WEBVTT - Project Azorian: The CIA's Super 70s Mission To Steal A Sunken Soviet Sub 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Stuff you should know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.520 dot com. Hey you, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:17.200 Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. There's our ghost 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:26.320 podcaster producer who's invisible, the ghost of Jerry's past, actually 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:30.040 the ghost of Jerry's present. Jerry's not dead, everybody, No, 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:34.920 that just sounded weird. We're keeping Jerry around. Yes, she 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.000 just out this week. Yeah, there you go. Um, So 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.559 it's just us, Chuck, just a couple of boys batching it, 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:44.720 just some good old boys, never meaning no harm. No, 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:48.479 something something bit in trouble with the loss. It's the 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:52.400 day we were born. I don't think there's something something 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:57.400 before then? Is there m something something, something been in trouble. Yeah, 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:01.080 right now, I don't know. Well, go well, we'll look 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.040 it up. You know. It's funny. There's a great and 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:04.800 we might have talked about this years ago, but there's 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:08.680 a great website called Atlanta time Machine where you can 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:10.440 go back and look at old pictures of Atlanta and 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:12.640 compare him to new pictures and all that stuff. And 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:17.120 they have some movie specific pictures now, and they have 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:22.959 the Dukes of Hazard Pilot shoot photos which was. They 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:25.360 eventually moved it out in the country, but like most 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:27.640 of the dukes of Hazard Pilot, all those car chases 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.480 were in like midtown Atlanta. Isn't that crazy? But it 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:35.280 was the original Bowen Luke. Wow, who was the Who's 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:37.759 saying the theme song? Is it walk Tosh? Whale Jennings? 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.080 Wasn't he the narrator? It was Whale Jennings. What was 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.480 that first thing he said? Walk Tosh? What does that mean? 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.160 That's his nickname? Really, walk Tosh Whale Jennings. You never 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:51.000 heard that? Well it is? I love Whale Jennings. Yeah, 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:55.640 he's great. Apparently he and Johnny Cash were um roommates 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.040 and highwaymen back well way back in the day. Yeah, 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.440 both of them were on drugs, but they didn't other 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:04.600 people didn't know that. So they both used to like 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:08.400 be on drugs but not tell each other about it. 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.880 And um, I guess it came out later that they 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:14.919 they were like, you're on drugs, said so was I. 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:16.880 It's like I used to keep on drugs in the 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.200 air conditioner and Johnny Cash is like, that's why the 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.240 air conditioner never worked and why and Jones was like, 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.440 I used to keep minding the TV and Johnny Cash 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.200 is whoever? Yeah, their TV never worked in the a 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.440 C never worked because that's where they stashed their drugs 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:31.519 without the other one knowing it. Why what are the 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.760 drugs due to the TV and the air conditioner? I 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:39.200 got them pretty wasted? What a weird start. Yeah, it 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:41.800 is a little weird start, especially because what we're talking 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:44.360 about has nothing to do with drugs, Johnny Cash or 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:50.080 Waylon Jennings or air conditioners. TV really has to do 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:59.880 with the CIA, submarines, the USSR, and Howard Hughes, among 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:05.520 other things. Been hitting a kissinger? Are you kissing him? 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:11.320 His interesting? He's still alive too. Maybe you'll hear this. 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.639 I've never seen you hiss before. I know. It's kind 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.600 of threatening, is it, Yeah, because I do have like 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.280 really sharp key nine. Yeah, you should. You should totally 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:22.400 hiss more often. I should, and I should chart him 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:24.720 these things. I should file them down. Oh people do that, 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:29.400 I know, but surely that has to hurt, right to 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.400 file them down? Yeah, how does it not? Don't you 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.560 have nerd? No, they don't hit the nerves, They just 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.520 I guess you're right. Yeah, I might do that in 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.360 the meantime, let's talk about something. Well, let's let's go 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:47.040 back to the beginning. Okay, it's I'm not exactly sure, Wayne, 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:51.240 because look, the first part of my page ripped. Does 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:54.320 it say when in night it does? You want to guess? 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:59.040 I feel like I'm holding the keys May March. It 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:03.280 was pre summer of barely. Oh yeah, everybody's just getting started. 