1 00:00:05,177 --> 00:00:09,906 NARRATOR: Cold War killing machines and lethal nuclear weapons, 2 00:00:13,427 --> 00:00:16,292 abandoned under our oceans. 3 00:00:17,465 --> 00:00:19,674 JAMES: The thought that these Doomsday weapons lie 4 00:00:19,709 --> 00:00:22,505 down there in the depths is frightening. 5 00:00:23,609 --> 00:00:25,542 NARRATOR: The terrifying reality has been hidden, 6 00:00:27,579 --> 00:00:30,064 the keys to the truth of the Cold War 7 00:00:30,409 --> 00:00:34,758 lost under icy waters for over half a century. 8 00:00:38,797 --> 00:00:41,386 Imagine if we could empty the oceans, 9 00:00:43,388 --> 00:00:48,600 letting the water drain away to reveal the secrets of the sea floor. 10 00:00:50,119 --> 00:00:51,637 Now we can... 11 00:00:53,087 --> 00:00:57,574 Using accurate data and astonishing technology, 12 00:00:59,507 --> 00:01:03,132 to bring light once again to a lost world. 13 00:01:06,756 --> 00:01:12,002 How did the Cold War's most advanced submarine end up shattered on the sea floor? 14 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,282 ROBERT: A giant hand had just crushed it. 15 00:01:16,214 --> 00:01:20,218 NARRATOR: How close does America come to accidentally nuking Europe? 16 00:01:20,252 --> 00:01:22,668 JOE: There was this terrible explosion. 17 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:26,086 Big ball of flame. 18 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,469 NARRATOR: And who stole parts of a secret Soviet submarine? 19 00:01:47,210 --> 00:01:49,454 October, 1962. 20 00:01:51,007 --> 00:01:54,700 The United States and the Soviet Union hit crisis point. 21 00:01:54,735 --> 00:01:57,255 MAN [over PA]: This is a red alert. Repeat. 22 00:01:57,289 --> 00:02:01,121 NARRATOR: Moscow installs nuclear missiles in Cuba. 23 00:02:04,745 --> 00:02:07,161 President Kennedy issues an ultimatum; 24 00:02:08,335 --> 00:02:11,614 withdraw the missiles or it's war. 25 00:02:11,648 --> 00:02:15,963 KENNEDY: A poor retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union. 26 00:02:16,377 --> 00:02:19,898 VLADISLAV: 31,000 nuclear devices. 27 00:02:20,657 --> 00:02:23,557 If it starts, the world would go up in smoke. 28 00:02:23,591 --> 00:02:26,387 That's it. Crazy. 29 00:02:28,665 --> 00:02:30,564 NARRATOR: The Soviets back off. 30 00:02:32,566 --> 00:02:38,158 But the world remains just one mistake away from nuclear apocalypse. 31 00:02:40,574 --> 00:02:45,095 Many flash points are hidden from view, shrouded in secrecy. 32 00:02:51,032 --> 00:02:56,176 Now we can reveal just how close we came to disaster. 33 00:03:06,289 --> 00:03:08,326 In the waters of Northern California 34 00:03:10,707 --> 00:03:14,090 a mysterious wreck could reveal the truth about 35 00:03:14,124 --> 00:03:18,198 top secret experiments at the dawn of the Cold War. 36 00:03:21,615 --> 00:03:24,894 A giant object has been detected under these waters. 37 00:03:26,654 --> 00:03:31,003 Maritime archaeologist Doctor James Delgado wants to know more. 38 00:03:33,282 --> 00:03:37,078 JAMES: Mapping the seabed outside the Golden Gate, they found a big target, 39 00:03:37,113 --> 00:03:39,046 a very big target. 40 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:40,220 Was it a ship? 41 00:03:40,254 --> 00:03:41,669 Was it something more? 42 00:03:41,704 --> 00:03:43,223 What brought this here? 43 00:03:43,257 --> 00:03:45,155 Why is it on the bottom? 44 00:03:46,709 --> 00:03:50,402 NARRATOR: James hopes the new find could solve a Cold War mystery. 45 00:03:53,647 --> 00:03:57,271 The location of a ship lost for over 60 years. 46 00:03:59,308 --> 00:04:04,071 USS Independence, a giant aircraft carrier. 47 00:04:05,693 --> 00:04:10,077 JAMES: Imagine the wreck of an aircraft carrier as big as this sitting on the bottom, 48 00:04:10,111 --> 00:04:12,390 just off the coast of San Francisco, 49 00:04:12,424 --> 00:04:15,116 unrevealed for so many years. 50 00:04:15,565 --> 00:04:17,257 It's powerful, it's compelling. 51 00:04:25,541 --> 00:04:29,683 NARRATOR: He sets out to explore the site with his team, 52 00:04:33,238 --> 00:04:37,277 sending a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, 53 00:04:39,071 --> 00:04:40,901 2,600 feet down. 54 00:04:47,459 --> 00:04:49,944 A submerged beast. 55 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:54,673 JAMES: You got to go a little further, brother. 56 00:04:54,708 --> 00:04:56,675 A little more to the left. 57 00:04:58,228 --> 00:05:01,266 This is an area where we would have had the name painted. 58 00:05:02,509 --> 00:05:05,270 There's the Independence. 59 00:05:05,305 --> 00:05:06,271 You can see it. 60 00:05:06,306 --> 00:05:07,272 E-N-C-E. 61 00:05:07,307 --> 00:05:09,412 Yes! Yes! 62 00:05:12,622 --> 00:05:15,487 NARRATOR: This carrier is a hero of the Second World War. 63 00:05:17,627 --> 00:05:21,182 It battled to recapture Pacific Islands from the Japanese. 64 00:05:23,668 --> 00:05:25,325 It survived all that, 65 00:05:27,706 --> 00:05:30,364 but it hasn't been seen for over half a century. 66 00:05:33,367 --> 00:05:36,301 Why is it now sitting in an unmarked location 67 00:05:36,336 --> 00:05:39,269 at the bottom of these cool coastal waters? 68 00:05:49,487 --> 00:05:51,696 Using precision scan data, 69 00:05:52,973 --> 00:05:58,910 the waters roll back to reveal a staggering sight. 70 00:06:05,434 --> 00:06:08,368 A World War II colossus. 