Project Jennifer
Encyclopedia
"AZORIAN" was the code name
for a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) project to recover the sunken Soviet submarine K-129 from the Pacific Ocean
floor in the summer of 1974, using the purpose-built ship Hughes Glomar Explorer
. The 1968 sinking of the K-129 occurred approximately 1560 nautical miles (2,889.1 km) northwest of Hawaii. Project Azorian was one of the most complex, expensive, and secretive intelligence operations of the Cold War
at a cost of about $800 million ($ in dollars). In addition to designing the high tech recovery ship and its unique lifting cradle, the U.S. used concepts developed with Global Marine (see Project Mohole
) that utilized their precision stability equipment to keep the ship nearly stationary above the target (and do this while lowering nearly three miles of pipe). They worked with scientists to develop methods for preserving paper that had been underwater for years in hopes of being able to recover and read the submarine's codebooks. The exact reasons why this project was undertaken are unknown, but likely reasons included the recovery of an intact nuclear missile (R-21 (missile) also known as NATO SS-N-5-SERB), and cryptological documents and equipment. After the Soviet Union performed their unsuccessful search for the K-129, the U.S. searched diligently and used acoustic data from four AFTAC sites and the Adak SOSUS
array to pinpoint the location within 2 nautical miles, and the submarine used the Fish: a towed, 12 foot, 2 ton collection of cameras, strobe lights, and sonar
to detect seafloor objects and built to withstand extreme depths. The recovery operation commenced covertly (in international waters
) about 6 years later with a supposed commercial purpose: mining the sea floor for manganese nodules under the cover of Howard Hughes
and the Hughes Glomar Explorer
(Sea Spider) hydrophone
network in the northern Pacific was tasked with reviewing its recordings in the hopes of detecting an implosion (or explosion) related to such a loss. Naval Facility (NAVFAC) Point Sur, south of Monterey, California, was able to isolate a sonic signature on its low frequency array (LOFAR) recordings of an implosion event that had occurred on March 8, 1968 (for which they received a Meritorious Unit Commendation in 1969). Using NavFac Point Sur's date and time of the event, NavFac Adak and the U.S. West Coast NAVFAC were also able to isolate the acoustic event. With five SOSUS lines-of-bearing, Naval Intelligence was able to localize the site of the K-129 wreck to the vicinity of 40º N latitude and 180º longitude (International Date Line
).
After weeks of search, the Soviets were unable to locate their sunken boat, and Soviet Pacific Fleet operations gradually returned to a normal level. In July 1968, the U.S. Navy initiated "Operation Sand Dollar" with the deployment of from Pearl Harbor to the wreck site. Sand Dollar's objective was to find and photograph the K-129. In 1965, Halibut had been configured to use deep submergence search equipment, the only such specially-equipped submarine then in U.S. inventory. Despite a SOSUS-provided locus
containing over 1200 square miles (3,108 km²) of search area, and a wreck located over 3 miles (4.8 km) in depth, Halibut almost miraculously located the wreck after only three weeks of at-depth visual search utilizing robotic remote-controlled cameras. (Compare this to almost 5 months of open and unrestricted search required to locate the wreck of the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine in the Atlantic, also in 1968). Halibut is reported to have spent the next several weeks taking over 20,000 closeup photos of every aspect of the K-129 wreck, a feat for which Halibut received a special classified Presidential Unit Citation signed by Lyndon Johnson in 1968.
In 1970, based upon this photography, Defense Secretary
Melvin Laird and Henry Kissinger
, then National Security Advisor
, proposed a clandestine plan to recover the wreckage so that the U.S.
could study Soviet nuclear missile technology, as well as possibly recover cryptographic
materials. The proposal was accepted by President Nixon and the CIA was tasked to attempt the recovery.
— whose companies were already contractors on numerous classified US military weapons, aircraft and satellite contracts — agreed to lend his name to the project in order to support the cover story that the ship was mining manganese nodules from the ocean floor, but Hughes and his companies had no actual involvement in the project. The K-129 was photographed at a depth of over 16000 feet (4,876.8 m), and thus the salvage operation would be well beyond the depth of any ship salvage operation ever before attempted. On November 1, 1972, work began on the 63000 short tons (56,249.8 LT), 619 feet (188.7 m) Hughes Glomar Explorer
(HGE).
