addition, the ex-wife noted a completely different size of the drowned man's legs compared to the feet of the missing commander.
Despite the oddities that arose during the identification, Lionel Crabb was presumed dead. He was buried in the Portsmouth cemetery area, specially designated for the dead sailors.
From the biography of the submariner, it became known that after 1948, Crabb was demobilized from the regular troops, and then he replenished the reserves of the Navy. For the next 7 years, Lionel, under the cover of the Navy, spied for British intelligence, performing super complex secret operations. Then in 1955, Lionel moved to London and went to work for a small furniture firm that was used to divert the eyes of the general public. In fact, it served as a "roof" for secret meetings of MI6 residents during the preparatory period for the implementation of a special mission of high significance.
According to the testimony of the last concubine of Lionel Pat Rose, at the same time he was very friendly with a very strange gentleman named Matthew Smith. The woman could not even imagine that the suspicious type was a CIA employee, and besides, he headed a secret operation with the participation of her friend.
Their first joint assignment was to examine the bottom of the Soviet cruiser Sverdlov, which arrived in Portsmouth harbor in 1955 at the invitation of the British government. He had excellent maneuverability, and easily obeyed the steering wheel. In military conditions, such qualities are very important for a ship. The British decided to scout out all about the new Russian technologies in the field of naval shipbuilding.
British intelligence turned to civilian divers from the United States for help to covertly survey the enemy ship. In this case, it was easy for the British authorities to declare at any moment that they were not involved in the incident. Smith and Crabbe became such submariners-saboteurs.
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Carrying out a reconnaissance mission, in the fall of 1955, Crabb dived under the ship's hull, and discovered a round, wide hole in the bow of the ship. It housed a special propeller with adjustable diving levels, which made it possible to achieve easy maneuverability and controllability of the cruiser. Having received valuable information, the submarine saboteur personally reported in London on the results of the secret operation.
In early April 1956, Soviet statesmen arrived in Great Britain on an official visit. Representatives of the entire world press gathered in England to capture the sensational event. A flotilla of 3 Soviet ships, headed by the super-powerful, fast, easily maneuverable cruiser Ordzhonikidze, docked in the city of Portsmouth. On board was NS Khrushchev himself, after the Iron Curtain such a visit seemed an unthinkable event. World politicians and special services tried to understand what course the Soviet leader would choose, how to assess an official visit to the enemy camp at the height of the ongoing Cold War. Neither side announced a truce. Submariners Smith and Crabbe were again trained for the next reconnaissance mission, its execution was scheduled for April 18.
In the early morning, on ships moored in the port of Portsmouth, watchmen witnessed the strange events taking place around the Ordzhonikidze. The ship was surrounded by Soviet divers. Suddenly, an alien submariner suddenly surfaced. A group of Soviet divers immediately rushed to him. There was a short battle, then the scuba divers quickly disappeared into the water. Then three divers again appeared on the surface. A military boat was already waiting for them nearby, into which an unknown submariner was pulled. The boat rushed, instantly delivering all three to the Ordzhonikidze.
10 days later in the UK, the Navy made an official statement, which said that the English scuba diver, on April 18, worked as a civilian, performing a technical inspection and checking the condition of underwater service equipment in Portsmouth, but did not return from the mission.
British Prime Minister Anthony Eden had to make excuses in parliament, assuring everyone that the government had nothing to do with the mysterious death. But it was Eden who initially gave guarantees to the Soviet side that no intelligence activities would be carried out during the high-ranking visit of the head of the USSR.
The Soviet government lodged a strong protest, and Khrushchev's security service began to prepare a fallback for the return by air. The bomb for Khrushchev could become a political bomb, which, with renewed power, would separate the Soviet Union and the West on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain.