In 1968 K-129, a Soviet Golf-II strategic ballistic missile submarine,
sank in 17,000 feet of water 800 miles from Hawaii.
The U.S. Government wanted to get that sub, but how?
Just call Howard Hughes.
The CIA commissioned the mammoth Glomar Explorer to do
what the Navy believed too difficult and absolutely unnecessary:
To reach down and steal an entire Soviet submarine off the ocean floor.
In a covert CIA plan named Project Azorian
the USNS HUGHES GLOMAR EXPLORER (T-AG-193) was built in 1973
for more than $350 million (equal to $1.68 billion in today)
at the direction of Howard Hughes.
It’s secret mission was to obtain intelligence by
recovering the sunken Soviet submarine.
The ship did recover a portion of K-129 the summer of 1974.
A mechanical failure in the ship’s huge claw caused two-thirds
of the recovered section to break off during recovery.
This lost section is said to have held many of the sought after items,
including the code book and nuclear missiles.
It was reported that two nuclear-tipped torpedoes and
some cryptographic machines were recovered.
Six Soviet submariners were recovered and given a burial at sea.