Crabb Affair
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Lieutenant-Commander Lionel Kenneth Phillip Crabb, (28 January 1909 – presumed dead 19 April 1956), known as Buster Crabb, was a
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
frogman A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater. The term often applies more to professional rather than recreational divers, especially those working in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some Europea ...
and diver who vanished during a reconnaissance mission for
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
around a
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
cruiser berthed at
Portsmouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is loc ...
in 1956.


Early life

Lionel Crabb was born in 1909 to Hugh Alexander Crabb and Beatrice (née Goodall) of
Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...
, south-west London. They were a poor family; Hugh Crabb was a commercial traveller for a firm of photographic merchants. In his youth Crabb held many jobs but after two years training for a career at sea in the school ship HMS ''Conway'' he joined the merchant navy and the
Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...
before
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


Second World War

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Crabb was first an army gunner. Then, in 1941, he joined the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
. The next year he was sent to
Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
where he worked in a mine and bomb disposal unit to remove the Italian
limpet mine A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets. It is so named because of its superficial similarity to the shape of the limpet, a type of sea snail that clings tightly to rocks or other hard surfaces. A swimmer or diver m ...
s that enemy divers had attached to the hulls of Allied ships. Initially, Crabb's job was to disarm mines that British divers removed, but eventually he decided to learn to dive. He was one of a group of underwater clearance divers who checked for limpet mines in Gibraltar harbour during the period of Italian frogman and manned torpedo attacks by the Decima Flottiglia MAS. They dived with oxygen
rebreather A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantial unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen is a ...
s,
Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus The Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus (also referred to as DSEA), was an early type of oxygen rebreather invented in 1910 by Robert Davis (inventor), Sir Robert Davis, head of Siebe Gorman, Siebe Gorman and Co. Ltd., inspired by the earlier Fleuss ...
, which until then had not been used much if at all for swimming down from the surface. At first they swam by
breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...
without
swimfin Swimfins, swim fins, diving fins, or flippers are finlike accessories worn on the feet, legs or hands and made from rubber, plastic, carbon fiber or combinations of these materials, to aid movement through the water in water sports activities s ...
s. On 8 December 1942, during one such attack, two of the Italian
frogmen A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater. The term often applies more to professional rather than recreational divers, especially those working in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some Europea ...
, Lieutenant Visintini and Petty Officer Magro, died, probably killed by small explosive charges thrown from harbour-defence patrol boats, a tactic said to have been introduced by Crabb. Their bodies were recovered, and their swimfins and
Scuba set A scuba set, originally just scuba, is any breathing apparatus that is entirely carried by an underwater diving, underwater diver and provides the diver with breathing gas at the ambient pressure. ''Scuba'' is an anacronym for self-contained un ...
s were taken and from then on used by Sydney Knowles and Crabb.


Awards

Crabb was awarded the
George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically ...
for his efforts and was promoted to lieutenant commander. In 1943 he became Principal Diving Officer for
Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...
, and was assigned to clear mines in the ports of
Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
and
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
; he was later made an OBE, an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
, for these services. He was also an investigating diver in the suspicious death of General
Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Before World War I, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independenc ...
of the
Polish Land Forces The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history str ...
, whose
B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...
aircraft crashed into the sea off Gibraltar in 1943. By this time, he had gained the nickname "Buster", after the American actor and swimmer Buster Crabbe. After the war, Crabb was stationed in
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
and led an underwater explosives disposal team that removed mines placed by Jewish divers from the Palyam, the maritime force of the
Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...
elite Jewish fighting force during the years of
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...
. After 1947, he was demobilised from the military.