71 00:06:25,039 --> 00:06:30,907 It looks almost new, but on the flight deck there's evidence of damage, 72 00:06:31,356 --> 00:06:34,324 the surface torn, buckled and bent, 73 00:06:35,429 --> 00:06:38,501 and one giant corner punched in completely. 74 00:06:41,055 --> 00:06:43,472 On the hull, strange scars. 75 00:06:46,060 --> 00:06:48,546 Steel plate creased like tin foil. 76 00:06:54,586 --> 00:06:57,486 On the control tower, eerie details. 77 00:06:59,349 --> 00:07:04,216 Japanese flags were painted on this kill board, for every enemy unit destroyed. 78 00:07:05,045 --> 00:07:08,117 But now only white paint remains. 79 00:07:09,498 --> 00:07:12,017 JAMES: Now this should be painted in different colors. 80 00:07:12,052 --> 00:07:16,401 It should be red, for example, but it's not here and that's not age or sea water. 81 00:07:19,024 --> 00:07:21,889 NARRATOR: What could have caused such bizarre damage? 82 00:07:24,616 --> 00:07:29,483 James picks up on a trail of evidence that leads him all the way to the fiery dawn of 83 00:07:29,518 --> 00:07:31,485 the Cold War. 84 00:07:35,455 --> 00:07:39,217 Bikini Atoll, July 1946. 85 00:07:40,598 --> 00:07:45,119 Behind a ring of low rise islands, nearly 100 obsolete war ships 86 00:07:45,154 --> 00:07:47,363 lie empty and abandoned. 87 00:07:48,985 --> 00:07:51,954 One of them is the USS Independence. 88 00:07:54,094 --> 00:07:59,237 This remote Pacific lagoon is America's new atomic test arena. 89 00:08:02,205 --> 00:08:07,038 It's less than a year since the first ever atom bomb attacks on Japan ended the 90 00:08:07,072 --> 00:08:12,284 Second World War, and the US needs to know more about what 91 00:08:12,319 --> 00:08:14,942 these terrifying new weapons can do. 92 00:08:16,357 --> 00:08:19,395 On July 25th, at 8:35 am, 93 00:08:25,470 --> 00:08:29,301 the first ever test of an atom bomb underwater. 94 00:08:31,303 --> 00:08:35,445 Two million tons of radioactive seawater blasted into the air. 95 00:08:37,655 --> 00:08:42,487 JAMES: The bomb punches out of the lagoon, with a heated core hotter than the sun shooting 96 00:08:42,522 --> 00:08:44,144 up through the heart of it. 97 00:08:45,766 --> 00:08:50,599 NARRATOR: Also an airborne detonation as big as the bomb at Nagasaki. 98 00:08:53,015 --> 00:08:57,191 A mile and a half from the epicenter is the USS Independence. 99 00:09:00,298 --> 00:09:06,511 A blinding flash eradicates her, instantly vaporizing the red paint on the kill board. 100 00:09:07,685 --> 00:09:09,997 JAMES: The bursts not only of light, but heat. 101 00:09:10,032 --> 00:09:13,553 Took away all the other colors, leaving only the white base coat. 102 00:09:14,484 --> 00:09:17,073 NARRATOR: Then blast waves rock the carrier, 103 00:09:20,698 --> 00:09:22,665 shredding her flight deck, 104 00:09:26,980 --> 00:09:29,292 and washboarding the steel around her hull. 105 00:09:31,950 --> 00:09:36,196 JAMES: This is all of those thousands of pounds of air or water coming right up 106 00:09:36,230 --> 00:09:42,202 alongside the ship and slamming into it, bending, denting, rippling it. 107 00:09:43,341 --> 00:09:45,585 This is what an atomic bomb does to a ship. 108 00:09:49,589 --> 00:09:53,489 NARRATOR: The many war ships destroyed at Bikini carry a message. 109 00:09:54,179 --> 00:09:56,906 This is the future of warfare. 110 00:09:59,219 --> 00:10:03,154 With the Soviet Union working around the clock on an atom bomb of its own, 111 00:10:07,261 --> 00:10:11,403 an arms race like no other will dominate the decades to come. 112 00:10:15,407 --> 00:10:18,687 The drained wreck of USS Independence can tell us more 113 00:10:18,721 --> 00:10:21,344 of this shadowy confrontation, 114 00:10:22,518 --> 00:10:26,073 but first we need to know why does she lie 115 00:10:26,108 --> 00:10:29,318 not close to Bikini, but California? 116 00:10:36,083 --> 00:10:39,017 NARRATOR: Hidden under the waters of Northern California, 117 00:10:39,052 --> 00:10:41,571 the wreck of the USS Independence. 118 00:10:43,504 --> 00:10:49,234 4,500 miles away from where she smashed by atomic blasts at Bikini Atoll. 119 00:10:52,306 --> 00:10:55,896 How did she get here, and why? 120 00:10:57,173 --> 00:11:00,349 Can our immense drained wreck provide a clue? 121 00:11:01,730 --> 00:11:04,387 JAMES: When you look at all the damage brought by the atomic bomb, 122 00:11:04,422 --> 00:11:07,597 while grievous for the most part is above the water line, 123 00:11:07,632 --> 00:11:10,152 it wasn't enough to sink the ship. 124 00:11:14,259 --> 00:11:18,505 NARRATOR: The Independence survives the atomic blasts, 125 00:11:20,127 --> 00:11:22,612 but she is ravaged by radiation. 126 00:11:24,545 --> 00:11:27,134 JAMES: It had been coated in radioactive steam. 127 00:11:27,169 --> 00:11:31,621 There's a near panic that the radiation levels have not subsided much at all. 128 00:11:34,555 --> 00:11:39,353 NARRATOR: In the summer of 1947, the Independence is towed to California. 129 00:11:43,081 --> 00:11:46,429 James Delgado and his team want to know why. 130 00:11:47,085 --> 00:11:48,604 MAN: This was here for a couple of years. 131 00:11:48,638 --> 00:11:53,643 NARRATOR: They discover a link to a top secret naval research facility 132 00:11:53,678 --> 00:11:56,094 on the fringes of San Francisco 133 00:11:59,132 --> 00:12:01,065 Hunter's Point. 134 00:12:04,931 --> 00:12:09,521 Inside the high security port, a specialist team studies the 135 00:12:09,556 --> 00:12:13,353 radioactive fallout on board Independence. 