by Clyde Burleson

In February 1968, K-129, a Russian Golf class submarine, equipped with nuclear missiles and torpedoes and their most advanced Ships Internal Navigation System (SINS), sank in the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to Sea Spider, a fantastic top-secret system that tracked every Soviet vessel on or under the Pacific Ocean, we knew what had happened to K-129. The Soviets did not. All told, if that boat could be salvaged, it would be the intelligence coup of the Cold War. There was only one problem: it was 17,500 feet underwater. The CIA hired Global Marine Inc., which used a seabed mining venture as cover. If the Russians discovered their true purpose, they would be sunk. And if the weather window closed while lifting K-129′s remains, they faced the risk of snapping the pipe string, which would tear their ship in half. While they risked their lives, Richard Nixon resigned his presidency, the CIA had reason to believe the Russians had penetrated the mission’s cover, and the Soviet Union feared a military takeover of the U.S. government, so went on full military alert. The story elements are factual, dramatic, and fascinating. The characters, including Howard Hughes, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Richard Helms, William Colby, Leonid Brezhnev, and other key 20th century figures, are the players in the greatest spy story ever told.