The Chesapeake 1000, the crane that is being used to clean up shattered steel from the Maryland bridge collapse, was previously used for CIA missions during the cold war.
These days, a floating crane called the Chesapeake 1000 — nicknamed 'Chessy' — has the grim task of hauling off shattered steel from last week's fatal bridge collapse in Baltimore. It has taken on many jobs over the decades. But the crane's most notable operation, until last week, was helping the CIA retrieve part of a sunken Soviet submarine.
In the early 1970s, the crane barge was called the Sun 800 for the number of tons it could lift. It helped to construct a specialized ship that raised a portion of the sub in 1974. Specifically, the crane hoisted into the ship heavy machinery that was vital to the Cold-War heist. The equipment included a mechanical claw, tons of steel pipe and a heavy duty hydraulic system. The Soviet submarine was roughly 3 miles below the surface of the Pacific. The CIA wrote on its website that the ship 'could conduct the entire recovery under water, away from the view of other ships, aircraft or spy satellites.' The specialized ship was called the Hughes Glomar Explorer, named after the billionaire industrialist Howard Hughes.
The secret mission was called 'Project Azorian.' News stories in 1975 told of the mission. But Washington didn’t confirm the basic facts until 2010, when the CIA released a partially redacted report that lacked many of the juicy details. 'It's considered one of the most expensive intelligence operations of all time,' said M. Todd Bennett, a history professor at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, who wrote a 2022 book on the mission.
Since then, it's helped to construct bridges and buildings. But few projects have been as urgent as the one in Baltimore. Officials are scrambling to clear shipping channels for one of the East Coast's busiest ports and to erect a new Francis Scott Key Bridge. 'To go out there and see it up close, you realize just how daunting a task this is,' Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Friday after the Chesapeake 1000 arrived at the collapsed span.
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