136 00:12:14,595 --> 00:12:19,255 Their mission; design a defense against nuclear weapons. 137 00:12:21,050 --> 00:12:24,122 JAMES: The key lessons underscored by study of Independence 138 00:12:24,157 --> 00:12:27,574 is to just get scarier, to build more weapons, 139 00:12:27,608 --> 00:12:29,472 to bring more of them into play. 140 00:12:29,507 --> 00:12:31,889 In short, proliferation. 141 00:12:37,308 --> 00:12:39,379 NARRATOR: But a question remains. 142 00:12:41,484 --> 00:12:47,076 After almost four years at Hunter's Point, the US Navy scuttles Independence. 143 00:12:49,561 --> 00:12:54,256 And the wreck is nowhere near where contemporary news stories claim she is. 144 00:12:55,671 --> 00:12:59,192 JAMES: We found it only 30 miles offshore, 145 00:12:59,226 --> 00:13:01,366 more than 100 miles away from where reports said 146 00:13:01,401 --> 00:13:07,890 Independence had gone down, which stunned us and we began to think, "Why?" 147 00:13:10,375 --> 00:13:15,277 NARRATOR: Off the waters of Northern California, James goes deep inside the Independence 148 00:13:15,311 --> 00:13:17,141 to look for answers. 149 00:13:20,592 --> 00:13:24,320 JAMES: As the robot drops down, I have it zoom in again, and again, 150 00:13:24,355 --> 00:13:28,048 until finally I see exactly what they're hiding. 151 00:13:30,016 --> 00:13:36,332 NARRATOR: Now, using precision data, we can reveal what he finds there. 152 00:13:39,335 --> 00:13:42,891 In the hangar, tucked behind a Hellcat fighter plane, 153 00:13:44,168 --> 00:13:46,860 a stack of large sealed barrels. 154 00:13:48,068 --> 00:13:51,002 On one barrel, a side panel has rusted away, 155 00:13:53,108 --> 00:13:55,317 and when James inspects it up close, 156 00:13:56,076 --> 00:13:58,216 something catches his eye. 157 00:14:01,668 --> 00:14:03,463 JAMES: Those are rubber gloves. 158 00:14:04,498 --> 00:14:08,054 Looking at it, everything from the labs is getting packed in barrels, 159 00:14:08,088 --> 00:14:09,400 sealed in concrete. 160 00:14:10,953 --> 00:14:14,336 Not only from Hunters Point, but from the labs in and around the bay area. 161 00:14:16,476 --> 00:14:19,134 They wanted to put these away, out of the sight of prying eyes, 162 00:14:19,168 --> 00:14:21,343 beyond the reach of Soviet spies. 163 00:14:22,447 --> 00:14:25,278 They were afraid of espionage. 164 00:14:27,936 --> 00:14:30,973 NARRATOR: The US Navy decides to take no chances, 165 00:14:31,008 --> 00:14:35,875 whether Soviet spies are operating in California or not. 166 00:14:43,537 --> 00:14:48,680 JAMES: What better thing to do then with your atomic secrets, than to put them inside this 167 00:14:48,715 --> 00:14:54,928 big carrier in a location with all these nuclear secrets entombed within it? 168 00:15:00,382 --> 00:15:04,904 NARRATOR: The battered wreck of the Independence still lies off the California coast. 169 00:15:08,666 --> 00:15:11,945 A chilling reminder of the dawn of the Cold War. 170 00:15:18,055 --> 00:15:23,094 In the years that follow, the two super powers build huge nuclear arsenals, 171 00:15:27,029 --> 00:15:29,894 and sometimes accidents happen. 172 00:15:34,416 --> 00:15:37,937 The coast of Almeria, southern Spain. 173 00:15:40,525 --> 00:15:43,425 Draining these waters reveals a shocking site. 174 00:15:47,049 --> 00:15:51,951 A nuclear war head, more powerful than a million tons of TNT. 175 00:15:53,745 --> 00:15:55,506 How does it get here? 176 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:01,684 And how close is Spain to a nuclear disaster? 177 00:16:04,273 --> 00:16:08,346 Joe Ramirez is serving with American forces here in the 1960's. 178 00:16:11,108 --> 00:16:15,008 It's the height of the Cold War and the US is flying nuclear arm 179 00:16:15,043 --> 00:16:17,666 patrols over Europe around the clock. 180 00:16:19,668 --> 00:16:22,429 JOE: Operation Chrome Dome as it was called. 181 00:16:22,982 --> 00:16:28,470 B52 bombers, each carrying four hydrogen bombs, in flight 24 hours a day. 182 00:16:30,679 --> 00:16:33,647 NARRATOR: Chrome Dome maintains a constant nuclear threat 183 00:16:33,682 --> 00:16:35,373 against the Soviet bloc. 184 00:16:38,031 --> 00:16:41,138 But to keep the bombers airborne for as long as possible, 185 00:16:41,172 --> 00:16:44,072 crews must refuel in mid-air. 186 00:16:45,314 --> 00:16:48,041 A delicate and dangerous procedure. 187 00:16:49,629 --> 00:16:54,254 On January 17th, 1966, in the skies over Spain, 188 00:16:58,983 --> 00:17:01,296 something sparks an explosion. 189 00:17:02,124 --> 00:17:06,542 Four bombs complete with nuclear war heads hurtle towards the ground, 190 00:17:06,956 --> 00:17:08,579 two without their parachutes. 191 00:17:10,408 --> 00:17:15,379 The nuclear components are unarmed, but the conventional explosives do detonate, 192 00:17:16,104 --> 00:17:19,452 spreading radioactive plutonium over a square mile. 193 00:17:22,213 --> 00:17:26,321 Hundreds of American and Spanish personnel scour the countryside 194 00:17:26,355 --> 00:17:28,668 and find three of the bombs. 195 00:17:31,050 --> 00:17:32,189 But that's all. 196 00:17:33,259 --> 00:17:35,226 JOE: We couldn't find the fourth one. 197 00:17:37,090 --> 00:17:40,300 NARRATOR: The US military needs to locate their lost nuke, 198 00:17:40,335 --> 00:17:44,546 before it leaks dangerous radiation or falls into the hands of the Soviets. 199 00:17:48,481 --> 00:17:52,657 After more than a week of searching, the team still can't find the bomb. 200 00:17:55,350 --> 00:17:58,077 Then Ramirez meets a local fisherman. 