The Taking of K-129

How the CIA Used Howard Hughes to Steal a Russian Sub in the Most Daring Covert Operation in History

By: Josh Dean

Narrated by: Neil Hellegers

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.

The Taking of K-129 is a riveting, almost unbelievable true-life tale of military history, engineering genius, and high-stakes spy-craft set during the height of the Cold War, when nuclear annihilation was a constant fear, and the opportunity to gain even the slightest advantage over your enemy was worth massive risk.

One of the great stories in history

this is a really good luck at an interesting chapter in American history. the effort to raise the sub was truly massive and this look at it explore parts of the story the history channels special left out.

A Great Read

Fascinating! I remember reading about this project a few years after high school. It actually occurred, unbeknownst to me, while I was in high school, 1971-1975. I felt badly for the Soviet seamen who died, but glad for the eventual admission of their demise years later. Unfortunately, the Russians hadn't learned too much from this submar iner tragedy by the time, three decades or so later, they lost all the seamen on the Kursk.
The author does an excellent job putting the story together, step by step. I also enjoyed the narrator's clear voice and range of emotion, from humor to reverence and everything in between.

History, engineering, and spies.

I could not stop listening to this book. The elements of history, naval engineering, and spies had me intrigued from chapter one.

Incredible

Incredible story and well written. Took me awhile to get past the staccato delivery of the reader, but I grew to like it a lot.

The thing I could not get over was the nuclear / nuculer slips occasionally. The worst was “wutter” instead of water throughout.

All in all, a fascinating topic and and good book. Recommended!

Story A+ ....,. Reader D-

I’m sure Neil Hellegers is a nice man, but he stinks at reading. I’ve never written a review before in my life, but after a few chapters of this book I told myself I would write one when I finished. The story itself is awesome and I don’t want to dissuade someone from buying this book, BUT be prepared to be annoyed. Neil Hellegers’ reading style is like a fart in the room where you’ll eventually get use to it, but it’s still there. He seems to put the wrong emphasis on the wrong part of the sentence or tries to over enunciate words. I can pin it down, but I noticed it. Who knows, I might be way off, but just thought I’d warn others. Beyond that, I enjoyed the actual story very much. The authors attention to detail in explaining a story that took years to come together was done very well. Hope this helps. Enjoy! :)