Spy stories. "Flounder"

Recently on Habré I got a very interesting post . He interested me so much that I wanted to read a little more in detail than the author stated. So, thanks to my humble desire and great luck, I was able to talk to a man who came across this device closely. At that time, he held a high position in the State Technical Commission of the USSR, and his team directly studied this device in the Ministry of Defense. Therefore, I would like to start over again, only with all the technical characteristics and without errors.


In Kamchatka, we have the Tuev Hucha of rockets. But they must somehow be connected with Moscow. By trans-Siberian to Vladivostok, we have a trunk cable. Accordingly, the easiest way was to lay an underwater cable from Vladivostok to Kamchatka.
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The cable was armored, the cable was shielded, the transmitted information was encrypted. However, there was no noise. So, by connecting directly to the cable information could be intercepted, and later decrypted.

For this purpose, the “Cocoon” project was created in the USA and a wonder-device was developed as part of it. We dubbed it "Flounder" information retrieval device from underwater armored cable lines.

Device

"Flounder" was made in the form of a steel cylinder with a length of more than 5 m and a diameter of about 1200 mm. In a hermetically sealed tube, several tons of electronic equipment were installed to receive, amplify and demodulate signals taken from the cable, as well as a nuclear (plutonium) power source. The estimated period of work was tens of years.



The device also included a special induction sensor that removed information directly from the cable. And not only from the usual cable, but also protected by double armor from steel tape and steel wire.



The signals from the sensor are pre-amplified by an antenna amplifier, and then sent for demodulation, the selection of individual conversations and recording on tape recorders.

Record

The recording of overheard conversations is carried out by 60 automatically operating tape recorders, which, if there are signals in the cable, are turned on, and if they are not present, they stop. Each tape recorder is designed for 150 hours of recording. The total recording of overheard conversations is about 3000 hours.

Broadcast

By the time the film is used up, specially trained people, the underwater swimmer finds a listening device using a sonar beacon mounted on a container, removes an inductive pickup sensor from the cable, a pre-antenna amplifier of captured signals, and delivers the device to a specially equipped submarine. This device weighs a little over 100 kg in water. The substitution of tape recorders is carried out in the boat, after which the device is again installed on the communication line.

For the practical application of such a system, a special submarine is needed, equipped with devices for searching underwater cables. Moreover, these devices were attached outside the boat and worked at this very large depths.

Total

But as they say, there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped. In the 88th our fishermen, who knew nothing about the cable, or about the Flounder, accidentally damaged the cable. And already during the repair of damage and found it. She was sent to Moscow, where she was thoroughly studied by various specialists, including the one who told me everything about Flounder.

PS Firstly, sorry for the terrible quality of the pictures - what they were. Secondly, if you like the article, I will write about the land version - “Mole” - and more about different gingerbread on the little things.