CIA Mission: Project Azorian and the Glomar Explorer's Daring Recovery of a Sunken Soviet Submarine

Dive into one of the Cold War's boldest espionage ops: In 1974, the CIA partnered with Howard Hughes to build the massive Glomar Explorer ship under the cover of deep-sea mining. Their goal? Secretly recover the sunken Soviet sub K-129 from 16,500 feet in the Pacific to steal nuclear secrets and tech.
From the sub's mysterious 1968 sinking to the $800M mission's partial success, mechanical failures, and 1975 media exposure that birthed the "Glomar response" ("neither confirm nor deny"), this story blends ingenuity, risk, and betrayal. The ship even got repurposed for oil drilling in the '90s!
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Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro to Project Azorian
0:30 - The Sinking of K-129
1:15 - Intelligence Opportunity & Approval
1:45 - Hughes' Cover Story
2:20 - Building the Ship & Claw
3:00 - The Recovery Operation
3:45 - Failures & Salvage
4:15 - Burial & Costs
4:45 - Leaks & Exposure
5:15 - Legacy