The capture vehicle was lowered and raised on a pipe string similar to those used on oil drilling rigs. Section by section, 60 feet (18.3 m) steel pipes were strung together to lower the claw through a hole in the middle of the ship. This configuration was designed by Western Gear Corp. of Everett, Washington
. Upon a successful capture by the claw, the lift reversed the process — 60 feet (18.3 m) sections drawn up and removed one at a time. The salvaged "Target Object" was thus to be drawn into a huge compartment in the middle of the ship, called the Moon Pool by its crew, and the outer doors of the Moon Pool closed to form a floor for the salvaged section. This allowed for the entire salvage process to take place underwater, away from the view of other ships, aircraft, or spy satellites.
Sailing 3008 nautical miles (5,570.8 km) from Long Beach, California on June 20, 1974, Hughes Glomar Explorer arrived at the recovery site July 4 and conducted salvage operations for over a month. During this period, at least two Soviet Navy ships visited the Glomar Explorer's worksite, the ocean going tug "SB-10", and the Soviet Missile Range Instrumentation Ship (SMRIS) "Chazma".
US Major General Roland Lajoie stated that - according to a briefing he received by the CIA - during recovery operations, "Clementine" suffered a catastrophic failure, causing two-thirds of the already raised portion of K-129 to sink back to the ocean floor. Former Lockheed and Hughes Global Marine employees who worked on the operation have stated that several of the "claws" intended to grab the submarine fractured, possibly because they were manufactured from maraging steel
, which is very strong
, but not very ductile
compared with other kinds of steel. Thus many have characterized Project Azorian as an intelligence failure
.
However, the recovered section did include two nuclear
torpedo
es, and thus Project Azorian is not considered a complete failure. The bodies of six crewmen were also recovered, and were subsequently given a memorial service and with military honors, buried at sea in a metal casket because of radioactivity concerns. Other crew members have reported that code books and other materials of apparent interest to CIA employees aboard the vessel were recovered, and images of inventory printouts exhibited in the documentary suggest that various submarine components, such as hatch covers, instruments and sonar equipment were also recovered. White's documentary also states that the ship's bell from K-129 was recovered, and was subsequently returned to Russia as part of a diplomatic effort. Senior administration officials have stated that the project was one of the greatest intelligence coups of the Cold War. The true answer will not be known until the CIA declassifies its files.
Project Azorian remains a technological milestone as the deepest salvage operation ever conducted. The entire salvage operation was recorded by a CIA documentary film crew, but this film remains classified. A short portion of the film, showing the recovery and subsequent burial at sea of the six bodies recovered in the forward section of the K-129, was given to the Russians in 1992 by then CIA Director Robert Gates
.
had planned to publish a story on Project Azorian. Bill Kovach
, the New York Times Washington bureau chief at the time, said in 2005 that the government offered a convincing argument to delay publication — exposure at that time, while the project was ongoing, "would have caused an international incident." The Times published its account in March 1975, after a story appeared in the Los Angeles Times, and included a five-paragraph explanation of the many twists and turns in the path to publication. CIA director George H. W. Bush
reported on several occasions to U.S. president Gerald Ford
on media reports and the future use of the ship. The CIA concluded that it seemed unclear what, if any, action was taken by the Soviet Union after learning of the story.
" or "Glomarization."
in the early 1990s. Portions of this video were shown on television documentaries concerning Project Azorian, including a 1998 Discovery Channel
special called A Matter of National Security [based on Clyde W. Burleson's book, The Jennifer Project(1977)] and again in 2003, on a PBS Cold War submarine episode of NOVA
.
following an application by researcher Matthew Aid at the National Security Archive
to declassify the information under the US Freedom of Information Act. Exactly what the operation managed to salvage remained unclear. The report was written by an unidentified participant in Project Azorian.
