The enormous Chesapeake 1000 crane, also known as "Chessy," is assisting in removing debris from the collapsed Baltimore bridge, with a history tied to a U.S. spy operation involving a submerged Soviet submarine in 1968.
As part of the top-secret Project AZORIAN in 1974, the crane first aided in constructing a large ship covertly designed to recover the sunken submarine with nuclear weapons, codebooks, all under the disguise of a deep-sea mining venture owned by Howard Hughes.
The CIA's intricate plan included a disguised ship, underwater claw mechanism, and a moon pool to capture a Soviet submarine sitting 17,000 feet deep, deeper than the Titanic, all kept under wraps amidst challenges of complex operations and secrecy.
Even amid complications on the ocean floor, including the presence of a nearby Soviet salvage boat, the CIA orchestrated the operation secretly, as recalled by former officials and detailed in a book by David Sharp, the mission's recovery systems director.
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