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:06.280 Is the summer of four play? Everyone's getting looped up? Right? 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:15.200 It so? Um March of in the northwestern Pacific, as 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.880 far as the United States is concerned, um, which should 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:23.080 be between say Hawaii and some far out islands in 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.039 Alaska and whatever else is out there. There's not a 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:31.159 lot out there. Apparently Hawaii is the most remote island 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.160 chain in the world. Did you know that there's no 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:37.240 island chain that's further away from other land than Hawaii, 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:39.719 even like when you look at the globe, those teeny 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:45.240 tiny islands. From what I understand, so say Hawaiians at 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.960 least anyway, basically out in the middle of nowhere in 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:52.440 the northwest Pacific, there's a Soviet sub It was a 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:56.680 Gulf to go O l F two Soviet submarine. They 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.839 called it the Cabriola for a little while. But but 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.080 that's those were the subs with the rag top. Yeah, 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.760 those didn't work out. Um, the the this golf to 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.800 sub was called the K one. Surely it had an 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.960 actual name, right, No, I think they called him the 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.000 K whatever. All right, Well, the K one twenty nine 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.880 was on a routine patrol mission. These are the Soviets state. 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.520 They weren't glib about you know what's called this one, 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:26.760 the Hannah Montana exactly right, so that it was just 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:31.040 the Kine all business, which actually is kind of reassuring. 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.800 Because it was a nuclear submarine. Um, it had not 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:38.840 only a nuclear missile, like a nuclear missis you could 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.760 come up to the surface and shoot on to say, 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:46.880 the United States, it also had nuclear torpedoes, which I 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.440 had no idea where a thing a nuclear torpedo. It's 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.880 kind of overkilled them to think. No, not if you're 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.159 underwater and you want to shoot a nuclear bomb at somebody, Well, okay, 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.960 then that really fits the bill. Well, it turns out 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:05.640 that some of these nuclear tip torpedoes detonated, and there 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:10.120 wasn't a full nuclear detonation obviously obvious, but it was 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.080 enough to blow a hole in the submarine. And I 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.040 think kickoffs some other detonations in some of the other 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:19.520 nuclear torpedoes and the upshot. All this was that the 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:24.279 entire person crew and the Soviet submarine in the middle 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:28.960 of the Cold War sunk about six hundred miles or 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:33.560 fift hundred miles north west of Hawaii. Uh and hit 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:38.440 the bottom at sixteen thousand feet more than three miles down. Yes, 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:43.640 and so kicks off the story of Project as Orient 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.000 and the Glomar Explorer. Uh So, what happens, of course, 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.960 is the Soviets go looking for this thing. Uh. They 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:55.240 spend a couple of months pretty massive search, couldn't find it. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.080 The US is kind of laughing and saying, they haven't 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.880 found their own sub yet. Maybe we should go out 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:04.560 there and take a look, because we could probably get 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:09.560 some intel, maybe salvage of nuclear warhead for ourselves, spray 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:14.080 paint a smiley face that says, uh, something like right 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:16.680 back at you, that's a good one, and then throw 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:20.760 it their way. Uh. In In nineteen August of nineteen 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:22.720 sixty eight, just you know, quite a few months later, 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.800 they actually found it. The United States of America located 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.760 this thing. Yeah, so they they this is the official story. 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.400 Here's the thing that I figured up from researching this story. 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:35.160 You can also go ahead and assume that all of 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.760 this is fabricated and that there's actually other stuff that 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:40.880 was actually going on. Yeah, this is the story that's 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.840 been handed like this. This actually maybe the story that 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:49.440 like covers up an assassination in um Brazil or something 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.080 like that. That could be the whole reason this story exists, 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:56.000 because we're talking about a covert operation in the sixties 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.600 and seventies by the c I. A okay, so just 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.720 take everything with the an assault. But the story is 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.360 it was reported, and as far as the CIA has 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.280 ever admitted, was that the Air