Lionel Crabb
Encyclopedia
Lionel "Buster" Crabb OBE
, GM
(28 January 1909 – presumed dead
19 April 1956) was a British Royal Navy
frogman
and MI6 diver who vanished
during a reconnaissance mission around a Soviet cruiser in 1956.
, South West London, the son of Hugh Alexander Crabb, a commercial traveller for a firm of photographic merchants, and his wife, Beatrice Goodall. They were a poor family. Little is known about Crabb's early life save that it was modestly commercial. While a youth he held many jobs, but also joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve prior to World War II
.
. The next year he was sent to Gibraltar
where he worked in a mine and bomb disposal unit to remove the Italian limpet mine
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. They dived with oxygen rebreathers Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus, which until then had not been used much if at all for swimming down from the surface. At first they swam by breaststroke
without swimfin
s.
On 8 December 1942, during one such attack, two of the Italian frogmen, Lt. Visintini and Petty Officer Magro died, probably killed by depth charge
s. Their bodies were recovered, and their swimfins and Scuba set
s were taken and from then on used by Sydney Knowles
and Commander Lionel Crabb.
He was awarded the George Medal
for his efforts and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander
. In 1943 he became Principal Diving Officer for Northern Italy, was assigned to clear mines in the ports of Livorno
and Venice
; he was later created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for these services. He was also an investigating diver in the suspicious death of General Sikorski of the Polish army, whose B-24 Liberator
aircraft crashed near Gibraltar in 1943.
By this time he had gained the nickname "Buster", named after U.S. actor and swimmer Buster Crabbe
. After the war Crabb was stationed in Palestine and led an underwater explosives disposal team that removed mines placed by Irgun
, the Zionist
militant group. After 1947, he was demobilized from the military.
. He later returned to work for the Royal Navy. He twice dived to investigate sunken Royal Navy submarines — the HMS Truculent
in January 1950 and HMS Affray
in 1951 — to find out whether there were any survivors. Both efforts were 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 the Soviet
cruiser Sverdlov
to evaluate its superior manoeuvrability. According to Knowles, they found a circular opening at the ship's bow and inside it a large propeller
that could be directed to give thrust to the bow
. That same year, March 1955, Crabb was made to retire due to his age, but a year later he was recruited by MI6.
MI6 recruited Crabb in 1956 to investigate the Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze that had brought Nikita Khrushchev
and Nikolai Bulganin
on a diplomatic mission to Britain. According to Peter Wright
in his book Spycatcher
(1987), Crabb was sent to investigate the Ordzhonikidze's propeller — a new design that Naval Intelligence wanted to find out more about. On 19 April 1956 Crabb dived into Portsmouth Harbour
and his MI6 controller never saw him again. Crabb's companion in the Sally Port Hotel took all his belongings and even the page of the hotel register where 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 J G T Inglis
OBE, 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
. Soviets answered by releasing a statement stating that the crew of the Ordzhonikidze had seen a frogman near the cruiser on 19 April.
British newspapers speculated that Soviets had captured Crabb and taken him to the Soviet Union. The British Prime Minister Anthony Eden
apparently disapproved of the fact that MI6 had operated without his consent in the UK (the preserve of the Security Service, "MI5"), and forced director-general John Sinclair to resign. Eden told MPs it was not in the public interest to disclose the circumstances in which the frogman met his end.
(using then-available technology). Crabb's ex-wife was not sure enough to identify the body, nor was Crabb's girlfriend Pat Rose, though Sydney Knowles said that Crabb had had a similar scar on the left knee. An inquest
jury returned an open verdict but the coroner
announced that he was satisfied that the body was that of Lionel Crabb.
reported how the government had covered up the death of 'Buster' Crabb.
On 16 November 2007, the BBC
and the Daily Mirror reported that Eduard Koltsov, a Soviet
frogman
, claimed to have caught Crabb placing a mine on the Ordzhonikidze hull near the ammunition depot and cut his throat. In an interview for a documentary film, Koltsov showed the dagger he allegedly used in a Russian documentary as well as an Order of the Red Star
medal that he claimed to have been awarded for the deed. Koltsov, 74 at the time of the interview, stated that he wanted to clear his conscience and make known exactly what happened to Crabb.
It seems extremely unlikely that the British government would have tried to blow up a Soviet ship on a diplomatic mission while it was anchored in British waters, making Koltsov's claim of a mine suspect. It has even been suggested that Crabb was in fact, removing a mine fixed to the ship by a fanatical group of White Russians
.