201 00:17:59,147 --> 00:18:03,289 He reports seeing a parachute fall into the sea on the day of the accident. 202 00:18:06,361 --> 00:18:08,466 JOE: It hit me, we're looking in the wrong place. 203 00:18:08,501 --> 00:18:09,916 We're looking for the bomb on land. 204 00:18:09,950 --> 00:18:11,366 This bomb may be under water. 205 00:18:14,369 --> 00:18:20,340 NARRATOR: But if the nuke is under the ocean, where is it, and what condition is it in? 206 00:18:24,551 --> 00:18:29,970 In the last few years, Spanish oceanographers have mapped the Mediterranean Sea floor. 207 00:18:31,558 --> 00:18:36,011 JESUS: The bottom of the ocean is dark, but thanks to acoustical techniques, 208 00:18:36,045 --> 00:18:39,601 we can see all the particular features with them, 209 00:18:39,635 --> 00:18:44,053 in great, high resolution of the sea bed of the oceans. 210 00:18:45,952 --> 00:18:50,543 NARRATOR: Now, with access to Doctor Rivera's data, we can drain the waters of 211 00:18:50,577 --> 00:18:55,134 Southern Spain, exactly as it looked in 1966, 212 00:18:58,206 --> 00:19:01,588 and remove the sea from an American nuclear calamity. 213 00:19:11,460 --> 00:19:15,913 The lost nuke, 2,500 feet down, 214 00:19:18,709 --> 00:19:21,919 teetering on a cliff edge. 215 00:19:24,093 --> 00:19:28,995 A state of the art hydrogen bomb, 100 times more powerful than the one that destroyed 216 00:19:29,029 --> 00:19:34,932 Hiroshima, the nose cone dented, but the bomb itself still intact. 217 00:19:36,416 --> 00:19:38,625 The Americans need to find it first, 218 00:19:38,660 --> 00:19:42,146 to get it away from this densely populated coast line, 219 00:19:42,181 --> 00:19:46,185 and to stop the Soviets from salvaging it for themselves. 220 00:19:56,195 --> 00:20:00,026 NARRATOR: American ships and divers scour the Spanish Mediterranean, 221 00:20:01,924 --> 00:20:03,892 looking for a lost nuke. 222 00:20:05,963 --> 00:20:09,242 They search miles of dark seabed for almost two months... 223 00:20:13,453 --> 00:20:15,075 But find nothing. 224 00:20:17,285 --> 00:20:20,011 JOE: You can imagine what it's like, feeling your way around there, 225 00:20:20,046 --> 00:20:21,875 trying to find an atomic bomb. 226 00:20:23,498 --> 00:20:28,468 NARRATOR: Then, on March 15th, 1966, a remotely controlled 227 00:20:28,503 --> 00:20:32,334 submersible finally spots something. 228 00:20:33,232 --> 00:20:36,096 JOE: When the announcement came through, I said, "Phew." 229 00:20:42,068 --> 00:20:43,863 NARRATOR: The submersible attaches a rope, 230 00:20:44,243 --> 00:20:47,246 but as they carefully attempt to winch the bomb to the surface 231 00:20:52,078 --> 00:20:53,631 the rope suddenly snaps. 232 00:21:00,293 --> 00:21:04,159 All the US Navy can do is wait for it to hit the bottom. 233 00:21:10,545 --> 00:21:16,067 The fail-safe system holds, and there's no chance of a detonation. 234 00:21:19,450 --> 00:21:24,283 But a nuclear weapon, full of plutonium, is lost once again. 235 00:21:31,117 --> 00:21:37,054 Now, using the latest data, we can drain the Mediterranean completely 236 00:21:37,088 --> 00:21:39,401 to reveal where it falls. 237 00:21:45,649 --> 00:21:47,961 A huge sea canyon opens up, 238 00:21:49,238 --> 00:21:51,275 nearly 3,000 feet deep. 239 00:21:53,104 --> 00:21:56,004 And right at the bottom, the nuclear bomb. 240 00:21:59,179 --> 00:22:03,252 The difficult rescue attempt has just become near impossible. 241 00:22:03,701 --> 00:22:07,912 BARBARA: One of the Air Force colonels said if somebody had sat down and thought about a 242 00:22:07,947 --> 00:22:11,675 way to lose a hydrogen bomb, they couldn't of thought of anything more devilish. 243 00:22:13,608 --> 00:22:18,060 NARRATOR: Finally, the Navy sends a cable controlled robot down into the canyon, 244 00:22:18,992 --> 00:22:20,442 and use it to grab the nuke. 245 00:22:24,377 --> 00:22:26,897 But it snags on the bomb's parachute. 246 00:22:30,176 --> 00:22:33,559 It's now completely stuck half a mile under the sea. 247 00:22:38,149 --> 00:22:42,050 The only way to retrieve the nuke is to haul the robot up, 248 00:22:42,499 --> 00:22:45,294 and drag the parachute and bomb along with it. 249 00:22:48,608 --> 00:22:52,509 A delicate daisy chain for a two ton nuclear weapon. 250 00:22:54,442 --> 00:22:57,652 BARBARA: The man leading the mission actually fainted from the tension. 251 00:22:59,447 --> 00:23:02,208 NARRATOR: Miraculously, the chain holds. 252 00:23:09,180 --> 00:23:13,081 These are two of the four thermonuclear bombs dropped on Spain. 253 00:23:15,186 --> 00:23:21,503 On the left, the nuke that journeyed to the bottom of the sea, 254 00:23:21,710 --> 00:23:24,333 now safely stored in New Mexico. 255 00:23:26,543 --> 00:23:32,997 BARBARA: To just see it lying there, this item contained the power to destroy a city. 256 00:23:34,171 --> 00:23:36,138 It's scary, you know? 257 00:23:40,039 --> 00:23:42,317 NARRATOR: A Cold War catastrophe is avoided. 258 00:23:45,147 --> 00:23:48,254 But Operation Chrome Dome is suspended two years later. 259 00:23:52,569 --> 00:23:56,883 Nuclear confrontation has moved beneath the waves. 260 00:24:00,646 --> 00:24:03,545 200 miles off the coast of New England, 261 00:24:06,272 --> 00:24:11,450 draining the waters of the Atlantic exposes the horrors of a deep sea disaster. 