Situation Room

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A secret base in Scarborough , played a key role in the settlement of the Cold War , the Cuban missile crisis, it can now be revealed.

on top of a hill, not far from a caravan park in England, North Yorkshire coast, sits what is believed to be the longest continuously running listening station in The World .

The GCHQ base was founded in Scarborough , shortly before The First World War , since the position was ideal for the German Navy radio signals in the North Sea to intercept.

During the second World War , he helped search for the German U-boats in The Atlantic . The Cold War shifted to the monitoring of Soviet communications.

the employees would work in a wet, often smelly bunker.

"The Room full of people with headphones on. Their role was not to Miss A beat," explained a veteran.

"If you wanted to go to the toilet, she had to come to your hand, somebody, and take their place," says Sheila, the current Director of The Base , which, like the other employees, but only their first names to protect identities.

During the Cold War , the United States and the United Kingdom, together with Australia, Canada and New Zealand , formed the so-called "five eyes", the divided information procurement around The World .

Scarborough , the focus was on the Soviet Baltic Fleet , but it is also assigned to Soviet merchant shipping in the Northern hemisphere was.

'priority'

In 1962, this is usually relatively unimportant responsibility, The Base is thrust suddenly into the center of world events.

"Traditionally, only a further task, which is told at the bottom of Scarborough 's priority list, suddenly the top of the priority list for the "British intelligence"," Tony Como, GCHQ's historian escalated to the BBC.

President John F. Kennedy said on October 16 that the Soviet Union secretly shipping nuclear missiles on The Island of Cuba, only 90 miles from America.

Some of his advisers - including the Military - Pushed for an immediate invasion of The Island , but Kennedy opted instead for a naval blockade on further shipment of the arrival, which was announced on the evening of the 22. October.

Some of the Soviet ships were already on the way to The Island . The question was, whether or not you break through the blockade. If they did, The Risk of conflict could escalate into nuclear war.

The operators in the Scarborough bunkers were able to intercept the Soviet ships, reporting their position, And Then use it to determine where they were heading.

Joseph P Kennedy was in the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962

"Were a bluff, the Soviets call the Kennedy' s or not? Scarborough was the organization that was in the location, exactly where these ships were, if they stopped, sailing in the direction of Cuba, and when she turned around and went back in the Soviet Union ," says Mr Comer.

A report sent by Scarborough - are entitled, the Soviet Merchant Ship Changes, of Course - was just released.

White House line

It says that at 24. October of Kislovodsk - a Soviet freighter reported location to the North-East of where it had been 24 hours earlier, confirmed it discontinued was "not" on his journey and turned back in the direction of the Baltic sea.

the next day, reports show more and more ships, the change was originally bound for Cuba, and the return to Soviet ports. On The Surface of the reports that have distributed some of the parts still classified and blacked out, not unlike the other Scarborough would in normal times.

But in this case, a copy of which was also directly to the White house Situation Room . You were The First signs that The Crisis does not escalate.

Within a few days, conversations began that would bring The World back on The Brink of war.

part one of the Secret History of The GCHQ, is on BBC Radio 4 on Monday, 21. October at 20:00 BST and on BBC Sound.

cold war, scarborough, gchq

Source of news: bbc.com