Project Azorian

Описание

"Azorian" was the code name for a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency project to recover the sunken Soviet submarine K-129 from the Pacific Ocean floor in the summer of 1974, using the purpose-built ship Hughes Glomar Explorer. The 1968 sinking of the K-129 occurred approximately 1,560 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii. Project Azorian was one of the most complex, expensive, and secretive intelligence operations of the Cold War at a cost of about $800 million.
In addition to designing the high tech recovery ship and its unique lifting cradle, the U.S. used concepts developed with Global Marine that utilized their precision stability equipment to keep the ship nearly stationary above the target. They worked with scientists to develop methods for preserving paper that had been underwater for years in hopes of being able to recover and read the submarine's codebooks. The exact reasons why this project was undertaken are unknown, but likely reasons included the recovery of an intact nuclear missile, and cryptological documents and equipment.


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