- US admits salvaging sunken Soviet submarine - The CIA has always refused to confirm even the barest details of Project Azorian, a daring 1974 exercise that was backed by the industrialist Howard Hughes and estimated to have cost £1 billion in today's money. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7237002/us-admits-salvaging-sunken-soviet-submarine.html 11 comments politics