"Project Azorian" was a secret operation conducted by the United States during the Cold War in the early 1970s. Its primary goal was to recover a sunken Soviet submarine, known as the K-129, which had sunk in the Pacific Ocean in 1968. The project aimed to gather intelligence and technology from the submarine to gain an advantage over the Soviet Union. The operation involved the use of a specially designed ship called the Hughes Glomar Explorer, which was built to lift the submarine from the ocean floor. Although the project was partially successful, it ultimately revealed the complexities and challenges of underwater recovery missions during that era.