hardliners, with full involvement of KGB director Yuri Andropov
, that the submarine was successfully commandeered, and that the KGB team actually attempted to launch a nuclear missile targeted against Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Sewell's thesis is that the attack was designed in a manner to implicate the Chinese and point away from any Soviet involvement in an effort to provoke a nuclear confrontation between China and the United States. At that time, relations between Moscow
and Beijing
had deteriorated to the point at which many believed that open war was inevitable (see the Sino-Soviet Split
), while relations between Beijing and the U.S., though cool in 1968, drastically improved by 1970 (culminating in the Sino-American rapprochement
and 1972 Nixon visit to China
). The theory is that the Soviets feared a U.S.-China detente
which would disadvantage Soviet interests around the world. The author's hypothesis is that the missile's fail-safe devices were inadequately circumvented, and an explosion resulted which sank the submarine. This book also claims that Project Azorian was almost a total success and recovered all of its targeted material, including a nuclear missile warhead and cryptographic equipment and codebooks.
as well as a court filing by Felice D. Cohen and Morton H. Halperin on behalf of the Military Audit Project suggest that the alleged project goal of raising a Soviet submarine might itself have been a cover story for another secret mission. Tapping of undersea communication cables, the installation of an underwater equivalent of a missile silo, and installation and repair of surveillance systems to monitor ship and submarine movements
are listed as examples for such a secret mission.
— the two leaders of Project Azorian. Duckett later worked with Houston at another company, and intimated that the CIA may have recovered much more from the K-129 than admitted to publicly. Reed also details how the mini-sub technology used by the submarine Halibut to find K-129 was repurposed for subsequent Operation Ivy Bells
missions to wiretap underwater Soviet communications cables.
In a documentary film titled "AZORIAN: The Raising Of The K-129", which was produced by Michael White and released in 2009, three principals who participated in the design of the Hughes Glomar Explorer heavy lift system and the Lockheed capture vehicle (claw) gave on-camera interviews. These individuals were also on board the ship during the mission and were intimately involved with the recovery operation. They are: Sherman Wetmore, Global Marine heavy lift operations manager; Charlie Johnson, Global Marine heavy lift engineer; and Raymond Feldman, Lockheed Ocean Systems senior staff engineer. These three, plus others who were not on board during the recovery but were cleared on all aspects of the mission, confirmed that only 38 feet of the bow was eventually recovered. The intent was to recover the forward two thirds (138 feet) of the K-129, which had broken off from the rear section of the sub and was designated the Target Object (TO). The capture vehicle successfully lifted the TO from the ocean floor. On the way up, a failure of part of the capture vehicle caused the loss of 100 feet, including the sail, of the TO. In late Oct of 2010 a book, "Project Azorian: The CIA And The Raising of the K-129" by Norman Polmar and Michael White was published. The book, based on the film, contains additional documentary evidence about the effort to locate the sub and the recovery operation.
The 1978 thriller Ice by James Follett
, sees the Soviet navy mobilizing powerful naval forces to cover a planned attempt to salvage a Delta II class submarine
that has sunk in the South Atlantic. The justification for this effort is the CIA's successful salvage of a Soviet submarine in 1974.
Project Azorian also provided inspiration for The Jennifer Morgue
, a 2006 science fiction espionage novel by Charles Stross
. In Stross' story, Project Jennifer fails due to intervention by the Deep One
s.
The West Wing season 3 episode Gone Quiet
featured a reference to "Project Jennifer" by Assistant Secretary of State 'Albie' Duncan (Hal Holbrook
), amid a plot centered around an American submarine in North Korean waters.
Code name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
for a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) project to recover the sunken Soviet submarine K-129 from the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
floor in the summer of 1974, using the purpose-built ship Hughes Glomar Explorer
USNS Glomar Explorer (T-AG-193)
GSF Explorer, formerly USNS Glomar Explorer , is a deep-sea drillship platform initially built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency Special Activities Division secret operation Project Azorian to recover the sunken Soviet submarine, K-129, lost in April 1968.The cultural impact of...
