Project Azorian

The Washington Times ^ | 2/04/2011 | By Joseph C. Goulden

[Carbonsteel]

In the world of intelligence, the most successful deception operation is one in which the physical activity required is carried out in full public view, but the true nature of the operation is shrouded in secrecy. Project Azorian, the 1974 recovery of a sunken Soviet submarine resting 16,300 feet below the surface of the North Pacific, was a singular success for the CIA and the U.S. Navy - despite last-minute media leaks that proved to be of no consequence,

[Carbonsteel]

I'd had never heard of this project until just a few days ago and upon some research I become facinated by what happened during the events depicted by this book.

So, I dug up an old article to share with my fellow freepers who may find this as interesting as me.

From what I can gather, this is one of the greatest engineering marvals of the last 100 years.

The CIA still to this day, refuses to release all the details of what was actually recovered, but the idea that a recovery of a sunken missle boat at those depths is hard to imagine.

[6SJ7]

After a voyage around Cape Horn, the vessel was anchored off the California coast - in clear view of swimmers - and secretly outfitted with lift equipment that would emerge from the bottom of the ship and lift any debris found into a huge “moon pole” at the core of the ship. The technical aspects defy capsulization; you must read this on your own.

That would be a "moon pool" not "moon pole"! *Sheesh*. Today's journ-o-lists.

[rex regnum insanit]

It was an amazing strategic coup. Unfortunately it was publicized by the New York Times, AKA: Izvestia on the Hudson, that paragon of Socialist Virtue in solidarity with the peace loving peoples of the Soviet Union.

[Traveler59]

There is another accounting of this in Sherry Sontag's book "Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage". Blind Man's Bluff also gives a well-researched probable cause for the sinking of the USS Scorpion.

[CrazyIvan]

I’m still waiting for my manganese nodules.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

I used to see the Glomar Explorer at Suisun Bay. driving over the Benicia Bridge (Interstate 680). The bridge is higher than it looks :)

I had no idea that it was there the first time I saw it (by the 1980s if I remember correctly) but the effort had been publicized enough that I knew what it was.

Now what about our nuclear USS Scorpion and the 99 men lost when the Soviets lured it into at trap, attacked and sunk in retaliation for something that did not happen? All Hands Down: The True Story of the Soviet Attack on the USS Scorpion Sewell and Preisler.

Two administrations, LBJ and Nixon, covered it up claiming the equivalent of "center fuel tank explosion."

.. but I guess the MAD policy made retaliation for acts of war virtually impossible.