262 00:24:15,971 --> 00:24:19,837 By the 1960s, the Cold War has a new front line. 263 00:24:22,461 --> 00:24:27,535 Submarines armed with nuclear weapons try to creep into enemy waters. 264 00:24:31,711 --> 00:24:35,991 America deploys hunter killer subs to guard against the threat. 265 00:24:38,097 --> 00:24:44,034 The very latest is the USS Thresher, powered by a nuclear reactor. 266 00:24:50,454 --> 00:24:54,907 On April 9th, 1963, Thresher sets out from 267 00:24:54,941 --> 00:24:57,910 Portsmouth, New Hampshire for sea trials. 268 00:25:03,018 --> 00:25:05,642 Just over 200 miles out, 269 00:25:07,575 --> 00:25:11,130 it begins trialing extreme deep water dives. 270 00:25:15,410 --> 00:25:17,446 KEVIN: Thresher was pushing boundaries under the ocean. 271 00:25:17,999 --> 00:25:23,314 The men who served on her are very similar to space astronauts. 272 00:25:25,282 --> 00:25:28,630 NARRATOR: A US Navy ship called Skylark is in attendance. 273 00:25:30,149 --> 00:25:33,911 A few hours into the trial, the captain of Thresher sends out a call, 274 00:25:34,429 --> 00:25:37,674 saying the sub is experiencing minor difficulties. 275 00:25:40,469 --> 00:25:43,265 Then, fragments of a garbled message, 276 00:25:43,921 --> 00:25:47,580 a loud hiss and silence. 277 00:25:49,444 --> 00:25:52,516 KEVIN: The staff aboard Skylark is not quite sure what has happened, 278 00:25:53,655 --> 00:25:57,417 and continue to call to them and ask them to respond. 279 00:25:57,659 --> 00:26:00,144 They continue to do that for some period. 280 00:26:01,629 --> 00:26:06,875 NARRATOR: Thresher never makes contact and never resurfaces. 281 00:26:11,086 --> 00:26:14,365 Lori Arsenault is eight years old when the sub goes missing. 282 00:26:15,574 --> 00:26:19,163 LORI: We were watching TV, and there was a news flash. 283 00:26:20,199 --> 00:26:22,270 A Navy ship was missing. 284 00:26:22,581 --> 00:26:24,444 My brother went running out into the kitchen. 285 00:26:25,031 --> 00:26:28,379 By the time I got there, everyone was crying and I didn't know why, 286 00:26:29,449 --> 00:26:31,175 but I just started crying. 287 00:26:31,555 --> 00:26:33,315 And then little by little, 288 00:26:34,247 --> 00:26:38,217 I found out that my dad was on that boat. 289 00:26:53,059 --> 00:26:56,994 NARRATOR: In 1985, deep sea explorer Doctor Bob Ballard 290 00:26:57,029 --> 00:26:59,997 sets out to find the wreck of the Titanic, 291 00:27:05,106 --> 00:27:09,110 but his famous expedition is a Cold War cover story. 292 00:27:10,111 --> 00:27:16,117 In fact, Ballard is on a top secret mission to investigate the wreck of the USS Thresher. 293 00:27:19,568 --> 00:27:22,226 ROBERT: I was a trained naval intelligence officer. 294 00:27:22,675 --> 00:27:28,163 The Soviets could track me with satellite, so we needed a cover. 295 00:27:32,443 --> 00:27:36,206 NARRATOR: Ballard deploys a submersible equipped with video cameras. 296 00:27:44,870 --> 00:27:46,492 The once classified footage 297 00:27:50,634 --> 00:27:53,050 shows images of jagged metal. 298 00:27:55,674 --> 00:27:59,643 Ballard's first glimpse of what's left of the lost submarine. 299 00:28:01,645 --> 00:28:07,582 The only way to understand the scale of the wreck is to see it in the light of day. 300 00:28:19,456 --> 00:28:21,872 A traumatic scene. 301 00:28:23,425 --> 00:28:28,465 The sub is ripped into mangled pieces and scattered across the sea floor. 302 00:28:31,571 --> 00:28:37,370 Water drips off a torn rudder, and laying behind it, the conning tower on its side. 303 00:28:40,684 --> 00:28:46,448 There's a blasted air canister, and finally fragments of piping. 304 00:28:47,898 --> 00:28:50,211 Little else is identifiable. 305 00:28:51,488 --> 00:28:56,286 ROBERT: So what we're seeing here is the debris field of the Thresher, 306 00:28:56,631 --> 00:28:58,564 but it's completely shredded. 307 00:28:58,598 --> 00:29:01,049 This is carnage. 308 00:29:02,050 --> 00:29:07,090 The only big piece was a piece of the tail, and even that looked like a giant hand that 309 00:29:07,124 --> 00:29:08,436 just crushed it. 310 00:29:08,470 --> 00:29:10,541 So it was everywhere. 311 00:29:13,648 --> 00:29:16,444 NARRATOR: How did the USS Thresher end up like this? 312 00:29:18,998 --> 00:29:25,315 It wasn't carrying munitions, its nuclear reactor isn't explosive, 313 00:29:28,076 --> 00:29:30,527 and there's no evidence of a Soviet attack. 314 00:29:34,462 --> 00:29:39,225 Ballard believes that only a force of nature can explain the damage. 315 00:29:41,572 --> 00:29:43,989 ROBERT: Pressure is a deadly force, so we have a lot of 316 00:29:44,023 --> 00:29:46,854 experience with things really blowing up. 317 00:29:48,683 --> 00:29:53,239 NARRATOR: If a sub goes too deep, the pressure of the ocean becomes overwhelming. 318 00:29:55,621 --> 00:30:00,143 The whole structure will suddenly fail and implode. 319 00:30:01,489 --> 00:30:04,078 ROBERT: An implosion is a gigantic explosion. 320 00:30:05,527 --> 00:30:07,840 NARRATOR: It's known as crush depth. 321 00:30:10,394 --> 00:30:12,811 But why would the Thresher be so deep? 322 00:30:14,882 --> 00:30:17,229 Ballard searches the wreck looking for clues 323 00:30:23,373 --> 00:30:25,824 in the vast field of scattered wreckage. 324 00:30:30,138 --> 00:30:32,658 Bent pieces of piping litter the sea floor. 325 00:30:35,592 --> 00:30:39,907 Some of these pipes would have carried water into the sub from the sea outside, 326 00:30:39,941 --> 00:30:42,392 to cool the reactor. 