Over the last week, we told you about the lucrative, and possibly world-changing trove of precious metals sitting on the ocean floor. As well as the challenges and risks of attempting to mine those metals.

Today we’ll revisit how this overlaps with the unbelievable story of an early “attempt” to mine these polymetallic nodules, which will sound like it was pulled right out of a spy novel.

The CIA, an eccentric billionaire, a soviet submarine, and the world’s biggest claw game.

Project Azorian, or “Project Jennifer” as it was referred to publicly, has all the elements of a farfetched Cold War spy drama.

The story begins in 1968, with the disappearance of the K-129, a Soviet ballistic missile submarine.

Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, America and the Soviet Union both patrolled the oceans with nuclear submarines, prepared for the possibility of war.

Tensions were high and the Americans were suspected of foul play when the K-129 went missing.

The Soviets looked for their lost submarine for two months before eventually giving up the search.

The Americans, however, continued to look for the lost ship.

Using advanced Air Force technology, they were able to pinpoint the location of the K-129 1,500 miles from Hawaii.

And 16,500 feet below the ocean’s surface…

A declassified CIA document says…

 “No country in the world had succeeded in raising an object of this size and weight from such a depth.”

Despite knowing its exact location, retrieving the Soviet sub would be risky, and very expensive.

But the value of the warheads on board and the insight into enemy weapons systems was invaluable.

So the decision to proceed with Project Azorian was made.

The project would end up being among the most expensive endeavors of the Cold War (that we know about), totalling $800 million, an amount equal to $4.7 billion today.

The CIA debated a number of methods to retrieve the K-129, but the method that they eventually settled on was as simple as an arcade claw machine.

A ship would anchor above the site of the downed submarine and lower a gigantic claw 16,500 feet, and simply…pick it up.

Such an elaborate and unusual operation so far from the US mainland was certain to draw attention, and even potential accusations of piracy.

With tensions at a fever pitch between the Soviet Union and the United States, revealing the true intentions of Project Azorian could have devastating consequences.

So the CIA commissioned billionaire Howard Hughes as part of an elaborate cover story.

The business magnate (pilot, engineer, film producer…) was to build a 618-foot ship designed for “deep sea mining”.

Supposedly, Hughes would be retrieving chunks of rock from the ocean floor that contain large amounts of cobalt, nickel, and manganese. All metals that are now in high demand, as they’re needed to build batteries for electric vehicles.

In 1972, the Hughes Glomar Explorer was christened. The privacy of its construction and testing was chalked up to Howard Hughes' reclusive and eccentric nature.

Two years later, off of the coast of Catalina Island, the Glomar Explorer had a secret rendezvous with the HMB-1, to transfer the gigantic retrieval claw, dubbed “Clementine”.

Later that year, with Clementine safely hidden in its “moon pool”, the Explorer settled over the site of the K-129.

The ship’s crew worked slowly and secretly, with their actions being watched closely by two suspicious Soviet ships.

After one week, the crew of the Explorer succeeded in lifting the K-129 to the ocean’s surface. Unfortunately, part of the retrieval mechanism had broken off, losing a large part of the Soviet submarine in the process.

Valuable components, like the submarine’s code room, fell to the ocean’s floor. Never to be retrieved.

However, the secrecy of the mission was maintained.

Additionally, samples of manganese were also pulled from the ocean’s floor. Succeeding in being one of the first tests of mining the ocean’s floor.

A practice that is being tested now and could potentially change the way we mine precious metals forever.

With that, what do you think? Does this sound stranger than fiction? Is the CIA telling the truth about what they retrieved from the K-129? What are your thoughts and reactions? Let us know at feedback@technologyprofits.com.