Project Azorian : the CIA and the raising of the K-129 / Norman Polmar and Michael White.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Polmar, Norman.

Contributor:

White, Michael, 1950-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jennifer Project.

Submarine disasters--Soviet Union.

Submarine disasters.

K-129 (Submarine).

Glomar Explorer (Ship).

Soviet Union. Voenno-Morskoĭ Flot--Submarine forces--History.

Soviet Union.

United States. Central Intelligence Agency--History.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (274 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Annapolis, Md. : Naval Institute Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Despite incredible political, military, and intelligence 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 in early August 1974. This audacious effort was carried out under 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 ever attempted and can be compared to the 1969 moon landing for its level of technological achievement. Following the 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 more than 16,000 feet. Previously, the deepest salvage attempt of a submarine had been accomplished at 245 feet. The remarkable effort to reach the K-129, which contained nuclear-armed torpedoes and missiles as well as cryptographic equipment, was conducted with Soviet naval ships a few hundred yards from the lift ship, the Hughes Glomar Explorer. While other books have been published about this secret project, none has provided an accurate and detailed account of this remarkable undertaking. To fully document the story, the authors conducted extensive interviews with men who were on board the Glomar Explorer and the USS Halibut, the submarine that found the wreckage, as well as with U.S. naval intelligence officers and with Soviet naval officers and scientists. The authors had access to the Glomar Explorer's logs and to other documents from U.S. and Soviet sources. The book is based, in part, on the research for Michael White's ground-breaking documentary film,Azorian: The Raising of the K-129, released in late 2009. As a result of the research for

the book and the documentary film, the CIA reluctantly issued a report on Project Azorian in early 2010, even though they tried to withhold details that were in that brief document from the public record by redacting one-third of it. In this book, the story of the CIA's Project Azorian is finally revealed after decades of secrecy.

Contents:

CONTENTS; Perspective; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; ONE The Bubble; TWO Sailing on Combat Duty; THREE Two Submarines; FOUR A Series of Events; FIVE Finding the Target Object; SIX The Plan; SEVEN Get Ready, Get Set...; EIGHT The Lift; NINE The Bounty; TEN Exposure and Revelation; ELEVEN Conspiracies and Causes; TWELVE Failure and Frustration; Appendix A The Kamchatka Flotilla; Appendix B The Crew of the K-129; Appendix C The Submarine K-129; Appendix D The R-21/SS-N-5 Serb Missile; Appendix E The Submarine Halibut; Appendix F The Lift Ship Hughes Glomar Explorer

Appendix G The Capture VehicleAppendix H The Hughes Mining Barge No. 1; Notes; Book List; Index; Author Biographies

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-283-04957-0

9786613049575

1-61251-000-0

OCLC:

707067874