Civilian diver

Crabb moved to a civilian job and used his diving skills to explore the wreck of a Spanish
galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships developed in Spain and Portugal. They were first used as armed cargo carriers by Europe, Europeans from the 16th to 18th centuries during the Age of Sail, and they were the principal vessels dr ...
from the 1588 Armada, off Tobermory on the
Isle of Mull The Isle of Mull or simply Mull ( ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Argyll and Bute. Covering , Mull is the fourth-lar ...
. He then located a suitable site for a discharge pipe for the
Atomic Weapons Establishment } The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Researc ...
at
Aldermaston Aldermaston ( ) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basin ...
. He later returned to work for the Royal Navy. He twice dived to investigate sunken Royal Navy submarines — in January 1950 and in 1951 — to find out whether there were any survivors. Both efforts proved fruitless. In 1952, Crabb married Margaret Elaine Player, the daughter of Henry Charles Brackenbury Williamson and the former wife of Ernest Albert Player. The couple separated in 1953 and divorced about two years later. In 1955, Crabb took frogman Sydney Knowles with him to investigate the hull of a
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
''Sverdlov''-class cruiser to evaluate its superior manoeuvrability. According to Knowles, they found a circular opening at the ship's bow and inside it a large
propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...
that could be directed to give thrust to the bow. That same year, in March, Crabb was made to retire due to his age, but a year later he was recruited by
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
. By that time, Crabb's heavy drinking and smoking had taken its toll on his health, and he was not the diver that he had been in World War II.


Crabb Affair


Disappearance

MI6 recruited Crabb in 1956 to investigate the Soviet cruiser '' Ordzhonikidze'' that had brought the First Secretary of the Communist Party
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
and Soviet Premier
Nikolai Bulganin Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (; – 24 February 1975) was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 1955 to 1958. He also served as Minister of Defense (Soviet Union), Minister of Defense, following service in the Red Army during World War II. ...
on a diplomatic mission to Britain. According to Peter Wright in his book ''
Spycatcher ''Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer'' (1987) is a memoir written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and assistant director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. Wright drew on his experiences and research into ...
'' (1987), Crabb was sent to investigate ''Ordzhonikidze''s propeller, a new design that Naval Intelligence wanted to examine. On 19 April 1956, Crabb dived into
Portsmouth Harbour Portsmouth Harbour is a / biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Portsmouth and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area. It is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it ...
and his MI6 controller never saw him again. Years later, a Russian who had been on board ''Ordzhonikidze'' claimed that the Soviets were expecting him that night (after being tipped off about the British operation by a mole) and that he dived into the dark and dirty waters beneath the ''Ordzhonikidze'', hunted down Crabb, and slit his air hose and his throat with a knife. Crabb's companion in the Sally Port Hotel took all his belongings and even the page of the hotel register on which they had written their names. Ten days later British newspapers published stories about Crabb's disappearance in an underwater mission. MI6 tried to cover up this espionage mission. On 29 April, under instructions from Rear Admiral John Inglis, the Director of Naval Intelligence, the Admiralty announced that Crabb had vanished when he had taken part in trials of secret underwater apparatus in
Stokes Bay Stokes Bay (British national grid reference system, grid ref.:)) (50.782982, -1.163868) is an area of the Solent that lies just south of Gosport, between Portsmouth and Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire. There is a shingle beach with views of Ryde an ...
on the Solent. The Soviets answered by releasing a statement stating that the crew of ''Ordzhonikidze'' had seen a frogman near the cruiser on 19 April. It was reported by
Radio Moscow Radio Moscow (), also known as Radio Moscow World Service, was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1993, when it was reorganized into Voice of Russia, which was subsequently reorga ...
that the Kremlin had sent an official note to the United Kingdom concerning what ''
Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...
'' described as “shameful espionage”. The
Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...
reportedly replied: “Commander Crabb carried out frogman tests, and, as is assumed, lost his life during these tests. His presence in the vicinity of the destroyers occurred without any permission whatever, and Her Majesty’s Government express their regret at the incident.” British newspapers speculated that the Soviets had captured Crabb and taken him to the Soviet Union. The
British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern pri ...
Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achi ...
disapproved of the fact that MI6 had operated without his consent in the UK (the preserve of the Security Service, "MI5"). It is mistakenly claimed that Eden forced director-general John Sinclair to resign following the incident; in fact he had determined to replace Sinclair with MI5 director-general Dick White before the incident. The Prime Minister told the House of Commons it was not in the public interest to disclose the circumstances in which Crabb was presumed to have met his end.