. The 1968 sinking of the K-129 occurred approximately 1560 nautical miles (2,889.1 km) northwest of Hawaii. Project Azorian was one of the most complex, expensive, and secretive intelligence operations of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
at a cost of about $800 million ($ in dollars). In addition to designing the high tech recovery ship and its unique lifting cradle, the U.S. used concepts developed with Global Marine (see Project Mohole
Project Mohole
Project Mohole was an ambitious attempt to drill through the Earth's crust into the Mohorovičić discontinuity, and to provide an Earth science complement to the high profile Space Race. The project was initially led by the American Miscellaneous Society with funding from the National Science...
) that utilized their precision stability equipment to keep the ship nearly stationary above the target (and do this while lowering nearly three miles of pipe). They worked with scientists to develop methods for preserving paper that had been underwater for years in hopes of being able to recover and read the submarine's codebooks. The exact reasons why this project was undertaken are unknown, but likely reasons included the recovery of an intact nuclear missile (R-21 (missile) also known as NATO SS-N-5-SERB), and cryptological documents and equipment. After the Soviet Union performed their unsuccessful search for the K-129, the U.S. searched diligently and used acoustic data from four AFTAC sites and the Adak SOSUS
SOSUS
SOSUS, an acronym for Sound Surveillance System, is a chain of underwater listening posts across the northern Atlantic Ocean near Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom — the GIUK gap. It was originally operated by the United States Navy for tracking Soviet submarines, which had to pass...
array to pinpoint the location within 2 nautical miles, and the submarine used the Fish: a towed, 12 foot, 2 ton collection of cameras, strobe lights, and sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
to detect seafloor objects and built to withstand extreme depths. The recovery operation commenced covertly (in international waters
International waters
The terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands.Oceans,...
) about 6 years later with a supposed commercial purpose: mining the sea floor for manganese nodules under the cover of Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
and the Hughes Glomar Explorer
USNS Glomar Explorer (T-AG-193)
GSF Explorer, formerly USNS Glomar Explorer , is a deep-sea drillship platform initially built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency Special Activities Division secret operation Project Azorian to recover the sunken Soviet submarine, K-129, lost in April 1968.The cultural impact of...
The Target: the wreck of the K-129
In April 1968, Soviet Pacific Fleet surface and air assets were observed conducting a surge deployment to the North Pacific Ocean that involved some unusual search operations. The activity was evaluated by U.S. Navy Intelligence as a possible reaction to the loss of a Soviet submarine. Soviet surface ship searches were centered on a location known to be associated with Soviet Golf II Class SSB strategic ballistic missile diesel submarine patrol routes. These submarines carried three nuclear missiles in an extended sail/conning tower and routinely deployed to within missile range of the U.S. west coast. The American SOSUSSOSUS
SOSUS, an acronym for Sound Surveillance System, is a chain of underwater listening posts across the northern Atlantic Ocean near Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom — the GIUK gap. It was originally operated by the United States Navy for tracking Soviet submarines, which had to pass...
(Sea Spider) hydrophone
Hydrophone
A hydrophone is a microphone designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones are based on a piezoelectric transducer that generates electricity when subjected to a pressure change...
network in the northern Pacific was tasked with reviewing its recordings in the hopes of detecting an implosion (or explosion) related to such a loss. Naval Facility (NAVFAC) Point Sur, south of Monterey, California, was able to isolate a sonic signature on its low frequency array (LOFAR) recordings of an implosion event that had occurred on March 8, 1968 (for which they received a Meritorious Unit Commendation in 1969). Using NavFac Point Sur's date and time of the event, NavFac Adak and the U.S. West Coast NAVFAC were also able to isolate the acoustic event. With five SOSUS lines-of-bearing, Naval Intelligence was able to localize the site of the K-129 wreck to the vicinity of 40º N latitude and 180º longitude (International Date Line
International Date Line
The International Date Line is a generally north-south imaginary line on the surface of the Earth, passing through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that designates the place where each calendar day begins...
).
