The Glomar Explorer was a deep-sea research vessel built in the 1970s by the Howard Hughes company. Its primary purpose was to recover a sunken Soviet submarine, the K-129, which had gone down in the Pacific Ocean in 1968. The ship was equipped with advanced technology for underwater exploration and recovery operations. The project was highly secretive and involved the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which aimed to gather intelligence from the submarine. Although the recovery attempt was partially successful, the operation remained classified for many years, leading to various conspiracy theories and speculation about its true purpose.