USNF Brawdy was a major American undersea listening station set in a remote coastal location in Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom. The base played a vital role in Cold War naval intelligence between 1974 and 1995, but its significance was not its location: the negotiations for its arrival illuminated a complex phase in Anglo-American relations. 1971 was a period of shifting global political and economic alignment that forced adjustments in transatlantic as well as superpower relations. These changes had a direct impact on Anglo-American relations in general and, particularly over USNF Brawdy, their ‘special’ defence relationship.