327 00:30:43,911 --> 00:30:47,397 And during deep dives, they become highly pressurized. 328 00:30:50,987 --> 00:30:54,404 Ballard knows a leak from any of these pipes could trigger 329 00:30:54,438 --> 00:30:56,958 a shut down in the nuclear reactor. 330 00:30:59,029 --> 00:31:01,307 ROBERT: When it comes in, it comes in like a jet. 331 00:31:03,033 --> 00:31:04,621 And it can atomize and form a cloud, 332 00:31:04,655 --> 00:31:06,588 so it's just really coming in. 333 00:31:07,417 --> 00:31:11,524 When that happens, the nuclear reactor automatically scrams. 334 00:31:13,561 --> 00:31:15,908 NARRATOR: He digs back into US Navy files, 335 00:31:17,323 --> 00:31:20,223 and uncovers a survey of the Thresher's cooling pipes. 336 00:31:22,950 --> 00:31:28,024 The report reveals that some of the pipe joints are weak and fail testing. 337 00:31:30,267 --> 00:31:34,409 The message from Thresher about difficulties now makes sense. 338 00:31:38,137 --> 00:31:43,073 At 2,200 feet below, the sub springs a super high pressure leak. 339 00:31:44,972 --> 00:31:48,423 DAVE: Makes a really nasty noise, sounds really high pitched. 340 00:31:49,183 --> 00:31:51,219 It would just go through you like a knife. 341 00:31:52,255 --> 00:31:54,153 NARRATOR: The reactor power cuts out. 342 00:31:55,223 --> 00:31:57,536 The sub begins to fill with water. 343 00:31:58,571 --> 00:32:00,159 ROBERT: They can't drive out. 344 00:32:00,194 --> 00:32:01,989 They're dead in the water. 345 00:32:03,438 --> 00:32:05,889 NARRATOR: But Thresher should still survive. 346 00:32:08,961 --> 00:32:13,241 Studying the wreck, Ballard can see components of a crucial buoyancy system. 347 00:32:16,003 --> 00:32:18,039 Compressed air canisters. 348 00:32:19,903 --> 00:32:24,287 If the sub needs to surface, the canisters blow into ballast chambers, 349 00:32:24,977 --> 00:32:26,945 and the buoyancy propels it upwards. 350 00:32:30,672 --> 00:32:33,296 So why didn't the Thresher do that? 351 00:32:39,026 --> 00:32:41,442 The US Navy conducts an investigation. 352 00:32:42,650 --> 00:32:45,446 What they find is chilling. 353 00:32:47,586 --> 00:32:53,523 In the cold conditions of the Thresher's deep sea dive, moisture in the compressed air 354 00:32:53,557 --> 00:32:56,836 freezes and blocks the ballast. 355 00:32:58,493 --> 00:32:59,978 ROBERT: So it froze over. 356 00:33:00,012 --> 00:33:01,393 It couldn't blow. 357 00:33:03,119 --> 00:33:08,124 NARRATOR: The hiss in the captain's final message is the crew trying and failing to 358 00:33:08,158 --> 00:33:09,918 blow the ballast. 359 00:33:12,059 --> 00:33:14,371 The shocking discovery completes the story of the 360 00:33:14,406 --> 00:33:16,649 last moments of the USS Thresher. 361 00:33:20,515 --> 00:33:25,796 At the bottom of its deep dive, a powerful leak kills the engines, 362 00:33:26,487 --> 00:33:30,387 and the icy deep freezes and blocks the ballast pipes. 363 00:33:35,668 --> 00:33:40,156 Without power and buoyancy, and partially full of sea water, 364 00:33:40,673 --> 00:33:44,436 the Thresher is dragged deeper and deeper. 365 00:33:47,473 --> 00:33:51,408 ROBERT: And they are now taking on water, the ceiling collapsed in. 366 00:33:52,237 --> 00:33:53,583 They have no way out. 367 00:33:55,895 --> 00:33:58,070 NARRATOR: The hull creaks and groans. 368 00:33:58,898 --> 00:34:01,556 The crew know they are reaching crush depth. 369 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:05,215 DAVE: They're just going down, they're getting deeper, and they're crushing. 370 00:34:05,526 --> 00:34:09,047 And that is a tough way to die, because there's just nothing you can do. 371 00:34:10,427 --> 00:34:16,882 NARRATOR: At 2,400 feet below, the pressure is 70 times greater than at the surface. 372 00:34:24,683 --> 00:34:29,895 ROBERT: And when that went, it just destroyed the submarine. 373 00:34:31,241 --> 00:34:33,105 KEVIN: It'll just crush it like you're not even there. 374 00:34:36,039 --> 00:34:41,148 NARRATOR: From above, the full terrifying power of that monumental implosion is clear. 375 00:34:42,287 --> 00:34:46,222 The wreck has been blasted across four square miles of ocean. 376 00:34:49,673 --> 00:34:53,021 LORI: The first time I ever saw the pictures of the wreck, 377 00:34:53,056 --> 00:34:56,508 it was a profound and powerful experience. 378 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:00,650 The Cold War was not a war without casualties. 379 00:35:07,484 --> 00:35:10,556 NARRATOR: Americans are not the only ones to lose their lives. 380 00:35:11,661 --> 00:35:17,218 Beneath the wild waters of the Northern Pacific lie the remains of another submarine. 381 00:35:19,255 --> 00:35:24,846 How does a Soviet wonder weapon fall victim to Cold War power games? 382 00:35:31,094 --> 00:35:37,411 NARRATOR: On February 24th, 1968, a Soviet submarine leaves port in Eastern Russia. 383 00:35:38,446 --> 00:35:44,003 K-129's mission is to disappear beneath the waters off America's West Coast, 384 00:35:44,038 --> 00:35:47,524 armed with three state-of-the-art nuclear missiles 385 00:35:47,559 --> 00:35:50,148 that can launch from underwater. 386 00:35:50,596 --> 00:35:54,255 Once fired, the nukes are almost unstoppable; 387 00:35:54,980 --> 00:35:59,433 each one 65 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. 388 00:36:00,434 --> 00:36:03,230 JAMES: The ocean itself has become weaponized. 389 00:36:04,300 --> 00:36:09,236 It is the ultimate cloak in which you can hide, and wait, and then deliver death. 