Dossier K-129

Protagonist

CIA / Operation Azorian

Period

1968-1975

Nature

Recovery

Main location

K-129 wreck, North Pacific (38°N 178°E) · North Pacific

MICE motive

Ego — wounded pride

After the Soviet submarine K-129 sank in 1968, the CIA had the vessel Hughes Glomar Explorer built under mining cover to raise the wreck from 4,900 metres in the Pacific and seize its missiles and codes. Exposed by the press in 1975.