Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
City in RussiaWikipedia
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Search complete. 9 mentions across 4 episodes found for "Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky".
Oct 8, 2026
Hunter HillHOST
which is just really the modern day version of I'm not touching you while hovering your finger an inch away from someone's face.
Hunter HillHOST
Shortly after midnight on February 28th, the K-129's diesel engine fired off and headed towards what Russians call the loneliest place on earth, Petropavlovsk.
Hunter HillHOST
It's literally the most volcanic place on the planet.
Hunter HillHOST
26 active volcanoes just constantly throwing ash and steam into the air.
Daven HiskeyHOST
This is the extraordinary story of Operation Ivy Bells.
Daven HiskeyHOST
So our story begins in the late 1960s at Petropavlovsk Naval Base on the west coast of Kamchatka Peninsula, home of the Soviet and today Russian Pacific Nuclear Submarine Fleet.
Daven HiskeyHOST
To connect the base to the Pacific Naval headquarters at Vladivostok and the rest of the Soviet military communications network, the Soviets laid a submarine cable more than 1,500 kilometers across the Sea of Okhotsk.
Daven HiskeyHOST
From a security standpoint, this was a wise decision, for unlike radio traffic, communications could not be intercepted without gaining physical access to the cable.
Daven HiskeyHOST
Or so the Soviets thought.
Daven HiskeyHOST
For on the other side of the Pacific, one man was planning to do just that, Captain James F. Bradley Jr., chief of the highly secret Undersea Warfare Division of the US Office of Naval Intelligence.
Daven HiskeyHOST
If, Bradley reasoned, the Sea of Okhotsk could be infiltrated and the Petropavlovsk Vladivostok cable found and tapped, it would yield a bonanza of valuable intelligence on Soviet naval operations in the Pacific.
Daven HiskeyHOST
But how to carry out such a daring mission? Well, thankfully, the US Navy had the perfect tool at its disposal, the USS Halibut.
Ken WilliamsGUEST
Yeah, we did.
Ken WilliamsGUEST
We went into Petropavlovsk in Siberia.
Ken WilliamsGUEST
And that was weird.
Ken WilliamsGUEST
We were freaked out getting there.
Josh GelernterHOST
If you, you know what Eastern Russia looks like, there's the, um, the peninsula and the Sea of Okhotsk, and then mainland Russia.
Josh GelernterHOST
And he guessed that there was probably a telephone line, a telecommunications line connecting Vladivostok and the Soviet harbor there at Petropavlovsk, um, and, uh, mainland Russia.
Dan GelernterHOST
That is the cable on the seabed.
Josh GelernterHOST
Exactly.
Josh GelernterHOST
Uh, uh, uh, Bradley had this idea.
Josh GelernterHOST
He said if they have a, an important cable crossing under the water there, they won't want ships to anchor, just like anywhere else where there are telephone lines running under the water.
Josh GelernterHOST
And so he went and pitched this idea to Henry Kissinger and said, "Look, I, I think there might be a sign [laughs] in, in the, in the Sea of Okhotsk saying, uh, 'Don't anchor here, cable crossing' near the sub base at Petropavlovsk." And Kissinger said, "Eh, okay, fine.
Josh GelernterHOST
Go have a look." And he did.