Force and the Navy 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.440 both had listening devices throughout the Pacific, and somebody at 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:13.400 some point said, well, wait a minute, why don't we 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.440 get these two together and see if there's any data, 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.360 any sounds that were picked up from the sub exploding, 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:23.360 and see if we can pinpoint it basically triangulate with 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:29.200 only two data points, which is I guess straight line right, Yeah, yeah, 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:31.880 that that is what it would be called. But supposedly 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:33.880 they did it, and they found where the sub was, 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.760 and like you said, the US was laughing because they 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:39.800 were watching the Soviets look in all the wrong places. 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:43.240 And then after a couple of months, the Soviets called 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.400 off this the search. And it was quite obvious to 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.319 the to the Americans that the Soviets had no idea 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.360 where the sub was, which made us think, maybe we 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:56.440 should check this thing out, maybe we can go get it. 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:58.760 So we have two choices. We can call them and 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:00.800 let them know where it is, or we can go 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:02.600 get it ourselves. And this is the height of the 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.000 Cold War. Yeah, so they weren't about to go with 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.240 choice one. No, so option to came upon the table, 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:10.560 and we got our own sub called the Halibu, so 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:15.400 we had fun names. The Halibu dropped a camera down 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.120 there on a sled and took a bunch of pictures 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:22.280 of this thing. Verified it's down there. It's intact. We 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:24.160 don't know for sure if we can go get it, 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.079 but we should try because if we can get this thing, 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:32.240 not only do we have potentially uh information on how 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:36.000 these warheads are being built by them, but we might 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:39.080 also be able to bust their codes with this cryptographic 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.320 equipment they have down there. And so let's launch a project. 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.840 And we love naming things, so let's name it Project 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.160 as Orian. Yeah, I guess that's the name of a 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:52.400 person from the Zores. Maybe maybe no idea where they'd 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:54.440 come up with these names, God love them, who knows, 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:57.959 But um, project as Orian was the name of this. 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:01.920 This this idea to go see if we can get 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:04.679 this sub right. Yeah, which means, of course we're not 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:06.760 gonna go out there next week and start looking like 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.680 there's a long process that has to be undertaken before 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.280 we can even figure out if we can do this right. 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:15.160 So they actually did get together like a working group, 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:19.640 a top secret working group of engineers and uh nautical 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.319 engineers and any kind of engineer you can think of, 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.120 and said, how would you do this? There's a submarine, 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:35.040 a hundred ton submarine three feet long. That's that's a 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:37.400 thing in and of itself. It's a big sub like 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.760 that would be hard to pick up off land, sure, 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.680 but it's not on land. It's underwater. It's sixteen thousand, 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.880 five hundred ft under the surface of the Pacific Ocean 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:51.960 in the middle of nowhere about is in the middle 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.880 of nowhere as you can get And um, how could 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:57.920 we do this? How can we possibly pick this up? 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.400 And wait, wait, wait, before you answer you, and and years. 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:03.760 The Soviets can have no idea what we're doing, because 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:06.280 they will probably think any ship that they thought was 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.880 going after this. I love this stuff more than most 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:14.800 stuff in the world. Like when there's this incredibly challenging, 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:20.280 almost insurmatical, insurmountable task and people get a lot of 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:24.040 smart people together and say, let's start brainstorming and how 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.400 if this is even possible. I just think it's really 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.840 cool that. And I bet these people, the engineers are like, 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:32.920 oh my god, this is a dream to come up 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.760 and try and solve this problem. Plus the CIA said 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.719 that they are holding my family hostage. I better get 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:42.800 to work. So they decided, here's what the only way 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.439 we can try this is by doing this. It's gonna 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:50.880 involve three large vessels. One is a recovery ship that 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.720 basically has a chamber with the bottom that could open 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.760 and close like that ship in the Abyss. Yeah, a 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.800 moon pool. In fact that James Cameron totally glow marred 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.280 this totally for his own needs. Uh, it would have 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.360 a docking legs system that basically turned it into an 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:12.120 underwater on the ocean floor platform that I did not get. 