DDH - AZORIAN

Some Technical Notes from today’s episode: (1) Dave has had zero sleep. He was up all night for a family activity. (2) The WMMB computer failed, necessitating the show be done by telephone rather than the normal method via computer. (3) Bill and Dave decided to leave their off air discussions on the podcast version. This is unusual but the conversations were germane to the subject (which is unusual) and might be of benefit to the listener.

On the night of March7/8, 1968, a loud and very unexpected sound reverberated through Central part of the Pacific Ocean. Officially, the sound originated 1500 nautical miles northwest of Oahu, exactly on the 180th Meridian (the International Date Line).

Depending on who you choose to believe, the United States intelligence community knew almost instantly what the sound was. And within a few days, a major operation was launched centered around the USS Halibut SSN-587, the most technologically advanced spy submarine in the world, which was sent look at the source of the sound.

Today, we know what she found, and we have even seen some of the photographs. But that was literally just the beginning of the story.

Richard Nixon was passionate about achieving détente. And, as events would play out, he knew what the US had found in the wreck that was found at the site of the sound, the Soviet Ballistic Missile Submarine K-129. And he was determined to use that information, and more, to achieve that mission…

I read “Red Star Rogue” for the first time back in 2006. In 2011, I was able to interview the author, Ken Sewell on Afternoons Live. There are a number of books as to the loss of K-129, but a couple of things are clear – we will NEVER know the full story.

But consider… for just a moment… the possibility (some would say probability) that on a quiet March night, a Soviet Ballistic Missile Submarine was hijacked by radical elements of the Soviet government for the express intention of attacking the United States…