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A Proceedings Magazine 2010 Notable Naval Book

In early August 1974, despite incredible political, military, and intelligence risks and after six years of secret preparations, the CIA attempted to salvage the sunken Soviet ballistic missile submarine K-129 from the depths of the North Pacific Ocean. The audacious effort was undertaken with the cover of an undersea mining operation sponsored by eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.

"Azorian"—incorrectly identified as Project Jennifer by the press—was the most ambitious ocean engineering endeavor attempted by man. It can be compared to the 1969 moon landing in its level of technological achievement. Following the accidental sinking of a Soviet missile submarine in March 1968, U.S. intelligence agencies were able to determine the precise location and to develop a means of raising the submarine from a depth of 16,560 feet. Previously, the deepest attempt to salvage a submarine had been accomplished at 245 feet. The remarkable salvage effort of the K-129, which contained nuclear-armed torpedoes and missiles as well as crypto equipment, was conducted with Soviet naval ships a few hundred yards from the lift ship, the Hughes Glomar Explorer.

While other books have been published about this secret project, not one was based on interviews with the participants or on classified government documents. The authors conducted interviews with men who were on board the Glomar Explorer and the USS Halibut, the submarine that found the wreckage, with U.S. naval intelligence officers, and with the Soviet submarine division commander.

The authors had access to the Glomar Explorer's logs and other documents from U.S. and Soviet sources. The book is based, in part, on the research for Michael White's documentary film Azorian: The Raising of the K-129, released in late 2009. The research for the book and the documentary forced the CIA to issue a report on Project Azorian in early 2010, with one-third of the document censored. In this book, the untold story of the CIA's Project Azorian is finally revealed after decades of secrecy.

Norman Polmar is an internationally known analyst, consultant, and award-winning author specializing in naval, aviation, and intelligence issues. He has served for almost eleven years on the Secretary of the Navy's Research Advisory Committee (NRAC) and has written more than forty books, including eight editions of The Naval Institute Guide to Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet. He is a resident of Alexandria, VA.

Michael White has worked in film and television for over thirty-five years. His career in special and visual effects began in 1976 at Pinewood Studios, and in 1990 he moved to Vienna, which he has used as a base to work around Europe as a director of well over fifty commercials and some twenty corporate films. His website is www.projectjennifer.at/. 

The DVD is available from PBS Video. 

Praise for Project Azorian

“The authors dismantle the conspiracy theories by proving they are mostly derived from unrelated data, selective interviews or just fabricated.  This book should thwart attempts to write new conspiracy theory books on K-129 and Scorpion.  This is a must read for all of you that were or wished you were in the exciting, dangerous, previously highly-classified, submarine component of the Cold War.  I bet my 24-carat Gold Dolphins and Command at Sea Pin that you will love this book.”

— Naval Historical Foundation review, September 14, 2011

“An astounding book about an astounding technical collection operation. . . . I strongly recommend [Project Azorian]. [It is] well-written, [it is] accessible to an audience not au fait with the Cold War, and [it] serve[s] to undermine decades of speculation.”

— Canadian Military Journal, Summer 2011

"This is undoubtedly the most detailed description of the Project 'Azorian.'"

— The Russian Review, July 2011

"Here, the untold story of the CIA's Project Azorian is finally revealed after decades of secrecy." 

—The Washington Times

“Engrossing…”

— Intelligencer: Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies, Winter/Spring 2011

"An unusual event occurred in December 1974 at the U.S. Navy’s holiday party for foreign naval attachés, held in Bethesda, Maryland.  At the partythe Soviet naval attaché approached the U.S. Navy captain who served as liaison officer for foreign naval attachés.  The Soviet officer reportedlysaid that it was known that the United States had tried to raise the submarine K-129 and, 'if you go back there it would mean war.'" 

—Rear Admiral Edward D. Sheafer Jr., USN (Ret), former Director of Naval Intelligence

"Norman Polmar, a great historian, and Michael White, a gifted TV producer and director, combine their talents to write what often reads like a great yarn—except that it’s true.  It’s a terrific story based partly on firsthand interviews of a not quite successful American technical coup—and Soviet frustration—at the height of the Cold War.  Project Azorian re-creates a lost world." 

—John F. Lehman Jr., 65th Secretary of the Navy

"What the Americans could possibly get if they [had] access to nuclear weapons, codes, torpedoes and mechanisms inside the submarine, welding technology, composition of metals,…let's start with the most important: if Americans did in fact lift the nose part then they should get the nuclear weapons, I mean, the special combat payloads of two torpedoes. It goes without saying, the torpedoes were crushed by the pressure of 570 atmospheres…but for specialists even debris can say a lot about the level of our nuclear technologies." 

—Rear Admiral Viktor A. Dygalo, Soviet Navy (Ret.)

Click here to read the Naval Historical Foundation's review of PROJECT AZORIAN.