One of the Most Ambitious Rescues in US History
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One of the Most Ambitious Rescues in US History

The Azorian Project

The Recovery of the Soviet submarine K-129, 1974. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The year was 1968 and the cold war and the threat of an atomic holocaust hung over the world. At the beginning of that year, the Soviet submarine K-129 left for its third combat patrol, but two weeks later, it mysteriously disappeared under the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The submarine had departed from the Rybachiy naval base in the Kamtchatka peninsula in Russia, on February 24, 1968. After departure, it underwent a deep dive test and returned to the surface to report via radio that the test had run smoothly, traveling on to its occupation area.

That contact would be the last, nothing more was received from the K-129. The submarine disappeared without leaving any trace behind.

This submarine was a class 629 conventional diesel, electric propulsion submarine class Golf-II. It was equipped with conventional torpedoes, atomic torpedoes, and SS-N-5 ballistic missiles with a range of 1,390 to 1,670 km, each with a megaton warhead.

In mid-March, the Soviet authorities began to be concerned that the K-129 had lost the two pre-programmed contacts. Attempts to contact were made, but there was no response. There was a new attempt of contact and the submarine was instructed to break the radio silence and contact the fleet, but again, there was no response.

It was already the third week of March and there was no information, the K-129 was gone. Given the gravity of the situation, the submarine was declared missing, searches began. Air and naval units including submarines went to the northern Pacific region. For seventy-two days the searches persisted, but nothing was found.

Eventually, Soviet naval activity returned to normal and the submarine was declared lost along with the entire crew. The unusual movement of so many Soviet operatives in the same region soon caught the attention of American intelligence. It was then that an opportunity arose, marking the beginning of the Project Azorian.

The search begins

While the Soviets were looking for the submarine, the Americans began their own efforts to locate it. They knew that the Soviets had no effective equipment for in-depth searches, so they believed that their chances of success were practically null.

With the help of the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), the naval sonar surveillance system, it would possible to trace the submarine’s location with considerable precision.

The SOSUS was an underwater system for monitoring all naval activity that passed through strategic locations, such as the Giuk passage in Iceland that connects the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic, or the Bering Strait that connects the Arctic to the Pacific.

Based on SOSUS, it was possible to recognize a sound similar to an explosion or implosion that occurred on March 8, northwest of Hawaii, about 2,496 km, practically on the 180º meridian.

Having the approximate location, the submarine USS Halibut SSGN-587 was sent with probable help from the research submarine Trieste II to determine the exact location. The K-129 was found at 4,900 meters deep underwater in August 1968.

This operation attracted the attention of the greatest American authorities at that time, the president and the secretary of defense. Recognizing the opportunity, the president authorized a rescue operation.

Due to the possibility of leaks from the navy, it was decided that the project assigned to the responsibility of the CIA, so it would be kept secret.

To rescue the K-129, Howard Hughes made an order to the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of about $350 million. The result was the Hughes Glomar Explorer, a marine mineral prospecting and exploration vessel.

A mechanism similar to a crane and a closed floating dock were built in order to lift the submarine and receive it in shallow waters. It was officially titled the Capture Vehicle. The capture vehicle was designed to be lowered to the ocean floor, grasp the targeted submarine section, and then lift that section into the ship’s hold.

It took years for the ship, crane, and dock to be ready. Only in 1974, did the Hughes Glomar explorer go to the accident site with the crane installed, which was in the center of the ship and only accessible from below.

The recovery

The recovery site of К-129 is based on the intersection of three circles marking the distances to Long Beach, CA, Pearl Harbor, HI, and Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The rescue operation started in mid-1974, the plan involved sending the capture mechanism to rescue the K-129 at a fixed point of 16,000 feet (4,900 m) below the ocean’s surface, the mechanism would literally capture the submarine with huge movable arms, including two special arms for the tower since the K-129 was tilted.

The mechanism that was operated remotely with the help of several cameras and searchlights, was carefully positioned on the submarine and lowered onto it to grab it. When it was just above the target the arms opened and the mechanism went down, but at the moment when the arms were supposed to close under the submarine, it was discovered that the ground was more rigid than imagined, so many years of planning were about to go down the drain, literally.

However, they decided to try anyway, the arms were slowly closing on the K-129 through the ground until, finally, they closed completely. The submarine was ready to be lifted.

When the lifting started, the first scare came, one of the arms got stuck in the ground and broke, but there was nothing to do about it, it was necessary to continue.

The lift proceeded without further problems until about 1,000 meters of depth when two other arms were overloaded because of the weight and broke, this created a huge imbalance that turned years of work into frustration when the submarine fell between the gaps of the broken arms. Only pieces of a small part of the submarine were attached to the mechanism and were able to be recovered.

The project was closed and a new attempt abandoned. It is known that cryptographic machines, two torpedoes with atomic warheads, and six bodies of Soviet sailors were recovered and were formally buried with all the honors they deserved. The Azorian project proved to be one of the most expensive in the cold war with a total cost of about $800 million, or $4 billion today.