![]() Internally, the intelligence community deliberated about the cost-to-reward ratio of such an expensive and risky undertaking even as the submarine offered a tantalizing trove of information. history of the project, “No country in the world had succeeded in raising an object of this size and weight from such a depth.” After two months, the Soviet Union abandoned its search for K-129 and the nuclear weapons it carried, but the United States, which had recently used Air Force technology to locate two of its own sunken submarines, pinpointed the K-129 1,500 miles northwest of Hawaii and 16,500 feet below the surface. Some reports indicate that the sinking was due to a mechanical error such as inadvertent missile engine ignition, while the Soviets for a time suspected the Americans of foul play. In this post-Cuban Missile Crisis era, both American and Soviet submarines prowled the open seas with nuclear weapons aboard, prepared for potential war. The six-year mission began in 1968, when the Soviet ballistic missile submarine K-129 went missing without explanation somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. “I can’t imagine there’s another country in the world that would have thought, ‘We found a Soviet submarine, under of water. commissioning the construction of a 600-foot ship to retrieve a sunken Soviet submarine from the ocean floor-all in complete secrecy. This mission, codenamed Project Azorian, involved the C.I.A. ![]() Together, they represent relics of a Cold War espionage mission so audacious, the museum’s curator, Vince Houghton, compares it to the heist from Ocean’s 11. In a corner exhibit of the recently reopened International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., a submarine control panel, a swoopy-banged wig, detailed whiteprints and a chunk of manganese are on display. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |