Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of the K-129Naval Institute Press, 2012 M09 15 - 264 pages In early August 1974, despite incredible risks and after six years of secret preparations, the CIA attempted to salvage the sunken Soviet ballistic missile submarine K-129 from the depths of the North Pacific Ocean. The audacious effort was undertaken with the cover of an undersea mining operation sponsored by eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes. “Azorian”—incorrectly identified as Project Jennifer by the press—was the most ambitious ocean engineering endeavor attempted by man. Following the accidental sinking of a Soviet missile submarine in March 1968, U.S. intelligence agencies were able to determine the precise location and to develop a means of raising the submarine from a depth of 16,400 feet. The remarkable salvage effort of the K-129, which contained nuclear-armed torpedoes and one nuclear tipped missile as well as crypto equipment, was conducted with Soviet naval ships a few hundred yards from the lift ship, the Hughes Glomar Explorer. The book is based, in part, on the research for Michael White’ documentary film Azorian: The Raising of the K-129, released in late 2009. The research for the book and the documentary forced the CIA to issue a brief report on Project Azorian in early 2010, with one-third of the document redacted. |
Contents
1 | |
4 | |
18 | |
A Series of Events | 31 |
Finding the Target Object | 49 |
The Plan | 61 |
Get Ready Get Set | 86 |
The Lift | 102 |
The Bounty | 122 |
Exposure and Revelation | 135 |
Conspiracies and Causes | 148 |
Failure and Frustration | 168 |
Other editions - View all
Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of the K-129 Norman Polmar,Michael White No preview available - 2010 |
Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of the K-129 Norman Polmar,Michael White No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
acoustic aFtaC aircraft ballistic missile submarine barge Captain capture vehicle Chazhma Cold War commander Craven crew depth detected diesel-electric docking legs drill engineering event feet Global Marine Glomar Explorer’s Golf grabbers Halibut Hughes Glomar Explorer intelligence interview with Michael Kamchatka Kobzar later launch lift ship March Michael White mining missile tubes mission moon pool nautical miles Naval Institute Navy’s nuclear Oahu ocean floor Officer 2nd Class operation Pacific Fleet patrol Petropavlovsk Petty Officer 2nd pipe pipe-string Polmar pressure hull Project Azorian R-21 missile radio recovered recovery Regulus sail structure seafloor seaman 1947 russian senior seaman severodvinsk ship’s shipyard snorkel sonar SOSUS soviet Navy soviet ships soviet submarine ssBN subma submarine K-129 submarine's submerged summa Corporation surface ships Swordfish team leader thrusters tons torpedo Trieste U.S. naval U.S. Navy u.s. submarine USS Halibut vladivostok warhead weapons wreckage