Cat & Mouse

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On May 9th, 1972, the global geopolitical stage was in turmoil. The Paris Peace Talks had stalled, President Richard Nixon had ordered the mining of North Vietnamese harbors, and the USS Guardfish was lurking off of the Russian port of Vladivostok. Then Commander Minton watched the Soviet port carefully, avoiding its sonar buoys and listening for noise from the vessels within. The next day, the Guardfish's sonar detected a vessel sailing towards the open ocean and that evening Minton peered through the periscope, identifying the passing ship as K-184, a Soviet Echo II-class submarine. The Echo II-class is an anti-aircraft carrier missile submarine, equipped with twin nuclear reactors and eight P-6 'Shaddock' turbojet missiles. They can dive nearly 1,000 feet and sail for 50 days with a range of 18,000-30,000 miles. 

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Minton's orders were to watch for a large deployment of Soviet warships, but with K-184 being the only vessel he had seen, he opted to pursue it, beginning a historic chase that rings in the annals of American naval history. While following K-138, the USS Guardfish detected three additional Soviet submarines nearby, upping the stakes of the war in Vietnam. Due to this, Minton focused his efforts on trailing K-184 instead of all four Soviet submarines and tried to remain undetected. On the night of May 12th, Commander Minton broke radio silence, an unprecedented move for the Cold War-era submarine fleet.

 

As Minton wrote in his book, "reporting the deployment of three, possibly four, Soviet Submarines was clearly a requirement of my operations order." 

For twenty-eight days, the USS Guardfish trailed K-184 through the Sea of Japan, East China Sea, Phillippine Sea, and the South China Sea, following the Soviet submarine while transmitting her findings to Washington. This crucial game of cat and mouse finally ended on May 26th with President Richard Nixon meeting with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev for a summit in Moscow. During the talks, then National Security Advisor Henry Kissenger had a private meeting with Brezhnev where he disclosed American knowledge of K-184 sailing towards Vietnam and how it was perceived as an act of aggression. Besides the signing of the SALT 1 agreement, the Soviets also sent their submarines home, ending the historic chase beneath the waves. For his stoic leadership and coolness under extreme difficulties, Minton was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

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 In the end, the USS Guardfish spent 28 days stalking the K-184 and spent a record 123 days submerged during her deployment. Besides the Distinguished Service Medal, Minton also earned two Meritorious Service Medals and a Navy Commendation Medal as well as the Navy Unit Citation, Navy Meritorious Unit Citation, the National Defense Service Medal with bronze star attachment, Armed Forced Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with three campaign stars, Navy Overseas Service Ribbon, and the South Vietnamese Vietnam Campaign Medal.

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Report to Washington

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USS Guardfish sailed for Guam where Commander Minton was ordered to Pearl Harbor to debrief Admirals P. L. Lacy Jr. and Admiral B. A. Clary, the commander of Submarine Force US Pacific and the Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Fleet respectively. Minton then was afforded a few days of leave with his family prior to being sent to Washington DC to debrief Vice Admiral Eugene Wilkinson, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Submarine Warfare. Over the span of two days, Minton was debriefed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and high-ranking officials within the Department of Defense, CIA, the Chief of Naval Operations, and Admiral Hyman Rickover.  In March 1973, Minton took command of the USS George Washington (Gold) (SSBN-598), America's oldest Polaris missile submarine. When Minton took command, the George Washington was in poor condition, requiring him to put serious determination in getting her worthy to sail. He created a long list of critical issues and during his three Polaris patrols out of Guam, he was able to whittle it away. As his naval career was nearing its end, Minton served as the Commander of Submarine Forces Pacific, Air Forces Pacific, and Surface Forces Pacific before retiring in 1980.

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Reunited

In 1999, the US Navy declassified USS Guardfish's exploits from the summer of 1972 as a part of the celebration of the US Navy's centennial celebration. Then, in 2008, Captain Minton (Ret.) received an email containing the translation of a blog post written by former Soviet Rear Admiral Alfred Semenovich Berzin who in 1972 commanded a Soviet Echo II submarine: K-184. It took over a year of failed emails, detective work, and friends of friends before in early 2009 the two captains began a discourse, not as adversaries beneath the Pacific but as comrades in arms. In 2012, Minton and his wife traveled to Saint Petersburg, spending time and swapping sea stories with Berzin.