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:15.560 I think just basically it goes down there instead of 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:20.160 like hovering in place, turns into a a building. But 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:22.880 I don't understand. I didn't understand how, But yes, that's 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.720 that is the understanding. Well, I had four legs, but 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:29.320 that's crazy. That means they had four three mile long legs. 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:32.800 That doesn't make much sense, that does you know what 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:36.760 I mean? I need to see a picture. I've seen 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:38.680 pictures of it. I still don't know what really with 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.160 the legs. Yeah, well I don't know then. So but 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:43.960 that's that's one. That's the ship that they sail out 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:47.760 there to undertake the whole mission, right, Yeah, there's two 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:49.960 others that they have to come up with. Two. That's right, 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:55.640 captured vehicle. So that had a grab right on it. Yeah, 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.000 like one of those banana clips that girls used to 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:03.120 wear in the nineties. Yeah, but for tons submarine. Yes, 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:05.840 And it wasn't just like, hey, use a little grabber 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:09.119 like that banana clip. It had. It was specifically designed 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.079 to attach to the submarine. It was the one the 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:16.040 one thing it was designed to do. That's correct. So 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.240 that's that's step two. If you have one of these 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:22.360 things and you're loading it onto a massive ship, I 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:24.760 think a seven hundred foot ship is what they came 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:30.160 up with. Foot long ship many many meters long, so 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:36.080 many meters um. Somebody's gonna say, what is that? Well, 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.160 the Soviets would yes, because they're flying over the US 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.960 with their spy satellites ever since Sputnik got up there, 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:44.360 so they're gonna want to know what that is. The 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.480 Soviet analysts are going to point this out. So if 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:49.679 you have this big long ship that sticks out like 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.280 a sore thumb, because what are you doing with that thing? 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:55.320 What are you also doing with this big grabber? How 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.320 do you get around the grabber part at least chuck? 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.080 Uh oh, the grabber. Yeah, we must be talking about 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.640 the barge. So this is pretty amazing. This thing had 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:11.440 a retractable sunroof basically, uh. And it was the whole 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:14.160 reason this thing was here was to hide everything right right, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:19.920 So it was they built the grabber vehicle, the vehicle 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:24.000 number two, inside the barge. But like you said, the 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.920 barge had a sunroof. The thing about the barge was 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:30.200 it was also designed to be submersible. So what they 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.520 did was they built a barge that they built the 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.320 grabber inside of floated the barge out to this huge 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:41.160 six eighteen foot ship, Ship number one, submerged it underneath 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:46.680 the ship, opened up the sunroof on the barge, opened 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:50.560 up the moon pool on the big ship, and raised 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:55.960 the grabber vehicle into the six eighteen foot ship, so 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.160 that the Soviets never even knew the grabber vehicle existed. 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.360 They never saw it. It just didn't exist. And they 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.800 had to build all this stuff from scratch. It wasn't 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.080 just like they had a grabber laying around that fit 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.520 a Soviet sub precisely, or this barge that could become 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:18.400 invisible Bible accounts and and they so this was basically 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.480 this is what this this working group came up with, 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:24.200 like these are the things you need to do this? Yes, 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.880 And the CIA said, who can we possibly get? Who 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:31.800 in the world, Well, Howard Hughes, Yes, Mr Howard Hughes 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:37.800 specifically the Suma or Summa Corporation, and that was a 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:41.960 part of the Hughes Tool Company. And they said, go 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:46.200 build this thing at thirty six thousand tons six eighteen 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.080 feet like you said. And they called it the Hughes 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:53.600 Glomar Explorer because Global Marine was the company that operated it. 