US Navy races to salvage Cold-War F-14 wreck before Soviet interference off Orkney
In September 1976 a brand-new F-14 Tomcat crashed into the sea north of the Orkney Isles during a NATO exercise, prompting a hurried US salvage effort to retrieve the aircraft and its Phoenix missile before the Soviets could intervene.
During a major NATO naval exercise off Scotland on 14 September 1976, a newly commissioned F-14 Tomcat suffered an engine malfunction and crashed into the waters 75 miles north of the Orkney Isles. The aircraft’s two crew members, Lieutenants John Kosich and Louis Seymour, successfully ejected; Seymour incurred minor injuries and was flown to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. A Soviet spy trawler and cruiser observed the drills, prompting US Navy officials to worry that the Soviets might try to salvage the $20 million fighter and its cutting-edge Phoenix air-to-air missile.
The secretive NR-1 nuclear-powered mini-sub was dispatched, and after a month of searching it located the wreck at 1,850 feet depth, roughly 60 miles northwest of the islands. Netting tangled around the plane indicated a Soviet presence, though no fishing vessels operate at that depth. Two weeks later the missile was recovered nearby, and both the aircraft and missile were raised by the salvage tug Taurus and towed to a protected anchorage between Egilsay and Shapinsay. The operation cost $1.5 million.
Why it matters
The episode illustrates the extreme lengths Cold War rivals went to protect and acquire advanced military technology.
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