Dean shares his fascination with the CIA's salvaging of a Soviet nuclear missile submarine, passionate interest rooted in the engineering audacity of attempting to raise a sub lying three miles below the ocean floor in an operation code-named Azorian, and the zany cover story. He opens with the detection by U.S. intelligence in 1968 of the sunken Soviet vessel in the North Pacific Ocean. Photographed as largely intact, the sub carried nuclear weaponry and codes sorely tempting to Cold War warriors, and so began construction of an enormous ship, the Glomar Explorer, to get the goods, and its origin tale: Howard Hughes was using it for the deep-sea mining of manganese. The Explorer embarked on its mission in the summer of 1974, which Dean recounts from memoir literature by, and interviews with, participants in a lively, you-are-there pace. Readers follow the tension-filled deployment of the Explorer's massive salvage equipment and its retrieval of a section of the sub. Concluding with debate about Azorian's intelligence value, Dean delivers an engaging rendition of the high-profile espionage effort.--Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2017 Booklist

Meticulous account of an audacious covert operation to snatch a sunken Russian submarine.Outside magazine correspondent Dean (Show Dog: The Charmed Life and Trying Times of a Near-Perfect Purebred, 2012, etc.) ably resurrects the forgotten Cold War drama of Project Azorian, showcasing governmental and engineering derring-do, seemingly impossible in both its difficulty and secrecy. Following the K-129's disappearance in the Pacific in 1968, some American officials realized, "if the US Navy could locate the sub's precise location, it might be able to access the wreck and mine it for a host of valuable intelligence." This fell to the CIA, which recruited civilian experts in multiple fields to design a ship equipped with a deep-mining derrick and clawlike "capture vehicle" to pluck the sub off the seafloor. They also developed a plausible cover story, involving new ocean-mining technologies pursued by reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. Dean captures the personalities and patriotism of the industrialists, engineers, and spies who stealthily built the Hughes Glomar Explorer and perfected large-scale systems so cutting edge that it remained unclear "whether or not they could locate, grab, and lift a submarine three miles deep in the ocean." The high-risk voyage went forward in 1974 and was partially successful, as a large portion of the submarine broke off while being raised; one engineer "was stunned at how little of the sub remained." Plans for a follow-up mission were scuttled when the story leaked in the press following a mysterious burglary at a Hughes facility. This created a delicate situation for the new Gerald Ford presidency; to avoid impacting the politics of dtente, writes the author, "both sides would pretend as if the boldest and most outlandish intelligence operation in history had never happened." Dean is verbose in laying out this improbable tale, with a fondness for occasionally extraneous detail, but this style is well-suited to a complex adventure spanning six years and numerous principal characters. A well-researched, mostly engrossing geopolitical narrative of American ingenuity in the face of Russian threats. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In 1968, the Russian submarine K-129 disappeared in the Pacific Ocean northwest of Hawai'i. The Soviets deployed a massive search but were unable to find the vessel. Using new underwater acoustic equipment, the U.S. located the submarine and tried to do the impossible by raising it from three miles underneath the ocean's surface to obtain the nuclear warheads and coding machine inside. Dean (The Life and Times of the Stopwatch Gang) tells the story of the CIA's mission, the detailed operation required for raising a heavy submarine intact from such an incredible depth, and how the agency collaborated with businessman Howard Hughes and his mining company. After being tasked with Project Azorian, CIA agent John Parangosky spent six years engineering and problem-solving in secret. The stellar research Dean uses to tell this captivating tale includes declassified primary documents, personal journals, and autobiographies. VERDICT A Cold War espionage story that seems implausible yet is still true. Recommended for fans of naval history, marine engineering, ocean mining, and spy stories. [See Prepub Alert, 3/27/17.]-Jason L. Steagall, Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.