Author Description

No other U.S. Navy Diver, photographer or spy has taken pictures of any Soviet submarine from as close proximity as did W. Craig Reed of the Soviet Victor III that almost ended his life. CRAZY IVAN chronicles this true story and reveals intimate details about near-death underwater espionage missions once classified at the highest levels of Top Secret... "When I enlisted...I had no idea I would become a Navy Diver assigned to nuclear fast attack submarines conducting underwater espionage operations with U.S. Navy SEAL teams. I had no idea that I would accidentally become embroiled in a Top Secret Codeword program that would take me 400 feet down into the black, cold waters just off the coast of Soviet Russia, where sophisticated listening devices were strapped to a Soviet communications cable. I also had no idea that I would be called upon to take close-proximity espionage pictures of the Soviet's most lethal attack boat, resulting in one of the Cold War's most devastating collisions between a U.S. and Soviet submarine. A never before revealed accident that nearly cost the lives of 130 sailors."