Robert G. Williscroft served 23 years in the Navy and NOAA. He started his career as an enlisted Submarine Sonar Technician and was selected for the Navy Enlisted Scientific Education Program. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree 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 Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV). He also served as Officer in Charge of the Test Operations Group out of San Diego, conducting deep-ocean surveillance and data acquisition, which forms the basis for his Cold War novel Operation Ivy Bells.

In NOAA, he directed diving operations throughout the Pacific and Atlantic. NOAA published and distributed his doctoral dissertation titled A Method for Protecting Scuba Divers from the Hazards of Contamination.