The cruiser Ordzhonikidze was later transferred by the Soviet government to Indonesia
in 1962, where it operated as KRI Irian. The ship operated in the conflict against Netherlands over West Papua, and was later used as floating detention centre for suspected communists during the Indonesian killings of 1965–1966. The cruiser was scrapped in 1971.
and Michael Hall became concerned about Crabb's ultimate fate and in 1961, Commander J.S. Kerans
(and later in 1964 Marcus Lipton
) 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 prison number 147; that he had been brainwashed to work for the Soviet Union to train their frogman teams; that he had defected and became a commander in the Soviet Navy
; that he was in the Soviet Special Task Underwater Operational Command in the Black Sea
Fleet; or that MI6 had asked him to defect so he could become a double agent
.
after the fall of the Soviet Union, claimed that the Soviets had noticed Crabb in the water and that a Soviet sniper had shot him. Official government documents regarding Crabb's disappearance are not scheduled to be released until 2057.
published an article by Tim Binding entitled "Buster Crabb was murdered - by MI5". Binding wrote a fictionalised account of Crabb's life, Man Overboard which was published by Picador in 2005. Binding stated that, following the book's publication, he was contacted by Sydney Knowles
, who now lived in Málaga
, Spain. Binding alleged that he then met Knowles in Spain and was told that Crabb was known by MI5
to have intentions of defecting to the USSR. 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 ordered to kill him. Binding stated that Knowles alleges 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.
: 19 January 2007 for the BBC that Crabb didn't dive alone on his fatal last mission
Furthermore papers released under the Freedom of Information Act indicate that there were other divers investigating the Ordzhonkidze while she was in Portsmouth harbour.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, GM
George Medal
The George Medal is the second level civil decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.The GM was instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI. At this time, during the height of The Blitz, there was a strong desire to reward the many acts of civilian courage...
(28 January 1909 – presumed dead
Death in absentia
Death in absentia is a legal declaration that a person is deceased in the absence of remains attributable to that person...
19 April 1956) was a British Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
frogman
Frogman
A frogman is someone who is trained to scuba diving or swim underwater in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combatant diver or combat swimmer....
and MI6 diver who vanished
Missing person
A missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....
during a reconnaissance mission around a Soviet cruiser in 1956.
Early life
Lionel Crabb was born on 28 January 1909 at 4 Greyswood Street, StreathamStreatham
Streatham is a district in Surrey, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
, South West London, the son of Hugh Alexander Crabb, a commercial traveller for a firm of photographic merchants, and his wife, Beatrice Goodall. They were a poor family. Little is known about Crabb's early life save that it was modestly commercial. While a youth he held many jobs, but also joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve prior to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
World War II
At the outbreak of World War II, Crabb was first an army gunner. Then, in 1941 he joined the Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. The next year he was sent to Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
where he worked in a mine and bomb disposal unit to remove the Italian limpet mine
Limpet mine
A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets; they are so named because of their superficial similarity to the limpet, a type of mollusk....
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. They dived with oxygen rebreathers Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus, which until then had not been used much if at all for swimming down from the surface. At first they swam by breaststroke
Breaststroke
The breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on his or her chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to its stability and the ability to keep the head out of the water a large portion of the time. In most swimming classes, beginners learn...
without swimfin
Swimfin
Swimfins, swim fins, fins or flippers are worn on the foot or leg and made from finlike rubber or plastic, to aid movement through the water in water sports activities such as swimming, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, kneeboarding, riverboarding, and various types of underwater diving.Scuba divers use...
s.
On 8 December 1942, during one such attack, two of the Italian frogmen, Lt. Visintini and Petty Officer Magro died, probably killed by depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
s. Their bodies were recovered, and their swimfins and Scuba set
Scuba set
A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during scuba diving. It is much used for sport diving and some sorts of work diving....
s were taken and from then on used by Sydney Knowles
Sydney Knowles
Sydney Knowles, born circa 1920, was a British frogman in and after World War II.He was one of a group of underwater guard divers who checked for limpet mines in Gibraltar harbour during the period of Italian frogman and manned torpedo attacks. They dived with Davis Escape Sets, which until then...
and Commander Lionel Crabb.
He was awarded the George Medal
George Medal
The George Medal is the second level civil decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.The GM was instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI. At this time, during the height of The Blitz, there was a strong desire to reward the many acts of civilian courage...
for his efforts and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
. In 1943 he became Principal Diving Officer for Northern Italy, was assigned to clear mines in the ports of Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
; he was later created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for these services. He was also an investigating diver in the suspicious death of General Sikorski of the Polish army, whose B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
aircraft crashed near Gibraltar in 1943.
By this time he had gained the nickname "Buster", named after U.S. actor and swimmer Buster Crabbe
Buster Crabbe
Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular serials in the 1930s and 1940s.-Birth:...
. After the war Crabb was stationed in Palestine and led an underwater explosives disposal team that removed mines placed by Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
, the Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
militant group. After 1947, he was demobilized from the military.