After weeks of search, the Soviets were unable to locate their sunken boat, and Soviet Pacific Fleet operations gradually returned to a normal level. In July 1968, the U.S. Navy initiated "Operation Sand Dollar" with the deployment of from Pearl Harbor to the wreck site. Sand Dollar's objective was to find and photograph the K-129. In 1965, Halibut had been configured to use deep submergence search equipment, the only such specially-equipped submarine then in U.S. inventory. Despite a SOSUS-provided locus
Locus
The word locus is Latin for "place". It can mean:-Positions:*Locus of control, in industrial psychology, having an internal or external locus of control...
containing over 1200 square miles (3,108 km²) of search area, and a wreck located over 3 miles (4.8 km) in depth, Halibut almost miraculously located the wreck after only three weeks of at-depth visual search utilizing robotic remote-controlled cameras. (Compare this to almost 5 months of open and unrestricted search required to locate the wreck of the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine in the Atlantic, also in 1968). Halibut is reported to have spent the next several weeks taking over 20,000 closeup photos of every aspect of the K-129 wreck, a feat for which Halibut received a special classified Presidential Unit Citation signed by Lyndon Johnson in 1968.
In 1970, based upon this photography, Defense Secretary
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
Melvin Laird and Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
, then National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
, proposed a clandestine plan to recover the wreckage so that the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
could study Soviet nuclear missile technology, as well as possibly recover cryptographic
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
materials. The proposal was accepted by President Nixon and the CIA was tasked to attempt the recovery.
Building the Glomar Explorer, and its cover story
Global Marine Development Inc., the research and development arm of Global Marine Inc., a pioneer in deepwater offshore drilling operations, was contracted to design, build and operate the "Hughes Glomar Explorer" in order to secretly salvage the sunken Soviet submarine from the ocean floor. The ship was built at the Sun Shipbuilding yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Billionaire businessman Howard HughesHoward Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
— whose companies were already contractors on numerous classified US military weapons, aircraft and satellite contracts — agreed to lend his name to the project in order to support the cover story that the ship was mining manganese nodules from the ocean floor, but Hughes and his companies had no actual involvement in the project. The K-129 was photographed at a depth of over 16000 feet (4,876.8 m), and thus the salvage operation would be well beyond the depth of any ship salvage operation ever before attempted. On November 1, 1972, work began on the 63000 short tons (56,249.8 LT), 619 feet (188.7 m) Hughes Glomar Explorer
USNS Glomar Explorer (T-AG-193)
GSF Explorer, formerly USNS Glomar Explorer , is a deep-sea drillship platform initially built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency Special Activities Division secret operation Project Azorian to recover the sunken Soviet submarine, K-129, lost in April 1968.The cultural impact of...
(HGE).
Recovery
The Hughes Glomar Explorer (HGE) employed a large mechanical claw, which Lockheed officially titled the "Capture Vehicle" (CV) but affectionately called Clementine. The capture vehicle was designed to be lowered to the ocean floor, grasp around the targeted submarine section, and then lift that section into the ship's hold. One requirement of this technology was to keep the floating base stable and in position over a fixed point 16000 feet (4,876.8 m) below the ocean surface.The capture vehicle was lowered and raised on a pipe string similar to those used on oil drilling rigs. Section by section, 60 feet (18.3 m) steel pipes were strung together to lower the claw through a hole in the middle of the ship. This configuration was designed by Western Gear Corp. of Everett, Washington
Everett, Washington
Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...
. Upon a successful capture by the claw, the lift reversed the process — 60 feet (18.3 m) sections drawn up and removed one at a time. The salvaged "Target Object" was thus to be drawn into a huge compartment in the middle of the ship, called the Moon Pool by its crew, and the outer doors of the Moon Pool closed to form a floor for the salvaged section. This allowed for the entire salvage process to take place underwater, away from the view of other ships, aircraft, or spy satellites.
Sailing 3008 nautical miles (5,570.8 km) from Long Beach, California on June 20, 1974, Hughes Glomar Explorer arrived at the recovery site July 4 and conducted salvage operations for over a month. During this period, at least two Soviet Navy ships visited the Glomar Explorer's worksite, the ocean going tug "SB-10", and the Soviet Missile Range Instrumentation Ship (SMRIS) "Chazma".