Body found

A little less than 14 months after Crabb's disappearance, on 9 June 1957, a body in a diving suit was brought to the surface in their net by two fishermen off Pilsey Island in
Chichester Harbour Chichester Harbour is a large natural harbour in West Sussex and Hampshire. It is situated to the south-west of the city of Chichester and to the north of the Solent. The harbour and surrounding land has been designated as an Area of Outstand ...
. The body was brought to shore in a
landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...
A Second World War Assault Landing Craft, ALC148 operated by members of RAF Marine Craft Unit No. 1107. It was missing its head and both hands, which made it impossible to identify (using then-available technology). According to British diving expert Rob Hoole, the body had the same height as Crabb, the same body-hair colour, and was dressed in the same clothes,
Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is an Italian multinational tyre manufacturer based in the city of Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Borsa Italiana since 1922, is the 5th-largest tyre manufacturer, and is focused on the consumer pro ...
two-piece diving suit and Admiralty Pattern swim fins that Crabb was wearing when he embarked on his final mission. Hoole wrote that given the length of time that Crabb's body had been in the water, there was "nothing sinister" about the missing head and hands. Crabb's ex-wife was not sure enough to identify the body, nor was Crabb's girlfriend, Pat Rose. Sydney Knowles was requested to identify the body shortly after its discovery. He described the body as being clad in a faded green rubber frogman suit of a type issued to Royal Navy divers, and the remains of a white sweater. The suit had been cut open from the neck to the groin and along both legs, revealing very dark pubic hair. Knowles examined the body closely, looking for a Y-shaped scar behind the left knee and a prominent scar on the left thigh. He failed to find any scars on the body and stated that it was not Crabb. A pathologist, Dr. D. P. King, examined the body and stated in a short report for the inquest that a careful examination of the body failed to reveal any scars or marks of identification.


Inquest

The
inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a cor ...
was opened on 11 June 1957 by Bridgman, who had received the pathologist's report that there was no way of establishing identity. As neither Knowles nor Crabb's ex-wife nor a Lieutenant McLanahan, a Royal Navy torpedo officer from HMS ''Vernon'', had been able to identify the body, Bridgman adjourned the inquest until 26 June to allow time for identification. The inquest was resumed on 26 June. The pathologist, King, gave evidence that he had returned to the mortuary and re-examined the body on 14 June. He reported that he had found a scar in the shape of an inverted Y on the left side of the left knee, and a scar on the left thigh, about the size of a sixpenny coin. King stated that the scar had been photographed whilst he was present.


Fate

As information was declassified under the 50-year rule, new facts on Crabb's disappearance came to light. On 27 October 2006,
the National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...
released papers relating to the fatal ''Ordzhonikidze'' mission. Sydney Knowles, a former diving partner of Crabb's, stated in a televised interview on '' Inside Out – South'' on 19 January 2007 that Crabb did not dive alone on his fatal last mission: "He told me they'd given him a buddy diver." Furthermore, papers released under the
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...
indicate that there were other divers investigating ''Ordzhonikidze'' while the ship was in Portsmouth Harbour. On 9 November 2007, ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' reported how the government had covered up the death of 'Buster' Crabb. The cruiser ''Ordzhonikidze'' was transferred by the Soviet government to Indonesia in 1962, where it operated as KRI ''Irian''. The ship operated in the conflict against the Netherlands over West Papua, and was later used as a floating detention centre for suspected communists during the
Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66 Large-scale killings and civil unrest primarily targeting members and supposed sympathizers of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) were carried out in Indonesia from 1965 to 1966. Other affected groups included alleged communist sympathise ...
. The cruiser was scrapped in 1971. In a 1968 retrospective on the affair, ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' reported that a skull, thought by some to be Crabb’s, was found in early March 1967 on a beach near Portsmouth.


