Two Upcoming Los Alamos Lectures Reveal Facts Behind CIA Raising Of Russian Sub K-129

Rendering of the ship and its grappling mechanism. Artwork shows the secret US operation carried out by the CIA to recover a sunken Soviet submarine in the 1970s. Photo by  Clais Lunau. Courtesy/Science Photo Library

By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bonnie@ladailypost.com

The local chapter of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is bringing two distinguished engineers, Charles Canby and Gerhard Fuchs to Los Alamos for two lectures on the raising of K-129, a Russian submarine that sank in 1968, at the height of the Cold War.

“We think there will be a lot of interest in these talks,” ASME member and LANL employee Mike Steinzig said. “It’s not just technically interesting, it’s a great story.”

This story has been intriguing people since it became public. It’s no wonder. This story has it all – spies, Russian weapons, feats of engineering and naval architecture, the CIA, a massive coverup and even Howard Hughes.

Canby was on the ground with this mission to raise K-129.

“Everyone who was involved said it was the most exciting time of their career,” Canby said. “The whole incident was amazing. Using acoustic arrays, the U.S. found the sub when the Russians couldn’t. That the U.S. could find the submarine in 1968 is astounding.”

The sub was located 1,000 miles northwest of Hawaii, Canby said. Investigators think a battery exploded.

“The CIA wanted the submarine,” Canby said. “They were in charge of the mission. I was working for Global Marine as an engineer. “I have a degree in naval architecture. I drew the first line drawing of the ship.”

It took three years to build the ship, USNS Hughes Glomar Explorer. The ship was 700 feet long. It was too big to go through the Panama Canal and had to go around the cape to get to Long Beach, Calif.

The cover story concocted by the CIA was that Howard Hughes built the ship to mine for manganese nodules, but the actual goal was to raise K-129.

“The cover story was bolstered by talks and papers about the supposed mining vessel,” Canby said. “The cover story was so good that the ship got ‘arrested’ by the Port Authority in Long Beach.”

The CIA’s catch phrase “I can neither confirm nor deny” is called the Glomar Effect because it was first used in the coverup of this mission when the press started asking questions.

Canby was onboard as a crew member as well as serving as resident naval architect;
“I always wanted to go to sea,” he said.

He was also able to pursue welding, a lifelong interest and play cat and mouse with Russian spies.

The ship had a well in the middle, where two gigantic arms were used to raise the sub. The pipe used for the arms was 5 inches thick and 16,800 feet long, Canby said. Eight former navy divers guided the operation under the sea.

Canby has many more stories to tell.

Unfortunately, you need to be a LANL badge holder (no clearance needed) to attend his talk. It will be held 3-4:20 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, in NSSB Auditorum (TA-3, Bldg 1400).

If you don’t have a badge, don’t despair. There is a dinner and another lecture and these are open to the public on Oct. 12 at Fuller Lodge.

Schedule:

  • 5:30-6 p.m. Social time. Open bar with beer by Bathtub Row.
  • 6-7 p.m. Dinner. Mexican buffet.
  • 7-8 p.m. Lecture on K-129 failure analysis by University of Florida students. Gerhard Fuchs.
    Special guest Charles Canby.

Those wishing to eat dinner must RSVP. Email steinzig@lanl.gov Cost is:

  • ASME members: $15
  • General Public: $20
  • Students: $5

Professor Gerhard Fuchs will discuss another aspect of Project AZORIAN, the CIA code name for the K-129 project, which used a drill-string of pipes and a claw-like assembly, referred to as the “CV” (Capture Vehicle), to raise the sunken submarine.

During the attempt to lift the submarine off of the ocean floor, several of the “fingers” (or tines) on the CV failed and a significant portion of the submarine fell back to the ocean bottom. The forward 38 feet of the submarine was brought to the surface and examined by the CIA. The majority of the results of that examination, as well as the failure analysis of the CV beams/tines are still classified.

The open literature information was used to develop detailed drawings of the CV and the fractures in the tines. The published literature and the detailed drawings from Project AZORIAN, as well as information on the follow-up effort called Project MATADOR, were used by the senior
students in EMA4714 (Materials Selection and Failure Analysis) taught by University of Florida Professor Fuchs, to perform a failure analysis of the tines.

The students evaluated the potential causes of the failures and considered alternative designs and including current day materials, for the application. The project also provided a unique opportunity to discuss the nature of the Cold War.

The talk will cover the open literature information on Project AZORIAN and Project MATADOR, and the results of the failure analyses performed by the students.

Information about the Fuchs talk was provided by ASME.

An archival photograph of Hughes Glomar Explorer, the ship designed and built to raise Russian sub K-129 from the ocean floor. Courtesy National Archives

Search
LOS ALAMOS

ladailypost.com website support locally by OviNuppi Systems