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Christopher Fitzgerald obituary

Source: The Guardian

Nov 08, 2009

Summary

CIA officer tasked with finding a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine

Christopher Fitzgerald, who has died aged 88, was the CIA agent responsible for building the ship the Hughes Glomar Explorer, designed to recover a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine from the Pacific Ocean floor in a secret operation in 1974. In February 1968 the diesel-electric submarine K129, then one of the Soviet navy's most advanced designs, left its base on the Kamchakta peninsula to embark on a three-month patrol of the north Pacific, armed with three medium-range nuclear missiles. North Korea had recently seized an American electronic eavesdropping vessel, the Pueblo, and the North Vietnamese had launched their mass attack on US forces in South Vietnam in what became known as the Tet Offensive.

Not surprisingly, all America's underwater intelligence resources were deployed to track Russian submarines, particularly any with the strategic importance of K129. Shortly after embarkation, the boat had transmitted a routine radio message. It was never heard from again. Since radio silence was a no

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