DECLASSIFIED: The CIA's $4 Billion Trick to Steal a Soviet Nuclear Submarine|Task Azorian K-129
Discover the shocking Task Azorian story, the most adventurous Cold War secret involving the K-129 Soviet submarine and the CIA's multi-billion dollar mission to recover nuclear warheads from 16,500 feet below. Find out how the Hughes Glomar Explorer used a massive claw to bypass Soviet monitoring in this unknown military history documentary.
TL; DR: In 1968, the Soviet ballistic rocket sub K-129 vanished in the Pacific. While the USSR searched in vain, the US Navy used the top-secret SOSUS network to discover it. This triggered Project Azorian: a 6-year, $800M CIA operation disguised as a Howard Hughes deep-sea mining venture to steal the sub's cryptographic secrets and nuclear torpedoes from the ocean floor.
THE MISSION:. On March 8, 1968, the Golf II-class submarine K-129 went dark. What followed was a high-stakes game of undersea espionage. Utilizing the USS Halibut and acoustic signatures, the Americans found the wreck while the Soviets were still searching countless miles away.
To manage the healing, the CIA built the Hughes Glomar Explorer, a 618-foot technological marvel with a concealed "moon pool" and a 3-mile long hydraulic claw named Clementine. This video checks out the engineering marvels, the catastrophic hull break, and the birth of the popular "Glomar Action" (Neither Confirm Nor Deny).
See the declassified history of how the United States Navy and CIA almost pulled off the greatest intelligence coup of the 20th century.
TIMESTAMPS:. 00:00 The Cold War's Deepest Secret: The Loss of K-129. 05:00 SOSUS The Hunt: How the U.S. Found the Nuclear Submarine Grave. 10:00 The Perfect Cover: Howard Hughes, Deep-Sea Mining, and the CIA. 15:00 Engineering the Difficult: Inside the Glomar Explorer's Moon Pool and Claw. 20:00 Sailing into Analysis: Job Azorian Under Soviet Security. 25:00 Into the Void: Reducing Clementine 3 Miles Down to the Wreck. 30:00 The Break: The Catastrophic Moment the Submarine Hull Tore Free. 35:00 Secrets and Silence: What the CIA Actually Recuperated. 40:00 The Glomar Response: Neither Confirm Nor Deny Teaching. 45:00 The Aborted Encore: Why Azorian II Was Cancelled. 50:00 Echoes in Deep Water: The Legacy of Glomar Engineering. 55:00 Open Questions: The True Cause of the K-129 Sinking.
ESSENTIAL TOPICS COVERED:.
How the USS Halibut located the K-129.
The role of Howard Hughes in offering the CIA cover story.
Clementine Claw mechanics and the 16,500-foot lift.
The healing of Soviet nuclear torpedoes and codebooks.
The burial at sea of Soviet sailors with full military honors.
About The WAR Room:. We dive deep into the techniques, betrayals, and surprise metadata of military history. From Cold War espionage to modern-day geopolitical shifts, we discover the "why" behind the world's most substantial disputes.
