The Taking of K-129 by Josh Dean

The Taking of K-129 by Josh Dean

An incredible true tale of espionage and engineering set at the height of the Cold War--a mix between The Hunt for Red October and Argo--about how the CIA, the U.S. Navy, and America's most eccentric mogul spent six years and nearly a billion dollars to steal the nuclear-armed Soviet submarine K-129 after it had sunk to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean; all while the Russians were watching.

In the early hours of February 25, 1968, a Russian submarine armed with three nuclear ballistic missiles set sail from its base in Siberia on a routine combat patrol to Hawaii. Then it vanished.

As the Soviet Navy searched in vain for the lost vessel, a small, highly classified American operation using sophisticated deep-sea spy equipment found it--wrecked on the sea floor at a depth of 16,800 feet, far beyond the capabilities of any salvage that existed. But the potential intelligence assets onboard the ship--the nuclear warheads, battle orders, and cryptological machines--justified going to extreme lengths to find a way to raise the submarine.

So began Project Azorian, a top secret mission that took six years, cost an estimated $800 million, and would become the largest and most daring covert operation in CIA history.

After the U.S. Navy declared retrieving the sub "impossible," the mission fell to the CIA's burgeoning Directorate of Science and Technology, the little-known division responsible for the legendary U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes. Working with Global Marine Systems, the country's foremost maker of exotic, deep-sea drilling vessels, the CIA commissioned the most expensive ship ever built and told the world that it belonged to the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, who would use the mammoth ship to mine rare minerals from the ocean floor. In reality, a complex network of spies, scientists, and politicians attempted a project even crazier than Hughes's reputation: raising the sub directly under the watchful eyes of the Russians.

Josh Dean was a founding editor of PLAY, the New York Times sports magazine, and was a former deputy editor of Men's Magazine. His work has featured in a variety of publications, including Rolling Stone, Outside, GQ, Popular Science, and others. With his wife and son, he lives in Brooklyn.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781101984451
ISBN 10	1101984457
Title	The Taking of K-129
Author	Josh Dean
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Dutton Caliber
Year published	2018-09-25
Number of pages	456
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable