Wasn't there a special on the History Channel or the Discovery Channel about this some years ago? I recall watching something that sounds real familiar to this. Wasn't the Glomar Explorer created for this? IIRC, the govt' actually brought up some of the wreckage and it seemed that it all just kind of disappeared or faded into the woodwork. It seems to me that the ending of the whole affair was very vague.
If this is the one I am thinking of, the US eventually either turned some bodies over to the Russians, or turned over photos of a burial at sea of the bodies that came up with the wreckage.
Glomar Explorer was built (by Howard Hughes for the CIA) to recover a lost Russian sub and did recover at least part of it with bodies inside ...........I saw film of a burial at sea(Discovery Channel I think) .........not sure if this is the same sub but it sounds like it...........original cover story for Glomar Explorer was "mining of the ocean floor" ........I remember an article to that effect in the Weekly Reader in high school
The boat was built exclusively for the purpose of retrieving this sub.. Hughes was brought on board for a cover story that for the public.. that being Oil Exploration I believe...
I never knew the sub was believed to be in the process of launching its missles when it sunk.. but if it did sink, by accident, it would once more show God's providence....
I have heard it said that during the Missle Crisis the Kremlin authorized a launch at Omaha.. but due to technical issues the launch failed. DOn't know if that's true, but have heard it referenced places.
I know this question is old but yes there was a special on Discovery Channel last year, but I’m not sure if it had been on before. Yes the Glomar Explorer was made for this exact purpose. Interestingly, on another program I watched last year about the Cold War, I found out my father was onthe US sub that sank it!! It ttotally changed my opinion about him and the way he was with our family, when he WAS home!!
My son bought me a books on disc of this story.
The US government took 20,000 pictures of the sub prior to having Howard Hughs build the Glomar Explorer.
It was a very interesting book, IIRC it was either 7 or 9 discs long.