The Barents Sea was peaceful and quiet. The midnight waters appeared undisturbed. Under the cloak of darkness, HMS Conqueror, one of the Royal Navy’s Churchill-class nuclear submarines featuring unlimited range and a devastating arsenal of state-of-the-art torpedoes, slowly glided through the icy depths in search of her objective.The sophisticated sensors, sonar, and radar systems gave the crew the latest information about their surroundings. Everyone was quiet in the dimly lit control room until the submarine made contact with two Soviet ships.It was time to execute Operation Barmaid, an operation the Royal Navy and the US Navy had been planning since the summer of 1982—the target: a top-secret Soviet sonar array.The crew knew that success could give NATO a critical advantage in submarine warfare, but failure could escalate tensions to the brink of conflict, a risk they were willing to take for the greater good.As HMS Conqueror positioned herself beneath the unsuspecting Soviet vessel, the commander gave the order. With precision and stealth, Conqueror’s pair of remote-controlled heavy steel cutting-edge blades began cutting the Soviet sonar array.The crew was committed but nervous. A single wrong moment could prove fatal. If the Soviets detected them, Conqueror was doomed, and Britain and NATO would face war against the might of the USSR.