Theories and speculations


Died during Soviet interrogation

After he was released from prison, the spy Harry Houghton wrote a book called ''Operation Portland'' in which he claimed that, in July 1956, his Russian handler, a man he knew as Roman, had told him how Crabb had died. Houghton said that, shortly before the Soviet visit, he had been meeting Roman in a pub in Puncknowle, Dorset, and happened to see a friend who worked at the Underwater Detection Establishment with her boyfriend, who was a diver. The boyfriend was annoyed that he had been training for something special, which had just been called off. Shortly after hearing that, Roman had cut short the meeting. According to Houghton's account, after assessing that divers might be planning some activity relating to ''Ordzhonikidze'', the Soviet Navy arranged for six underwater sentries to watch the bottom of the ship, which had been fitted with wire jack-stays on either side to help them hold on. When Crabb arrived, a struggle ensued in which Crabb's air supply was turned off and he passed out. He was then hauled on board and taken to the sick bay, having passed out a second time, where he was given medical treatment. When Crabb had recovered sufficiently, the Soviets began to interrogate him. He was making a confession when he collapsed and did not recover. Aware that they might be accused of causing his death, the Soviets decided to fix his body lightly to the bottom of the ship so that it came loose once the ship was under way. However, the body tangled in something underwater, which meant it was not discovered for fourteen months. Houghton advanced the theory that Crabb's mission was to plant a small
limpet mine A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets. It is so named because of its superficial similarity to the shape of the limpet, a type of sea snail that clings tightly to rocks or other hard surfaces. A swimmer or diver m ...
on ''Ordzhonikidze'', the purpose of which was to detect whether the Soviet Navy was using the latest
sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...
technology. If it was, the mine would detonate and the ship would slow down; if not, the mine would eventually detach and fall to the bottom of the sea.


Killed by the Soviets

In a 1990 interview, Joseph Zwerkin, a former member of Soviet Naval intelligence, who had moved to
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
after the
breakup of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
, claimed that the Soviets had noticed Crabb in the water and that a Soviet sniper had shot him. On 16 November 2007, the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...
'' reported that Eduard Koltsov, a
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
frogman A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater. The term often applies more to professional rather than recreational divers, especially those working in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some Europea ...
, claimed to have caught Crabb placing a mine on the hull of ''Ordzhonikidze'' and cut his throat. In an interview for a Russian documentary film, Koltsov showed the dagger he claimed to have used, as well as an
Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...
medal that he said had been awarded for the deed. A Russian journalist from the military newspaper '' Krasnaya Zvezda'' considered Koltsov's story improbable. In particular, the archive documents did not confirm that Koltsov, a bus driver in
Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...
for 30 years, had been awarded the Order of the Red Star or was a Soviet Navy frogman. Official British government documents regarding Crabb's disappearance are not scheduled to be released until 2057.


Captured, brainwashed, defected or a double agent

Certain Members of Parliament and Michael Hall became concerned about Crabb's ultimate fate. Commander J.S. Kerans of HMS ''Amethyst'' fame in 1961 and
Marcus Lipton Marcus Lipton CBE (29 October 190022 February 1978) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. Education The son of Benjamin and Mary Lipton of Sunderland, Marcus Lipton was educated at Hudson Road Council School and Sunderland C ...
in 1964 both submitted proposals to re-open the case but were rebuffed. Various people speculated that Crabb had been killed by some secret Soviet underwater weapon; that he had been captured and imprisoned in Lefortovo Prison with prisoner number 147, that he had been brainwashed to work for the Soviet Union to train their frogman teams; that he had defected and become a commander in the Soviet Navy under the assumed name of Leonid Krabov; that he was in the Soviet Special Task Underwater Operational Command in the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
Fleet; or that MI6 had asked him to defect so he could become a
double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
.


MI5 theory

Tim Binding wrote a fictionalised account of Crabb's life, ''Man Overboard,'' that was published by Picador in 2005. Binding stated that, following the book's publication, he was contacted by Sydney Knowles. Binding alleged that he then met Knowles in
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and was told that Crabb was known by
MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
to have intentions of defecting to the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. This would have been embarrassing for the UK — Crabb being an acknowledged war hero. Knowles has suggested that MI5 set up the mission to the ''Ordzhonikidze'' specifically to murder Crabb, and supplied Crabb with a new diving partner who was under orders to kill him. Binding stated Knowles alleged that he was ordered by MI5 to identify the body found as Crabb, when he knew it was definitely not Crabb. Knowles went along with the deception. Knowles has also alleged that his life was threatened in Torremolinos in 1989, at a time when Knowles was in discussions with a
biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...
. About the claims that Crabb was planning to defect to the Soviet Union, Reg Vallintine of the Historical Diving Society was quoted as saying: "Diving historians find it very hard to believe that this man, who prided himself on being a patriot, would have seriously considered defecting. Crabb was very fond of being a hero, and it is hard to imagine him jeopardising that status."


