Soviet submarine K-129 (1960)

Golf II-class ballistic missile submarine K-129, hull number 722
History
Soviet Union
Name	К-129
Ordered	26 January 1954
Builder	Nr. 132 Komsomol Na Amur[1]
Completed	1959[2]
Fate	Sank on 8 March 1968 approximately 1,560 nautical miles (2,890 km) northwest of Oahu in the Pacific Ocean[3] with all 98 hands
Notes	Partially recovered in covert salvage operation by the CIA in 1974
General characteristics
Class and type	Golf II-class ballistic missile submarine
Displacement	2,743 t (2,700 long tons) submerged
Length	100 m (330 ft)
Beam	8.5 m (28 ft)
Draft	8.5 m (28 ft)
Propulsion	3 × diesel engines, each 1,500 kW (2,000 bhp) 3 × electric motors, 3,880 kW (5,200 shp) 3 shafts
Speed	15–17 knots (28–31 km/h) surfaced 12–14 knots (22–26 km/h) submerged
Endurance	70 days
Complement	83, 20 officers and 63 enlists
Armament	D-4 launch system with 3 × SS-N-5 Serb) missiles
Notes	Said to be armed with SS-N-5 Serb missile with 750–900 nmi (1,390–1,670 km) range and 1-megaton warhead

K-129 was a Project 629A (Russian: проект 629А, proyekt 629A; NATO reporting name Golf II–class) diesel-electric-powered ballistic-missile submarine that served in the Pacific Fleet of the Soviet Navy. It was one of six Project 629 strategic ballistic-missile submarines assigned to the 15th Submarine Squadron based at Rybachiy Naval Base near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, commanded by Rear Admiral Rudolf Golosov.

The K-129's commander was Captain First Rank Vladimir I. Kobzar, and she carried the hull number 722 on her final deployment, during which she sank on 8 March 1968 along with her missiles and their nuclear warheads. This was one of four mysterious submarine disappearances in 1968, the others being the Israeli submarine INS Dakar, the French submarine Minerve, and the American nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion.

After nearly two weeks of silence during her patrol in the Pacific Ocean, the Soviet Navy officials became concerned about her status and reportedly deployed large numbers of military aircraft and ships to search for the vessel, but no sign or wreckage was found. With the U.S. Navy observing the Soviet efforts, the Americans also began searching, ultimately determining the exact coordinates of the wreck utilizing underwater acoustic data in August 1968, hundreds of miles away from the Soviet search efforts.

In 1974, the United States attempted to recover the submarine in a secretive Cold War–era effort named Project Azorian. Only a part of the submarine was recovered from its position 4.9 km (16,000 ft) below the surface, making this the deepest attempt to raise a ship. The cover story was that the salvage vessel was engaged in commercial manganese nodule mining.