Prompt Cast
Project Azorian: The CIA's Secret Mission to Retrieve a Sunken Soviet Submarine
TLDR During the Cold War, the CIA launched Project Azorian to secretly retrieve a sunken Soviet submarine. Despite facing numerous challenges, including the sub breaking apart during the retrieval process, the CIA was able to salvage a portion of the sub and its nuclear torpedoes, while also conducting a burial at sea ceremony for the fallen Soviet submariners.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
This episode is about Project Azorian, a Cold War mission by the CIA to retrieve a sunken Soviet submarine.
05:08
In 1968, a Soviet submarine called the K-129 sank in the northwest Pacific, and the US government, after locating the submarine themselves, had the choice to either inform the Soviets of its location or retrieve it themselves.
10:30
During the height of the Cold War, the US government launched Project Azorian, which involved using a sub called the Halibut to retrieve a sunken Soviet submarine in order to gain information on their warheads and cryptographic equipment, but they had to come up with a complex plan involving three large vessels to avoid detection by the Soviets.
15:43
The CIA built a submersible barge with a sunroof and a moon pool to secretly transport the grabber vehicle, which was built inside the barge, to the 618-foot ship without the Soviets knowing, and they used a cover story of deep sea mining to explain the presence of the ship.
21:19
The CIA decided to proceed with the mission to retrieve the sunken Soviet sub because they believed there was still valuable intelligence and technology to be gained, and they also didn't want to risk upsetting their top secret contractor, Howard Hughes.
26:27
The CIA outfitted the Hughes-Glomar Explorer with the capacity to handle 100 bodies in order to handle the remains of the sailors on the sunken Soviet sub, and they estimated a 40% chance of success for the mission.
31:55
The CIA successfully lowered a capture vehicle to straddle over the sunken Soviet sub, attached a grabber to the hull, and began the process of raising the sub to the surface, but the sub broke apart and most of it fell back to the ocean floor.
37:04
The CIA was only able to salvage 10% of the sunken Soviet sub, including the nuclear torpedoes, but they did find the bodies of six Soviet submariners and conducted a burial at sea ceremony, which was filmed in a bizarre and futuristic video.
42:21
The CIA was unsure if there was anything left of the sunken Soviet sub and the idea of a second salvage mission was doubtful due to the lack of relevance of the cryptographic equipment and codes, as well as the political climate and the exposure of the project by journalists.
47:48
The Hughes Summit Corporation was broken into and documents describing the secret project to the CIA were stolen, leading to a demand for a half a million dollars in exchange for the return of the stolen papers, which contained evidence of high-level corruption and the existence of Project Azorian.
52:56
The US and Soviet Union both chose not to publicly acknowledge the events of Project Azorian, with the Soviets embarrassed by the loss of their submarine and the US embarrassed by their surveillance, and it is unclear whether the US was successful in retrieving the rest of the submarine or if the entire story was a cover-up for the break-in of the Hughes Corporation.
57:48
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