Death by misadventure

The British diving expert Rob Hoole wrote in 2007 that Crabb had probably died of oxygen poisoning or perhaps carbon dioxide poisoning, and that Crabb's age and poor health caused by his heavy drinking and smoking had made him unsuitable for the mission that he had been assigned. In support of the death by misadventure theory, Hoole noted that before disappearing on his second attempt to dive ''Ordzhonikidze'', Crabb had during his first attempt experienced equipment failure, which suggested that Crabb's equipment was not up to standard. Crabb's MI6 officer Nicholas Elliott always took the view that Crabb had suffered equipment failure, or his health had given way, and that his reputation had been unfairly dragged through the mud.


Historical media

In a war documentary series titled ''Secrets of War'', episode titled "The Cold War. Khrushchev's Regime", a 1996 interview with former head of the KGB
Vladimir Semichastny Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny (; ; 15 January 1924 – 12 January 2001) was a Soviet politician, who served as Chairman of the KGB from November 1961 to May 1967. A protégé of Alexander Shelepin, he rose through the ranks of the Communist ...
(who was the first secretary of
Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...
at the time of Crabb's disappearance) reported, Crabb's decapitated body was found floating in the harbour two months after his disappearance. In the interview, Semichastny states that the "Crabb Affair" was handled elegantly.


Legacy

As of 2024, a Gibraltar-based Sea-class Diving Support Boat of the Royal Navy is named for Lionel Crabb.


References in popular culture

*Crabb's time in Gibraltar is covered in the film '' The Silent Enemy'' (1958), with
Laurence Harvey Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to Union of South Africa, South Africa at an early age, before ...
portraying Crabb. * Crabb's life and death is investigated in a 2023, eight-part podcast series called ''Ministry of Secrets'', written and narrated by Giles Milton *Tim Binding's novel ''Man Overboard'' (2005) is a fictional memoir of Crabb, who looks back over his career from a sanatorium in Czechoslovakia, having been seized by the KGB on his final mission for the British. *Crabb appears in the first issue of
Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is an English comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ...
' comic '' Ignition City''. *John Ainsworth Davis/Christopher Creighton in his thinly disguised fictional account ''The Krushchev Objective'' (1987) with co-author Noel Hynd, states he was the second diver with Crabb that thwarted an assassination attempt on the Soviet dictator by defusing limpet mines. *The "Crabb affair" inspired
Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...
's
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
adventure '' Thunderball''. *The frogman briefly seen in the ''Tintin'' book ''
The Red Sea Sharks ''The Red Sea Sharks'' () is the nineteenth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comic series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was initially serialised weekly in Belgium's ''Tintin'' magazine from October 1956 to January 1958 b ...
'' was based on a photograph of Crabb. *The Crabb affair features in Edward Wilson's novel ''The Envoy'' (London, Arcadia Books, 2008). *The discovery of Crabb's body is mentioned in
Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan (born 21 June 1948) is a British novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of the ...
's novel '' The Innocent'', which is set in 1956. His last name is misspelled "Crabbe" in the book.


See also

* List of people who disappeared *


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * *


External links


Lionel Crabb in Spartacus Educational



BBC News page on release of National Archive documents, October 2006


{{DEFAULTSORT:Crabb, Lionel 1909 births 1956 deaths People of the Cold War Cold War military history of the United Kingdom British Merchant Navy personnel British spies against the Soviet Union English underwater divers Espionage scandals and incidents Frogman operations Gibraltarian military personnel Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Streatham Recipients of the George Medal Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Navy officers MI6 personnel Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations 1950s missing person cases People who died at sea People educated aboard HMS Conway Missing person cases in England Professional divers British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery soldiers