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.040 And that's just an abbreviation of global marine. I did 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.040 not know until a couple of days ago. Yeah, it's 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:02.480 sort of a disappointing end to what glomar meant. Yeah, 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.040 because it sounds kind of like space ag. It definitely does, like, Wow, 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:11.520 look at the healthy glow from radiation exposure on that thing, glomar. 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:15.000 Glomar has got a great glow. And here's the other 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:18.920 cool thing. Because this would, I mean, there would still 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.320 be a big beheam of ship out there in the 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:23.880 ocean in the Pacific, and the Russians would wonder what 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.880 was going on. So they said, here's the deal. There 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:29.800 are actually it happened to sink in an area of 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.640 the Pacific where there are a lot of manganese, really 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:37.080 valuable manganese nodules underwater. So we'll just concoct the story 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.400 that said, Howard Hughes built this thing. You know how 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.400 crazy he is uh to go out there and try 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:47.160 and mind the ocean's depths to get even richer. And 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.360 people actually bought that, right, the press even bought it. 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:52.760 They went to the trouble of of saying this is 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.680 actually really good cover story because there was manganese deposits 0:16:56.720 --> 0:17:00.520 in the area it checked out. There was the idea 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:04.800 of deep sea mining was very new, so there wasn't 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.320 There was the idea that this would be a good idea, 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:09.960 but no one had tried to undertake it yet, so 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.439 the Soviets couldn't have been like, uh, that's not a 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.480 deep sea mining ship. No one knew it a deep 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.680 sea mining ship looked like yet. Plus it was very 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:22.159 exactly right. He was extremely wealthy, so he had the 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.119 kind of money to just undertake deep sea mining and 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:29.560 be the first one. But he also operated in strict secrecy, 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.560 and the press used to watch his operations and projects 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.920 from the outside and just make guesses about it and 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.960 and and create rumors. But it didn't matter because it 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:43.040 was all just conjecture and rumors. Right, So, um, it 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:45.639 was a perfect cover story. And then add on to 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:47.879 the top that Hughes was already in bed with the 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:51.520 US government in a number of ways, but including making 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:56.119 spy satellites in highly classified, top secret projects. It was 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:58.760 they couldn't have come up with a better person to 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:02.880 helm the actual carrying out of this of the project. 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:35.960 Should we take a break, Yeah, m all right, So 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.840 this this took a while. Um it was like years 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.960 had passed between the sub sinking and then actually saying 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.040 all right, I think we have a plan to do 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:48.840 this and we can get this done. And by the 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.639 time that came around, they said, wait a minute, like, 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:53.639 should we even should we go take another look at 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:57.560 this thing still intact? Should we bother? Is this still relevant? 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:00.640 Is it an asset or is it just some rusty, old, 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.080 you know, hunk a metal at the bottom of the ocean. Yeah. 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:06.000 Is it basically like a museum thing now? Yeah, So 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:09.919 they said, and we're not into Russian museums, let's be honest. 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.520 So they did form another committee, were great at that, 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:16.879 and they did take another look and they said, you 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:20.680 know what, let's go down there, guys, because even though 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:24.119 these missiles, the S S N five missiles are no 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:26.840 longer like their big threat, they do have the S 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:30.880 S IN eight. Maybe we could glean some technology and 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.280 and how these things operate, and there's still that cryptographic 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:36.960 equipment down there, which would be a good asset for 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:41.000 our intelligence. So they said, okay, let's do it. Come on, guys, 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.240 let's do it. There was another thing too, there's this 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:48.000 great um I O nine article on this this very 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:54.080 Project um and the author found some uh publication of 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.080 of memos about Project is orient and one of the 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:01.359 things was that they were saying, like, yes, it's still 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.240 worth it intelligence wise and everything, but more to the point, 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.440 we're locked in the punch here, like the US can't 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:11.360 afford to seem wishy washy to its contractors. That's so 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.440 we need to do this regardless. Yeah, that's kind of 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.800 nutty when you think about it. That the the risk 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:22.119 of pissing off Howard Hughes, I guess was too great. 