State Political Directorate
EPRON was established on 17 December 1923 and was initially under the Joint State Political Directorate () at the Council of People's Commissars. Its first operation was treasure-hunting near Sevastopol for the wreckage of HMS Prince, a steamship sunk by a storm off Balaklava in November 1854 when it was carrying gold from Britain to pay British troops fighting in the Crimea (GBP 200,000).