Inside Job Azorian: The CIA's secret objective to take the Soviet nuclear submarine K-129 from 16,500 feet down. Discover how the Glomar Explorer and Howard Hughes hid a huge claw created to recover Russian doomsday codes and nuclear rockets during the Cold War. ⚓ ♂.
TL; DR: In 1974, the CIA crafted the most pricey and adventurous intelligence break-in in history. Utilizing a phony manganese mining story as cover, they constructed a 600-foot ship to pull a sunken Soviet sub from the Pacific floor. This mission birthed the "Glomar Action" secrecy doctrine and altered the face of seabed warfare forever.
In this deep-dive military history documentary, we go inside the WAR Space to discover the concealed facts of Project Azorian. When the Soviet Golf-class submarine K-129 vanished in March 1968, Moscow couldn't find it-- however the U.S. Navy's SOSUS array was listening. What followed was a six-year engineering wonder including eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, an enormous capture lorry nicknamed "Clementine," and a high-stakes gamble that nearly triggered a third World War.
We explore the technical sparkle of vibrant placing and heave compensation, the heartbreaking burial at sea of Soviet sailors, and the media leakage that forced the CIA to coin the infamous expression: "We can neither confirm nor reject.".
What you will discover in this documentary:.
How acoustic triangulation found a needle in a haystack 1,560 miles from Hawaii.
The engineering tricks of the Hughes Glomar Explorer's "Moon Swimming pool.".
The minute the claw broke: What was recovered and what fell back into the void.
Why the "Glomar Reaction" is still the ultimate weapon of government secrecy.
The modern-day truth of the New Seabed War and the vulnerability of worldwide fiber-optic cables.
TIMESTAMPS:. 0:00 - The Cold War's Deepest Trick. 1:10 - Intro: Can You Steal a Superpower's Brain? 4:30 - Pillar 1: The Vanishing of K-129 and The SOSUS Hunt. 9:15 - Pillar 2: Howard Hughes and The Manganese Nodule Lie. 14:00 - Pillar 3: Engineering Clementine: The Huge Claw. 19:45 - Pillar 4: The First Descent into 16,500 Feet of Silence. 25:20 - Pillar 5: The Break: When Steel Shrieked. 31:10 - Pillar 6: Human Cargo: Honor in Secret. 36:45 - Pillar 7: The Prize: What the CIA In Fact Recovered. 42:15 - Pillar 8: The Leakage: Journalism Cracks the Shell. 47:00 - Pillar 9: Task Matador: The Aborted Encore. 51:30 - Pillar 10: Engineering Fallout and The Offshore Transformation. 54:15 - Pillar 11: Neither Confirm Nor Deny: Glomar's Afterlife. 56:45 - Pillar 12: Moscow's Mirror Move: Trash Denial. 58:20 - Pillar 13: Declassification: A Guarantee Kept. 59:30 - Pillar 14: Modern Significance: The New Seabed War. 1:00:00 - Conclusion: Audacity and Silence.
About The WAR Room:. The WAR Space is devoted to military enthusiasts who wish to understand the intricacies of warfare, technology, and geopolitical conflict. We offer detailed analyses of how wars unfold, the methods involved, and the surprise metadata that changes international power balances. If you value factual, well-researched content that deepens your viewpoint on military affairs, you're in the right place.
Note: All content is based on declassified records and historical research study. We appreciate the remains of those lost at sea.
