Prompt Cast
The CIA's Mission to Retrieve a Sunken Soviet Sub During the Cold War
TLDR During the Cold War, the CIA launched Project Azorian to retrieve a sunken Soviet submarine, enlisting Howard Hughes and his company to build a massive ship with a hidden grabber vehicle. Although the mission was only partially successful, it provided valuable intelligence on Soviet submarine operations and led to the burial at sea of six Soviet submariners.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The podcast episode is about the CIA's mission to steal a sunken Soviet sub during the Cold War.
04:52
In March of 1968, a Soviet submarine called the K129 sank in the Northwestern Pacific, and the United States later located it in August of the same year, which led to the start of Project Azorian.
09:58
During the Cold War, the US discovered a sunken Soviet submarine and decided to launch Project Azorian to try and retrieve it, as it could potentially provide valuable information on warheads and cryptographic equipment.
15:01
The CIA enlisted Howard Hughes and his company, the Hughes Tool Company, to build the Hughes Glomar Explorer, a massive ship with a retractable sunroof and a hidden grabber vehicle, to carry out Project Azorian, and they used a cover story of deep sea mining to explain the ship's presence in the Pacific Ocean.
20:17
The CIA decided to proceed with Project Azorian because they believed there was still valuable intelligence to be gained from the sunken Soviet submarine, including technology and cryptographic equipment, and they also wanted to maintain a good relationship with Howard Hughes and not appear wishy-washy to their contractors.
25:34
The CIA approved Project Azorian with a 40% chance of success, and the Hughes-Glomar Explorer departed on June 15th, 1974, to raise the sunken Soviet submarine, while being surveilled by Soviet ships for the first two weeks.
30:48
The Glomar Explorer successfully raised the sunken Soviet submarine, but during the process, the sub broke apart and most of it fell back to the ocean floor, leaving only a portion salvaged, including the nuclear torpedoes.
35:39
The CIA did not recover the nuclear missile they were after, but they did find the bodies of six Soviet submariners, which were given a burial at sea in a strange and futuristic video, and the film of the burial was eventually turned over to Boris Yeltsin in 1992.
41:17
The CIA's main objective was to gather intelligence on Soviet submarine operations, but the recovery of the warheads was also a significant part of the mission, and journalist Seymour Hirsch had already uncovered the story before it broke in a suspicious manner; furthermore, the Hughes Corporation was broken into and a memo describing the secret project was stolen, leading to a demand for a half a million dollars in exchange for its return.
46:11
The CIA found out about the sunken Soviet sub through an intermediary who was contacted by the LAPD, and the story eventually broke in the LA Times, causing embarrassment for the Soviets who did not publicly acknowledge the incident.
51:01
The Glomar Explorer, the ship used in Project Azorian, was eventually retrofitted and sold to a private company for $15 million, and Howard Hughes received a free deep sea mining ship from the government as a result of the project.
Categories:
Society & Culture
