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Fact check

Is it true: Project Azorian / Glomar Explorer covert sub recovery (1974)?

Confirmed5% confidence

Yes — this is confirmed.

Declassified by the CIA in 2010. The agency's own internal history confirms the operation: the Hughes Glomar Explorer covertly raised portions of the Soviet submarine K-129 from 16,500 feet in 1974, using a Howard Hughes deep-sea mining cover story. One of the most technically ambitious Cold War covert operations on record.

The claim

Project Azorian was a classified CIA operation in which the purpose-built ship Hughes Glomar Explorer raised portions of the sunken Soviet ballistic-missile submarine K-129 from a depth of approximate

Key evidence

CIA 2010 declassification: full internal history released

Soviet Non-Response Suggests Limited Intelligence Value of Recovery

Read the full evidence file

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