US Major General Roland Lajoie stated that - according to a briefing he received by the CIA - during recovery operations, "Clementine" suffered a catastrophic failure, causing two-thirds of the already raised portion of K-129 to sink back to the ocean floor. Former Lockheed and Hughes Global Marine employees who worked on the operation have stated that several of the "claws" intended to grab the submarine fractured, possibly because they were manufactured from maraging steel
Maraging steel
Maraging steels are steels which are known for possessing superior strength and toughness without losing malleability, although they cannot hold a good cutting edge. Aging refers to the extended heat-treatment process...
, which is very strong
Tensile strength
Ultimate tensile strength , often shortened to tensile strength or ultimate strength, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before necking, which is when the specimen's cross-section starts to significantly contract...
, but not very ductile
Ductility
In materials science, ductility is a solid material's ability to deform under tensile stress; this is often characterized by the material's ability to be stretched into a wire. Malleability, a similar property, is a material's ability to deform under compressive stress; this is often characterized...
compared with other kinds of steel. Thus many have characterized Project Azorian as an intelligence failure
Intelligence Failure
Intelligence Failure is the eighth studio album of the actor Viggo Mortensen and seventh with the avant-garde guitarist Buckethead, released on 2005. The album combines traditional and original compositions, as well as clips of public speeches, most notably of George W. Bush and members of his...
.
However, the recovered section did include two nuclear
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es, and thus Project Azorian is not considered a complete failure. The bodies of six crewmen were also recovered, and were subsequently given a memorial service and with military honors, buried at sea in a metal casket because of radioactivity concerns. Other crew members have reported that code books and other materials of apparent interest to CIA employees aboard the vessel were recovered, and images of inventory printouts exhibited in the documentary suggest that various submarine components, such as hatch covers, instruments and sonar equipment were also recovered. White's documentary also states that the ship's bell from K-129 was recovered, and was subsequently returned to Russia as part of a diplomatic effort. Senior administration officials have stated that the project was one of the greatest intelligence coups of the Cold War. The true answer will not be known until the CIA declassifies its files.
Project Azorian remains a technological milestone as the deepest salvage operation ever conducted. The entire salvage operation was recorded by a CIA documentary film crew, but this film remains classified. A short portion of the film, showing the recovery and subsequent burial at sea of the six bodies recovered in the forward section of the K-129, was given to the Russians in 1992 by then CIA Director Robert Gates
Robert Gates
Dr. Robert Michael Gates is a retired civil servant and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W....
.
The New York Times suppresses its story
In February 1975, investigative reporter and former Timesman Seymour HershSeymour Hersh
Seymour Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters...
had planned to publish a story on Project Azorian. Bill Kovach
Bill Kovach
Bill Kovach is a US journalist, former Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, former editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and co-author of the popular book, The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and The Public Should Expect.- Biography :Born in 1932 in East...
, the New York Times Washington bureau chief at the time, said in 2005 that the government offered a convincing argument to delay publication — exposure at that time, while the project was ongoing, "would have caused an international incident." The Times published its account in March 1975, after a story appeared in the Los Angeles Times, and included a five-paragraph explanation of the many twists and turns in the path to publication. CIA director George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
reported on several occasions to U.S. president Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
on media reports and the future use of the ship. The CIA concluded that it seemed unclear what, if any, action was taken by the Soviet Union after learning of the story.
FOIA and the Glomar response
After stories had been published about the CIA's attempts to stop publication of information about Project Azorian, Harriet Ann Phillippi, a journalist, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the CIA for any records about the CIA’s attempts. The CIA refused to either confirm or deny the existence of such documents. This type of non-responsive reply has since come to be known as the "Glomar responseGlomar response
In United States law, the term Glomar response refers to a "neither confirm nor deny" response to Freedom of Information Act requests. There are two instances in which Glomarization has been used...
" or "Glomarization."
1998 release of video
A video showing the 1974 memorial services for the six Soviet seamen whose bodies were recovered by Project Azorian was forwarded by the U.S. to RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
in the early 1990s. Portions of this video were shown on television documentaries concerning Project Azorian, including a 1998 Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
special called A Matter of National Security [based on Clyde W. Burleson's book, The Jennifer Project(1977)] and again in 2003, on a PBS Cold War submarine episode of NOVA
NOVA (TV series)
Nova is a popular science television series from the U.S. produced by WGBH Boston. It can be seen on the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States, and in more than 100 other countries...
