The U.S. Navy responded to the coast off Spain with an 18-ship, 2,200-man recovery task force under Admiral William S. "Wild Bill" Guest. In addition to military ships, the civilian-crewed "Aluminaut" and deep-sea submersible "Alvin" were both used to respond to this urgent situation as part of the task force, along with other specialized equipment. Once on site, "Aluminaut" and "Alvin" searched the ocean depths to locate and recover the submerged bomb. For eighty days the search went on, straining the U.S. relationship with Spain, and giving Soviet propagandists what "Time" magazine described as "a rich fallout of anti-American gibes".