Example research essay topic: Running Head Cold War Submarines - 1,011 words

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Running Head: Cold War - Submarines Cold War - Submarines (Authors Name) (Institution Name) Cold War Submarines The period between 1945 and until the breaking down and collapsing of the Soviet Union in 1991 is considered as a heated competition between the Soviet Union and with specificity with the United States. This period of competition is known as the Cold War because both the countries were in the continuous process of preparing for war with each other. However, luckily for the world and as well as the Soviet Union and the United States no direct conflict took place between the two nuclear super powers of the world of that time. Among the various arsenals of deadly firepower, aircrafts, naval ships and other means by which they could cause maximum devastation to each other was the race for building highly sophisticated submarines with each country trying to have a technological edge to have stealth advantage under the water and across the oceans that separated them. The United States had produced its first nuclear submarine by the late 1950 s and with great determination the Soviet Union caught up and built its first nuclear powered ballistic missile carrying submarine, which in 1960 underwent its sea trials.

However, the Soviet built submarines were technologically inferior and more accident prone. Amongst the most interesting events that can ever be recorded in the history of the cold war is the true story of the construction of the drilling ship in the 1970 s to recover in secrecy by the United States the Soviet Unions Golf Class nuclear submarine that had sunk in the international waters near Hawaii after imploding on April 11, 1968. The Russians thinking that the United States was not aware of this disastrous deep ocean accident had tried to locate the sunken submarine for months and had finally given up their search. However, the United States had with pin-pointed accuracy been aware of this accident through its more advanced eavesdropping technology and after the Soviets search died down, decided to raise the submarine so that it could evaluate the technological advance that the Soviets had made in submarine warfare. The CIA was initially handed the project of salvaging the submarine, but fearing that such a major long term project would be too large and dangerous to be managed in secrecy.

Therefore this project codenamed as Jennifer was handed over for implementation to the obsessive, reclusive and eccentrically secretive billionaire Howard Hughes, the owner of the Hughes Tool Company and the Global Marine Development Inc. Howard Hughes fronted the undertaking of this gigantic project of lifting up the armed nuclear submarine from a depth of 18, 000 feet with the building of the a deep ocean mining stalking horse type machine. This might recovery vessel was built with the legal cover of harvesting for copper and nickel manganese and was a 618 feet long and 51, 000 ton Glomar Explorer which could actually serve the dual purpose of mining as well salvage the sunken Soviet submarine as intended by Hughes but unknown even to his closest confidantes so as to not arouse any type of suspicion. The mythological status that Howard Hughes earned because of his genius scheme is reflected in the fact that prior to the recovering of the nuclear submarine, the Glomar and its crew in reality carried out mining operations before finally recovering the submarine in a month long salvaging operation in 1974 without any untoward incident. While the complete details of salvage operation still remains a secret, according to the released story to the press, only a 38 feet forward portion of the submarine was recovered which included two nuclear torpedoes along with cipher and coding equipment and eight dead soviet crew. While still there is no word with finality as what was in reality brought ashore by the Glomar.

At the industrial level, the Glomar won the Distinguished Achievement Award in 1973 for the efficiency it had on cost effective factor for its deep sea drilling technology that would serve science and the oil industry. The CIA, keeping in line with its secretive nature neither confirmed nor denied the recovery and salvage success and as late as the 1981 did not require to disclose its documents related to Jennifer Project. However, according to various undisclosed sources the salvaged submarine had disclosed that the technological advances that the Soviets had made were surprisingly far more advanced than what the United States were led to believe by their experts. In 1996, the Glomar underwent a 170 million dollars conversion job for drilling in even deeper water and is set to record a new world record. In fact, even now years after the cold war and with the United States remaining as the only superpower of the world, the drill ship Glomar even now continues to work in the Gulf of Mexico, drilling in deep water as much as 7, 800 feet for British Petroleum. The Glomar is by no means going to be limited to the wonderful service it has done already, as it will in future still continue to perform newer and more challenging duties after it finishes it duties for British Petroleum.

With the cold war having ended over fifteen years ago, some of the legendary feats achieved by extraordinary men and extraordinary machines will continue to live on forever and undertakings such as the salvaging for the Golf Class Soviet Submarine that perhaps no government would have been able to do, let alone with such secrecy makes a man like Howard Hughes not only obsessive, reclusive, eccentric but also a most brilliant genius with administration powers beyond compare as nobody is likely to ever again be asked to achieve what Howard Hughes, as a friend of the CIA was able to achieve. References: Darius Snieckus, November 01, 2001, and another thing... An offshore Hughes who (Accessed: May 16, 2007) web SUBMARINES: A HEATED COMPETITION IN A COLD WAR (Accessed: May 16, 2007) web The Glomar Explorer, Mysteries of the Deep, Raising Sunken Ships (Accessed: May 16, 2007) web

Research essay sample on Running Head Cold War Submarines