.
2010 release of 1985 CIA article
In February 2010, the CIA released an article from the fall 1985 edition of the CIA internal journal Studies in IntelligenceStudies in Intelligence
Studies in Intelligence is a quarterly journal on intelligence that is published by the Center for the Study of Intelligence, a group within the United States Central Intelligence Agency...
following an application by researcher Matthew Aid at the National Security Archive
National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501 non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located in the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.. Founded in 1985 by Scott Armstrong, it archives and publishes declassified U.S. government files concerning selected topics of US...
to declassify the information under the US Freedom of Information Act. Exactly what the operation managed to salvage remained unclear. The report was written by an unidentified participant in Project Azorian.
Red Star Rogue
Kenneth Sewell, in his book Red Star Rogue (2005), offers additional theories and speculation. The book makes the case that K-129 was hijacked by an 11-man special forces team placed aboard and directed by a cabal of KGBKGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
hardliners, with full involvement of KGB director Yuri Andropov
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...
, that the submarine was successfully commandeered, and that the KGB team actually attempted to launch a nuclear missile targeted against Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Sewell's thesis is that the attack was designed in a manner to implicate the Chinese and point away from any Soviet involvement in an effort to provoke a nuclear confrontation between China and the United States. At that time, relations between Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
had deteriorated to the point at which many believed that open war was inevitable (see the Sino-Soviet Split
Sino-Soviet split
In political science, the term Sino–Soviet split denotes the worsening of political and ideologic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War...
), while relations between Beijing and the U.S., though cool in 1968, drastically improved by 1970 (culminating in the Sino-American rapprochement
Rapprochement
In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher , is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries...
and 1972 Nixon visit to China
1972 Nixon visit to China
U.S. President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China was an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. It marked the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC, who at that time considered the U.S. one...
). The theory is that the Soviets feared a U.S.-China detente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
which would disadvantage Soviet interests around the world. The author's hypothesis is that the missile's fail-safe devices were inadequately circumvented, and an explosion resulted which sank the submarine. This book also claims that Project Azorian was almost a total success and recovered all of its targeted material, including a nuclear missile warhead and cryptographic equipment and codebooks.
Multiple misdirection
Time magazineTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
as well as a court filing by Felice D. Cohen and Morton H. Halperin on behalf of the Military Audit Project suggest that the alleged project goal of raising a Soviet submarine might itself have been a cover story for another secret mission. Tapping of undersea communication cables, the installation of an underwater equivalent of a missile silo, and installation and repair of surveillance systems to monitor ship and submarine movements
SOSUS
SOSUS, an acronym for Sound Surveillance System, is a chain of underwater listening posts across the northern Atlantic Ocean near Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom — the GIUK gap. It was originally operated by the United States Navy for tracking Soviet submarines, which had to pass...
are listed as examples for such a secret mission.
New eye witness account
W. Craig Reed, in Red November: Inside the Secret U.S. - Soviet Submarine War (2010), delivers an inside account of Project Azorian provided by Joe Houston, the senior engineer who designed leading-edge camera systems used by the Glomar Explorer team to photograph K-129 on the ocean floor. The team needed pictures that offered precise measurements to design the grappling arm and other systems used to bring the sunken sub up from the bottom. Houston worked for the mysterious "Mr. P" (John Parangosky) who worked for CIA Deputy Director Carl E. DuckettCarl E. Duckett
Carl Ernest Duckett was the founding father and visionary leader of the Central Intelligence Agency's science and technology operations...
— the two leaders of Project Azorian. Duckett later worked with Houston at another company, and intimated that the CIA may have recovered much more from the K-129 than admitted to publicly. Reed also details how the mini-sub technology used by the submarine Halibut to find K-129 was repurposed for subsequent Operation Ivy Bells
Operation Ivy Bells
Operation Ivy Bells was a joint United States Navy, CIA and National Security Agency mission whose objective was to place wire taps on Soviet underwater communication lines during the Cold War.-History:...
missions to wiretap underwater Soviet communications cables.