390 00:36:10,547 --> 00:36:15,173 VLADISLAV: The whole aura about the nuclear submarines is to disappear from the radar 391 00:36:15,207 --> 00:36:16,933 of the opposite side. 392 00:36:21,420 --> 00:36:24,285 NARRATOR: Two weeks into its patrol in the North Pacific, 393 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:28,186 K-129 misses a scheduled transmission home. 394 00:36:30,878 --> 00:36:33,052 Something has gone badly wrong. 395 00:36:38,437 --> 00:36:44,478 A Soviet Navy flotilla scours the Pacific looking for K-129. 396 00:36:46,204 --> 00:36:50,449 But it could be anywhere in a 1,000 mile sector of deep ocean. 397 00:36:52,313 --> 00:36:54,004 JOSH: I mean, it's beyond needle in a haystack; 398 00:36:54,039 --> 00:36:56,179 it's like needle in 1,000 haystacks. 399 00:36:56,973 --> 00:37:00,528 There was a submarine out there that had been sunk and the Russians had lost it; 400 00:37:00,563 --> 00:37:02,496 literally lost a submarine. 401 00:37:04,325 --> 00:37:08,087 NARRATOR: After months of searching, the Soviets are forced to accept that their 402 00:37:08,122 --> 00:37:13,231 submarine, and their nuclear weapons, are lost. 403 00:37:14,301 --> 00:37:16,820 So what does happen to K-129? 404 00:37:18,615 --> 00:37:24,518 Today, a new investigation is uncovering a story of spycraft and subterfuge. 405 00:37:26,209 --> 00:37:32,008 Journalist Josh Dean has recently acquired images from a source in America that show 406 00:37:32,042 --> 00:37:35,253 parts of the wreck of the lost Soviet sub. 407 00:37:41,638 --> 00:37:45,021 The remarkable black and white pictures are hard to decipher, 408 00:37:46,885 --> 00:37:51,303 but using expert analysis to enhance the images means it is 409 00:37:51,338 --> 00:37:55,894 now possible to reveal what remains of K-129 410 00:37:56,204 --> 00:37:58,931 three miles under the Pacific Ocean. 411 00:38:04,143 --> 00:38:06,249 The black steel of a conning tower. 412 00:38:08,078 --> 00:38:11,841 And a fractured silo still loaded with a nuclear missile. 413 00:38:15,465 --> 00:38:18,917 Only some sections of the sub have ever been identified, 414 00:38:20,332 --> 00:38:25,199 and a clue as to why lies here at the stern: 415 00:38:25,233 --> 00:38:27,822 jagged edges of peeled back metal; 416 00:38:27,857 --> 00:38:32,482 the telltale sign of a powerful internal explosion. 417 00:38:33,207 --> 00:38:37,591 JAMES: This is an image I never thought we'd be seeing, K-129. 418 00:38:38,523 --> 00:38:40,835 It's heavily damaged. 419 00:38:41,284 --> 00:38:45,426 Whatever forces were at play, and I don't know if we'll ever really know, 420 00:38:46,116 --> 00:38:49,603 this is an amazing and tragic image. 421 00:38:52,226 --> 00:38:55,954 JOSH: It's hard to think of anything more mysterious than K-129. 422 00:38:57,093 --> 00:38:59,060 It's an unprecedented wreck. 423 00:39:03,099 --> 00:39:07,345 NARRATOR: Searching for an explanation, Dean digs back into Cold War history. 424 00:39:11,625 --> 00:39:15,042 His research leads him to the tropical shores of Hawaii. 425 00:39:19,426 --> 00:39:25,984 In the 1960's, this row of innocuous-looking buildings is a listening post for a top 426 00:39:26,018 --> 00:39:29,953 secret US facility called SOSUS. 427 00:39:32,542 --> 00:39:36,235 SOSUS is a vast network of underwater microphones that 428 00:39:36,270 --> 00:39:41,102 stretches across the oceans of the world listening for the 429 00:39:41,448 --> 00:39:45,244 sound of Soviet submarines and tracking their movement. 430 00:39:47,488 --> 00:39:52,873 Marine acoustics professor Bruce Howe has access to the Cold War data. 431 00:39:54,564 --> 00:39:58,292 BRUCE: The Russians were building submarines that were coming uncomfortably close to 432 00:39:58,326 --> 00:40:03,884 the United States and so that motivated putting out these listening arrays. 433 00:40:05,851 --> 00:40:09,959 NARRATOR: In 1968, the Americans use acoustic technology 434 00:40:09,993 --> 00:40:12,375 to try and find K-129. 435 00:40:16,241 --> 00:40:18,623 Noticing the Soviet's frantic search, 436 00:40:19,589 --> 00:40:22,005 they scanned back over their data 437 00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:23,248 looking for a marker 438 00:40:28,356 --> 00:40:31,429 and identify something far out in the Pacific. 439 00:40:35,433 --> 00:40:39,264 Analysis suggests it could be an underwater detonation. 440 00:40:43,855 --> 00:40:49,826 Have they found the sound of the explosion that blasts K-129 into pieces? 441 00:40:51,241 --> 00:40:55,211 BRUCE: Sound can travel underwater literally halfway around the world, 442 00:40:55,245 --> 00:41:00,319 so in the case of a submarine explosion, that would be a pretty obvious signal. 443 00:41:03,115 --> 00:41:07,361 NARRATOR: If there was an explosion, to this day no one knows what caused it. 444 00:41:08,535 --> 00:41:11,330 But by triangulating the noise across the network, 445 00:41:11,883 --> 00:41:15,403 the US Navy can pinpoint where the sound comes from. 446 00:41:18,130 --> 00:41:21,340 Here, one and a half thousand miles northwest of Hawaii. 447 00:41:25,621 --> 00:41:30,418 For the US Military, a Soviet sub loaded with nuclear missiles 448 00:41:30,453 --> 00:41:32,628 is a priceless bounty. 449 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:39,220 But attempting to seize K-129 would be an act of war. 450 00:41:41,602 --> 00:41:44,985 JOSH: You can't just take stuff that belongs to another military. 