Spy story

Was Royal Navy Commander 'Buster' Crabb a Double Agent?

In April 1956, Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin docked in British waters for a diplomatic visit. While the ship was in port, ex Royal Navy frogman Commander Lionel "Buster" Crabb, undertook a mission to spy on the Soviet warship, the Ordzhonikidze, for the secret British intelligence organization MI6. But once Crabb went under, he never came back up.

His disappearance sparked a national embarrassment for Britain, scotched their talks with Russia and caused years of speculation that haven't yet abated. So what happened to Commander Crabb? That's what Stuff They Don't Want You To Know hosts Matt Frederick, Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown dive into in the latest episode of the podcast.

Crabb was first an army gunner, then he joined the Royal Navy in 1941. His job was to disarm mines Italian divers attached to Allied ships with magnets, but then he decided to learn how to dive himself, despite not being a very good swimmer. His missions took him to Gibraltar, Northern Italy and Palestine before he was demobilized from the military. That's when MI6 recruited him in 1956 to investigate the propellers of Russian ships. This time, it was Khrushchev's and Bulganin's Ordzhonikidze.

Crabb dove down once and came back up 20 minutes later because of faulty equipment. He dove down a second time, but was never again seen alive.