In a documentary film titled "AZORIAN: The Raising Of The K-129", which was produced by Michael White and released in 2009, three principals who participated in the design of the Hughes Glomar Explorer heavy lift system and the Lockheed capture vehicle (claw) gave on-camera interviews. These individuals were also on board the ship during the mission and were intimately involved with the recovery operation. They are: Sherman Wetmore, Global Marine heavy lift operations manager; Charlie Johnson, Global Marine heavy lift engineer; and Raymond Feldman, Lockheed Ocean Systems senior staff engineer. These three, plus others who were not on board during the recovery but were cleared on all aspects of the mission, confirmed that only 38 feet of the bow was eventually recovered. The intent was to recover the forward two thirds (138 feet) of the K-129, which had broken off from the rear section of the sub and was designated the Target Object (TO). The capture vehicle successfully lifted the TO from the ocean floor. On the way up, a failure of part of the capture vehicle caused the loss of 100 feet, including the sail, of the TO. In late Oct of 2010 a book, "Project Azorian: The CIA And The Raising of the K-129" by Norman Polmar and Michael White was published. The book, based on the film, contains additional documentary evidence about the effort to locate the sub and the recovery operation.
Appearances in popular culture
In 1977, a thriller Fireplay by author William Wingate was published. Clearly inspired by the press reports, Wingates' story has the CIA successfully raise the entire submarine only to discover that it is an empty shell, part of an elaborate plot to discredit the CIA.The 1978 thriller Ice by James Follett
James Follett
James Follett is an author and screenwriter, born in 1939 in Tolworth, England.Follett became a full-time fiction writer in 1976, after resigning from contract work as a technical writer for the British Ministry of Defence. He has since written over 20 novels, several television plays, and many...
, sees the Soviet navy mobilizing powerful naval forces to cover a planned attempt to salvage a Delta II class submarine
Delta class submarine
The Delta class is a class of submarines which formed the backbone of the Soviet and Russian strategic submarine fleet since its introduction in 1973...
that has sunk in the South Atlantic. The justification for this effort is the CIA's successful salvage of a Soviet submarine in 1974.
Project Azorian also provided inspiration for The Jennifer Morgue
The Jennifer Morgue
The Jennifer Morgue is the second collection of stories by Charles Stross featuring Bob Howard, containing the title novel The Jennifer Morgue, the short story "Pimpf", and an essay titled "The Golden Age of Spying"...
, a 2006 science fiction espionage novel by Charles Stross
Charles Stross
Charles David George "Charlie" Stross is a British writer of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and fantasy. He was born in Leeds.Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera...
. In Stross' story, Project Jennifer fails due to intervention by the Deep One
Deep One
The Deep Ones are creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings first appeared in Lovecraft's novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"...
s.
The West Wing season 3 episode Gone Quiet
Gone Quiet
-Plot:When an American spy submarine suddenly goes silent in hostile North Korean waters, an angry President receives advice from the Assistant Secretary of State and must decide whether he should notify the enemy or attempt a risky, secret rescue...
featured a reference to "Project Jennifer" by Assistant Secretary of State 'Albie' Duncan (Hal Holbrook
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
), amid a plot centered around an American submarine in North Korean waters.
See also
- USS Scorpion (SSN-589)USS Scorpion (SSN-589)USS Scorpion was a Skipjack-class nuclear submarine of the United States Navy, and the sixth ship of the U.S. Navy to carry that name. Scorpion was declared lost on 5 June 1968 with 99 crew members dying in the incident. The USS Scorpion is one of two nuclear submarines the U.S...
, a submarine that sank 9 days later
External links
- AZORIAN The Raising of the K-129 / 2009 - 2 Part TV Documentary / Michael White Films Vienna
- Project Jennifer and the Hughes Glomar Explorer
- Extensive bibliography
- Personal account by a Lockheed Engineer of the K-129 salvage effort while aboard Glomar Explorer Amazon review by Ray Feldman
- Project Azorian Feature Film
- Red November, Inside the Secret U.S. Soviet Submarine War