Civilian diver
Crabb moved to a civilian job and used his diving skills to explore the wreck of a Spanish galleon and he located a suitable site for a discharge pipe for the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at AldermastonAldermaston
Aldermaston is a rural village, civil parish and electoral ward in Berkshire, South-East England. In the 2001 United Kingdom Census, the parish had a population of 927. The village is on the southern edge of the River Kennet flood plain, near the Hampshire county boundary...
. He later returned to work for the Royal Navy. He twice dived to investigate sunken Royal Navy submarines — the HMS Truculent
HMS Truculent (P315)
HMS Truculent was a British submarine of the third group of the T class. She was built as P315 by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow, and launched on 12 September 1942.-Service:...
in January 1950 and HMS Affray
HMS Affray (P421)
HMS Affray , a British Amphion-class submarine was the last Royal Navy submarine to be lost at sea, on 16 April 1951, with the loss of 75 lives...
in 1951 — to find out whether there were any survivors. Both efforts were 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
Sydney Knowles
Sydney Knowles, born circa 1920, was a British frogman in and after World War II.He was one of a group of underwater guard divers who checked for limpet mines in Gibraltar harbour during the period of Italian frogman and manned torpedo attacks. They dived with Davis Escape Sets, which until then...
with him to investigate the hull of the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
cruiser Sverdlov
Sverdlov class cruiser
The Sverdlov class cruisers, Soviet designation Project 68bis, were the last conventional cruisers built for the Soviet Navy; 13 ships were completed before Nikita Khrushchev called a halt to the programme as these ships were considered obsolescent with the advent of the guided missile...
to evaluate its superior manoeuvrability. According to Knowles, they found a circular opening at the ship's bow and inside it a large propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
that could be directed to give thrust to the bow
Bow thruster
A bow thruster is a transversal propulsion device built into, or mounted to, the bow of a ship or boat to make it more maneuverable. Bow thrusters make docking easier, since they allow the captain to turn the vessel to port or starboard without using the main propulsion mechanism which requires...
. That same year, March 1955, Crabb was made to retire due to his age, but a year later he was recruited by MI6.
Disappearance
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
and Nikolai Bulganin
Nikolai Bulganin
Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin was a prominent Soviet politician, who served as Minister of Defense and Premier of the Soviet Union . The Bulganin beard is named after him.-Early career:...
on a diplomatic mission to Britain. According to Peter Wright
Peter Wright
Peter Maurice Wright was an English scientist and former MI5 counterintelligence officer, noted for writing the controversial book Spycatcher, which became an international bestseller with sales of over two million copies...
in his book Spycatcher
Spycatcher
Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer , is a book written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. It was published first in Australia...
(1987), Crabb was sent to investigate the Ordzhonikidze's propeller — a new design that Naval Intelligence wanted to find out more about. On 19 April 1956 Crabb dived into Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it is a ria: formerly it was the valley of a stream flowing from Portsdown into the Solent River. The city of Portsmouth lies to the east on Portsea Island, and Gosport to the west on the mainland...
and his MI6 controller never saw him again. Crabb's companion in the Sally Port Hotel took all his belongings and even the page of the hotel register where 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 J G T Inglis
John Gilchrist Inglis
Vice Admiral Sir John Gilchrist Thesiger "Tommy" Inglis KBE, CB was a British Royal Navy officer who became Head of Naval Intelligence. In this capacity, he attempted to cover-up the "Buster Crabb affair" in 1956....
OBE, the Director of Naval Intelligence
Naval Intelligence Division
The Naval Intelligence Division was the intelligence arm of the British Admiralty before the establishment of a unified Defence Staff in 1965. It dealt with matters concerning British naval plans, with the collection 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
Stokes Bay 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 that has a great view of Ryde and East Cowes on the Isle of Wight to the south and also Fawley in the south west. The village of Alverstoke is close by...
. Soviets answered by releasing a statement stating that the crew of the Ordzhonikidze had seen a frogman near the cruiser on 19 April.
British newspapers speculated that Soviets had captured Crabb and taken him to the Soviet Union. The British Prime Minister Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
apparently disapproved of the fact that MI6 had operated without his consent in the UK (the preserve of the Security Service, "MI5"), and forced director-general John Sinclair to resign. Eden told MPs it was not in the public interest to disclose the circumstances in which the frogman met his end.
Body found
A little less than 14 months after Crabb's disappearance, on 9 June 1957, a body in a frogman suit was found floating off Pilsey Island. It was missing its head and both hands, which made it impossible to identifyForensic pathology
Forensic pathology is a branch of pathology concerned with determining the cause of death by examination of a corpse. The autopsy is performed by the pathologist at the request of a coroner or medical examiner usually during the investigation of criminal law cases and civil law cases in some...
