The CIA’s Secret Plan to Steal a Soviet Submarine

In 1974, a ship bearing Howard Hughes's name reached a secret location in the Pacific. Its mining story concealed an extraordinary CIA operation: lifting part of a sunken Soviet submarine from more than three miles below the surface. This documentary follows the commercial disguise, the recovery machinery, the failure during the lift, the military burial of six Soviet sailors and the disclosure that ended further attempts. It includes original CIA museum commentary and footage of the 1974 burial ceremony. Narration: Josh Wright. 00:00 A secret on the ocean floor 01:40 Howard Hughes and the mining cover 02:33 The recovery machinery 03:31 Soviet observers 04:02 The lift and the failure 04:57 The men brought aboard 06:11 The secret breaks 07:18 Neither confirm nor deny SOURCES AND CREDITS CIA: The Exposing of Project AZORIAN https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/the... CIA: Honoring the Mission of Project AZORIAN https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/hon... CIA Museum exhibit https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/exh... CIA declassified history, The Glomar Story https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/... U.S. Department of State historical documents https://history.state.gov/historicald... Original recordings: CIA Museum, The Debrief: Behind the Artifact - Glomar (2021); CIA burial ceremony aboard Hughes Glomar Explorer (4 September 1974). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... USGS, Marine Minerals B-roll - Manganese Nodules (2024) https://www.usgs.gov/media/videos/mar... Glomar Explorer photographs: Ted Quackenbush / Tequask. Cropped, resized and animated. Adapted photographs retain their respective CC BY-SA licences. CC BY-SA 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Boris Yeltsin photograph: Kremlin.ru / Presidential Press and Information Office, CC BY 4.0. Cropped, resized and animated. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Other archive and historical images: CIA, U.S. Navy, USGS, National Archives and FBI. Howard Hughes photograph: Acme Newspictures (1938). Jack Anderson photograph: Rochester Institute of Technology, News & Events, 4 May 1973. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://shipscribe.com/usnaux2/AG/AG1... Music: Dark Mysterious Piano Strings Suspense by eitan-ep; Cinematic Suspense by lucafrancini. Envato Elements, licensed for this production.