Robert G. Williscroft served 23 years in the Navy and NOAA. He started as an enlisted Submarine Sonar Technician, was selected for the Navy Enlisted Scientific Education Program, and graduated from the University of Washington in Marine Physics and Meteorology. He returned to submarines as the Navy’s first Poseidon Weapons Officer. Later, he became a Navigator and Saturation Diving Officer on both catamaran mother vessels for the DSRV and served as Officer in Charge of the Test Operations Group out of San Diego, conducting deep-ocean surveillance and data acquisition. These experiences form the basis for his Cold War novel, Operation Ivy Bells.

In NOAA, he directed diving operations throughout the Pacific and Atlantic. His doctoral dissertation, A Method for Protecting Scuba Divers from the Hazards of Contamin, was published and distributed by NOAA.