(using then-available technology). Crabb's ex-wife was not sure enough to identify the body, nor was Crabb's girlfriend Pat Rose, though Sydney Knowles said that Crabb had had a similar scar on the left knee. An inquest
Inquest
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...
jury returned an open verdict but the coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
announced that he was satisfied that the body was that of Lionel Crabb.
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 released papers relating to the fatal Ordzhonikidze mission. On 9 November 2007, The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
reported how the government had covered up the death of 'Buster' Crabb.
On 16 November 2007, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and the Daily Mirror reported that Eduard Koltsov, a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
frogman
Frogman
A frogman is someone who is trained to scuba diving or swim underwater in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combatant diver or combat swimmer....
, claimed to have caught Crabb placing a mine on the Ordzhonikidze hull near the ammunition depot and cut his throat. In an interview for a documentary film, Koltsov showed the dagger he allegedly used in a Russian documentary as well as an Order of the Red Star
Order of the Red Star
Established on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...
medal that he claimed to have been awarded for the deed. Koltsov, 74 at the time of the interview, stated that he wanted to clear his conscience and make known exactly what happened to Crabb.
It seems extremely unlikely that the British government would have tried to blow up a Soviet ship on a diplomatic mission while it was anchored in British waters, making Koltsov's claim of a mine suspect. It has even been suggested that Crabb was in fact, removing a mine fixed to the ship by a fanatical group of White Russians
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
.
The cruiser Ordzhonikidze was later transferred by the Soviet government to Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
in 1962, where it operated as KRI Irian. The ship operated in the conflict against Netherlands over West Papua, and was later used as floating detention centre for suspected communists during the Indonesian killings of 1965–1966. The cruiser was scrapped in 1971.
Captured, brainwashed, defected, or a double agent
Certain Members of ParliamentParliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
and Michael Hall became concerned about Crabb's ultimate fate and in 1961, Commander J.S. Kerans
John Simon Kerans
Commander John Simon Kerans was an officer in the Royal Navy and later a Conservative Party politician....
(and later in 1964 Marcus Lipton
Marcus Lipton
Marcus Lipton OBE was a British Labour Party politician.Lipton was educated at Bede Grammar School, Sunderland, and Merton College, Oxford with a scholarship. He studied law and was called to the Bar in 1926...
) 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
Lefortovo prison
Lefortovo prison is a prison in Moscow, Russia, which, since 2005, has been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. It was built in 1881...
with prison number 147; that he had been brainwashed to work for the Soviet Union to train their frogman teams; that he had defected and became a commander in the Soviet Navy
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
; that he was in the Soviet Special Task Underwater Operational Command in the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
Fleet; or that MI6 had asked him to defect so he could become a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
.
Shot in the water by a Soviet sniper
In a 1990 interview Joseph Zwerkin, a former member of Soviet Naval intelligence who had moved to IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
after the fall of the Soviet Union, claimed that the Soviets had noticed Crabb in the water and that a Soviet sniper had shot him. Official government documents regarding Crabb's disappearance are not scheduled to be released until 2057.
Murdered by MI5
On 26 March 2006, The Mail on SundayThe Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...
published an article by Tim Binding entitled "Buster Crabb was murdered - by MI5". Binding wrote a fictionalised account of Crabb's life, Man Overboard which was published by Picador in 2005. Binding stated that, following the book's publication, he was contacted by Sydney Knowles
Sydney Knowles
Sydney Knowles, born circa 1920, was a British frogman in and after World War II.He was one of a group of underwater guard divers who checked for limpet mines in Gibraltar harbour during the period of Italian frogman and manned torpedo attacks. They dived with Davis Escape Sets, which until then...
, who now lived in Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, Spain. Binding alleged that he then met Knowles in Spain and was told that Crabb was known by MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
to have intentions of defecting to the USSR. 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 ordered to kill him. Binding stated that Knowles alleges 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
Torremolinos
Torremolinos is a municipality on the Costa del Sol of the Mediterranean, immediately to the west of the city of Málaga, in the province of Málaga in the autonomous region of Andalusia in southern Spain...
in 1989, at a time when Knowles was in discussions with a biographer.
Second diver
Sydney Knowles, a former diving partner of Crabb's, stated on televised interview on Inside Out - SouthInside Out (BBC TV series)
Inside Out is the brand name for a number of regional television programmes in England broadcast on BBC One. Each series, made by a BBC region, focuses on stories from the local area...
: 19 January 2007 for the BBC that Crabb didn't dive alone on his fatal last mission
Furthermore papers released under the Freedom of Information Act indicate that there were other divers investigating the Ordzhonkidze while she was in Portsmouth harbour.