Project Azorian and the Glomar Explorer
In July and August 1974 the CIA used the specially built ship Glomar Explorer, disguised as a Howard Hughes deep-sea mining venture, to raise part of the sunken K-129 from almost 5 km down.
1974 CE · 40.10, -179.90 · status: official
The account
The claw broke and most of the hull fell back, but a forward section was recovered with the bodies of six Soviet sailors, who were buried at sea with honours. The project produced the reply 'we can neither confirm nor deny' (the 'Glomar response').
The sceptical view
A real, documented secret retrieval, often cited as proof that governments can hide large operations; it involved a Soviet wreck, not anything exotic.
The researched reading
A fully documented secret retrieval, and the reason claims that governments can hide big operations are not absurd. What was retrieved was a Soviet wreck, nothing more.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Secret human technology | 93% | A real secret retrieval: the CIA built the Glomar Explorer to lift K-129 from about 4,900 m; the CIA’s own history, declassified in 2010, confirms it. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 2% | The “deep-sea mining” cover story was itself a planned deception, but the operation is fully documented. |
| Something known, misidentified | 1% | Not applicable: the target was a known Soviet submarine. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 1% | Not applicable. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 1% | Not applicable. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 1% | Not applicable. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 1% | Nothing exotic was involved. |
Official position: The CIA has declassified much of its history of the project.