The calls from Iceland came at night back then, telling Lt. Cmdr. Ron Gracy to be here in the morning.
Gracy needed to find the next Soviet submarine, cruising through the Atlantic Ocean. The ships were always heading toward a spot east of Bermuda and parallel with North Carolina. They would wait there, two at a time, loaded with nuclear missiles.
Gracy’s job? Report to a Naval team in Iceland that was trying to keep tabs on the boats. The team received information from hydrophones, a type of underwater mic they installed on the ocean floor. From as far as 1,000 miles away, sound waves streamed from submarines. The waves changed the pressure in the water, and the hydrophones captured those changes, sending along a measurement through underwater cables.
The team in Iceland looked at the long line of hydrophones, seeing where the sound wave was strongest. This gave them an estimate the direction from which the boat was coming. They also looked at the frequency of the sound wave, revealing the specific boat.
Bio:
Name: Ron GracyAge: 81Home: Ringgold, Ga.Military branch and rank: U.S. Navy, commander