451 00:41:45,019 --> 00:41:49,541 There was real risk that going after this thing could start a war. 452 00:41:51,647 --> 00:41:56,306 NARRATOR: The US Navy closes the file and leaves the wreck untouched. 453 00:42:01,449 --> 00:42:06,040 But someone does tamper with K-129 and its nuclear missiles. 454 00:42:07,145 --> 00:42:10,113 And the evidence is in the wreck. 455 00:42:14,428 --> 00:42:19,226 NARRATOR: Some experts think that K-129 is probably destroyed by an internal 456 00:42:19,260 --> 00:42:24,369 explosion deep under the Pacific Ocean and there's evidence for this theory 457 00:42:24,403 --> 00:42:26,233 on the drained wreck. 458 00:42:27,027 --> 00:42:28,787 But there's something else too, 459 00:42:28,822 --> 00:42:32,998 signs that something more than an explosion happens here. 460 00:42:33,654 --> 00:42:37,002 At the front, there's no trace of the jagged remains 461 00:42:37,037 --> 00:42:39,315 typically produced by an explosion, 462 00:42:40,074 --> 00:42:43,906 and the nose itself is missing, cleanly sliced off. 463 00:42:45,424 --> 00:42:47,150 How could that have happened? 464 00:42:49,359 --> 00:42:53,122 Investigative journalist Josh Dean is determined to find out. 465 00:42:55,365 --> 00:42:57,920 JOSH: I think there are pieces of the K-129 out there somewhere. 466 00:42:59,093 --> 00:43:01,579 It's been lost for some reason and lost is never good. 467 00:43:05,237 --> 00:43:06,963 NARRATOR: Dean has been passed video, 468 00:43:06,998 --> 00:43:11,658 shot in 1974 on-board a ship called the Glomar Explorer 469 00:43:15,593 --> 00:43:18,596 Owned by eccentric American billionaire Howard Hughes, 470 00:43:19,286 --> 00:43:22,427 the Glomar claims to be a deep-sea mining vessel. 471 00:43:26,500 --> 00:43:31,160 But the video reveals something straight out of a James Bond movie. 472 00:43:34,025 --> 00:43:36,786 JOSH: It's mind-boggling. It's remarkable to see today. 473 00:43:37,028 --> 00:43:38,995 That's footage that's never been released before. 474 00:43:40,859 --> 00:43:47,210 NARRATOR: Hidden within the Glomar Explorer is a giant cavity and a hydraulic claw. 475 00:43:49,109 --> 00:43:51,905 The men on board are CIA operatives. 476 00:43:53,285 --> 00:43:56,357 Operation codename: Project Azorian. 477 00:43:57,669 --> 00:44:01,017 Their mission is to recover sections of K-129, 478 00:44:01,052 --> 00:44:03,813 and especially its nuclear missiles, 479 00:44:03,848 --> 00:44:06,402 six years after the sub went down. 480 00:44:10,302 --> 00:44:13,789 JOSH: Even most people within the CIA were not aware of the existence of this program. 481 00:44:14,824 --> 00:44:16,550 The stakes could not be higher, essentially. 482 00:44:19,484 --> 00:44:24,351 NARRATOR: The claw is designed to drop down through three miles of ocean and retrieve 483 00:44:24,385 --> 00:44:27,112 the sub and its nuclear missiles. 484 00:44:31,496 --> 00:44:37,295 In the murky 45-year-old video, it's possible to see it down in the deep, 485 00:44:37,329 --> 00:44:41,230 preparing to grasp a part of K-129. 486 00:44:44,889 --> 00:44:48,375 It pulls a 2,000 ton section away from the seabed, 487 00:44:50,273 --> 00:44:54,588 and begins an agonizing three-day-long ascent to the ship. 488 00:44:57,625 --> 00:44:59,213 Two days into winching, 489 00:45:00,352 --> 00:45:05,012 on the surface there's a sudden jolt. 490 00:45:08,050 --> 00:45:10,569 JOSH: Those engineers who had spent a lot of time on boats thought like, 491 00:45:10,604 --> 00:45:13,124 "We definitely just dropped some weight. Something happened." 492 00:45:15,022 --> 00:45:18,094 NARRATOR: Stressed from digging into seafloor, 493 00:45:18,129 --> 00:45:20,165 one of the claws has cracked open. 494 00:45:21,995 --> 00:45:24,066 Only the tip of the nose remains. 495 00:45:27,069 --> 00:45:31,349 Most of what was in the claw, including the nuclear missiles, 496 00:45:31,383 --> 00:45:34,835 plunges back into the darkness. 497 00:45:36,354 --> 00:45:38,183 JOSH: The guys on the ship have to sit there and say, 498 00:45:38,218 --> 00:45:40,530 "We can't try again, the claw is broken!" 499 00:45:43,499 --> 00:45:46,778 NARRATOR: The CIA is forced to abandon the operation. 500 00:45:51,887 --> 00:45:55,580 The dropped sub is still on the floor of the Pacific today, 501 00:45:55,614 --> 00:45:57,582 along with its nuclear weapons. 502 00:46:01,034 --> 00:46:05,072 Nobody knows how many more Soviet warheads are lost in our oceans. 503 00:46:07,350 --> 00:46:11,458 The US admits that six of its nuclear weapons are unrecovered, 504 00:46:12,459 --> 00:46:16,912 left behind by a conflict that abruptly ends in 1989. 505 00:46:26,369 --> 00:46:29,372 DAVE: Gorbachev said, "We have tried to kill your submarines. 506 00:46:29,407 --> 00:46:32,203 We have failed. We quit." 507 00:46:32,997 --> 00:46:34,792 [crowd cheering]. 508 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,174 NARRATOR: The Soviet regime collapses. 509 00:46:40,418 --> 00:46:44,422 But the scars of the Cold War remain beneath our oceans. 510 00:46:46,389 --> 00:46:49,876 Nuclear weapons and radioactive waste litter the sea. 511 00:46:52,085 --> 00:46:54,190 Now, the super powers are re-arming, 512 00:46:55,053 --> 00:46:59,817 with thousands of new missiles that can strike across the globe. 513 00:47:01,163 --> 00:47:04,856 Secret nuclear power games continue day and night. 514 00:47:04,891 --> 00:47:08,891 Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services