3 ms·

The Glomar Explorer, of CIA/K129 fame was anchored there for years. When driving by there, I’d always look for the drilling tower. I’m not sure what happened to

The Glomar Explorer, of CIA/K129 fame was anchored there for years. When driving by there, I’d always look for the drilling tower. I’m not sure what happened to it but it was probably chopped up as well. The thing was massive.

dredmorbius 8y ago
Scrapped in China in 2015: https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a053599b3fc3b483fb38d4ae4/files/1511_nov.pdf https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a053599b3fc3b483fb38d4ae4/file... (Via Wikipedia.)
CalChris 8y ago
The Hughes Mining Barge, part of the Glomar Explorer project, was kept up there as well. It had a second life as a floating drydock for the Sea Shadow, a prototype stealth boat. The HMB and Sea Shadow were sold to Bay Ship for $2.5M with the proviso that the Sea Shadow was broken up (they couldn't find a museum). Bay Ship got to keep the HMB and it is now used at their Alameda Estuary facility.
- Mister_X 8y ago
  My father was a designer on the HMB, and "Clementine", the huge Claw that was used to grasp the sunken Russian Golf Class sub and lift it into the Moon Pool of the HMB, through it's secret retractable floor. Of course, that all happened after the HMB was submerged and maneuvered under the Glomar Explorer. Just the HMB itself was HUGE! When it was based at the Port of Redwood City, CA, I drove my dad to work there a few times, as I'd just gotten my drivers license. It was really exciting that my father was involved with Howard Hughes and deep sea mining! Of course, the CIA project eventually was revealed to the public, and my father received a large Presidential Commendation, which he had framed and hung over the kitchen table. After it was declassified, he was then legally able to show me the claw, Clementine, and all the other photos he took during the construction of the Glomar Explorer and the HMB. I still have several of the black and gray, cauliflower shaped, Manganese Nodules that were harvested from the deep ocean floor, as part of the CIA cover story that it was a mining barge for the Hughes Glomar Explorer. It was only years later that I realized my father was involved in several CIA black Ops, starting in 1958 or '59 with the Lockheed A-12 at "The Ranch". He took the "red flight" out of Edwards and would be gone for over a week at a time, but that's another story.

dredmorbius 8y ago

Scrapped in China in 2015: https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a053599b3fc3b483fb38d4ae4/files/1511_nov.pdf https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a053599b3fc3b483fb38d4ae4/file... (Via Wikipedia.)

CalChris 8y ago

The Hughes Mining Barge, part of the Glomar Explorer project, was kept up there as well. It had a second life as a floating drydock for the Sea Shadow, a prototype stealth boat. The HMB and Sea Shadow were sold to Bay Ship for $2.5M with the proviso that the Sea Shadow was broken up (they couldn't find a museum). Bay Ship got to keep the HMB and it is now used at their Alameda Estuary facility.

Mister_X 8y ago
My father was a designer on the HMB, and "Clementine", the huge Claw that was used to grasp the sunken Russian Golf Class sub and lift it into the Moon Pool of the HMB, through it's secret retractable floor. Of course, that all happened after the HMB was submerged and maneuvered under the Glomar Explorer. Just the HMB itself was HUGE! When it was based at the Port of Redwood City, CA, I drove my dad to work there a few times, as I'd just gotten my drivers license. It was really exciting that my father was involved with Howard Hughes and deep sea mining! Of course, the CIA project eventually was revealed to the public, and my father received a large Presidential Commendation, which he had framed and hung over the kitchen table. After it was declassified, he was then legally able to show me the claw, Clementine, and all the other photos he took during the construction of the Glomar Explorer and the HMB. I still have several of the black and gray, cauliflower shaped, Manganese Nodules that were harvested from the deep ocean floor, as part of the CIA cover story that it was a mining barge for the Hughes Glomar Explorer. It was only years later that I realized my father was involved in several CIA black Ops, starting in 1958 or '59 with the Lockheed A-12 at "The Ranch". He took the "red flight" out of Edwards and would be gone for over a week at a time, but that's another story.