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:24.680 And I mean it sort of makes sense in a 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:28.119 way because if he was a big time contractor for them, yeah, 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:31.240 that relationship going. But yeah, there's not that many top 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.440 secret contractors that you know you can't trust, and yeah, 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:36.920 you don't want to take them off, right. Very interesting though, 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:40.680 are we saying piste off now? Is that a thing? 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:43.560 I guess it made an appearance in the last episode two. 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:47.040 Did I say that? Just no, no, no. The the 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:52.160 the listener, male guy Peter Oh about vaping. Yeah, he said, 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.080 I'm piste off. If you can't if you can't tell, well, 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.280 I'm not sure, but I appreciate you drawing attention to well, 0:20:57.280 --> 0:20:59.159 I guess we'll find out if Jerry bleeps all this 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:01.320 out or if we get booted out of the sixth 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:03.720 grade classes around the world. Yeah, kids, what you should 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.719 say is ticked off, and you really shouldn't say that. 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:08.800 You should say that. I'm going to use my words 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:10.560 and let you know that what you just said bothered me. 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:13.200 Oh is that what you're supposed to say? Yeah? Okay, 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:16.160 speak like an adult. So how adult speak? I say, 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:21.679 piste off. Um. Here's the other side note, and this 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:24.280 will come into play later, is that there was another 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:27.280 memo that said, you know what, there are bodies down there, 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:32.360 and according to the Geneva Convention, there's a proper way 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:36.240 that you handle even in quote unquote enemies remains, and 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:38.600 we're gonna abide by that, and we're gonna take all 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:40.840 the stuff we need to make sure that we can 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:44.320 do that in a respectful way. Uh, because this will 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:46.800 eventually probably come out and at least maybe that will 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.720 be a slight goodwill gesture to the Russians that say, hey, 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:54.160 we were very respectful of your dead seamen. So they 0:21:54.200 --> 0:22:00.840 outfitted the huge Glomar Explorer Blorer Explorer, the h g 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:05.240 E with UM I think a capacity to handle one bodies, 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:08.560 which is kind of funny. If you were a sailor 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:12.879 engineer on the huge Glomar Explorer might have made you 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:16.199 a little nervous, considering there were ninety eight sailors on 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.639 the sub that you were going to get two more 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:22.840 dead guys. I don't think that was by accident either. 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:26.320 They didn't just round up to a nice even hundred 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:30.400 could ever coolers they I'm sure they're like, yeah, two 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:34.960 people will probably die on this mission, that's right. So um, 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:39.880 there's there's another memo from I think the V four 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:44.159 June three, and UM. It basically said, hey, all this 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:48.480 stuff's ready. The ship's ready, the UM grabb her claws, 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:54.040 vehicles ready, the barge is even ready. Everything's ready. Let's 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:55.479 do this. So are we gonna do it or not? 0:22:55.680 --> 0:23:00.560 They estimated at chance of UM success, which they were 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:03.360 like threw the moon over the moon about. Yeah, they 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:06.080 were over the moon pool about this, which is interesting, 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:11.400 but I guess when it's something something that tough to accomplish, 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:19.520 UM and that innovative and and bleeding edge apparently wasn't 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:21.879 too bad, No, not at all. So and that was 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:27.200 like of a success, chance of ercent success. Yeah, okay, 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:32.359 so well, oh yeah, sure, so they the project has 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:37.480 approved June five, and just a few days later on 0:23:37.600 --> 0:23:42.600 June the ship departed the Hughes Glomar explored departed I 0:23:42.640 --> 0:23:45.679 believe the port of Los Angeles. Yeah. And another wrinkle 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:47.639 that will come up a little bit later is because 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:53.000 this was so covert, they couldn't surrounded by battleships or 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:56.040 have F sixteen. Well they probably don't have X. I 0:23:56.040 --> 0:23:59.040 don't know when the sixteen came about. I think maybe 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:02.119 like the sixties or something. I'm sorry to all the aviators, 0:24:02.119 --> 0:24:05.080 I'm sure we're way off. But whatever fighter jets they 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:11.280 had at the time, um, they they couldn't draw attention 0:24:11.320 --> 0:24:14.000