USNS Glomar Explorer (T-AG-193)

USNS "Glomar Explorer" (T-AG-193) is a large ship currently being used as a deep-sea drilling platform. The vessel was built for a secret operation, Project Jennifer, by the United States Central Intelligence Agency to recover a sunken Soviet submarine, "K-129", which was lost in April 1968. [Burleson, Clyde W. "The Jennifer Project". College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-89096-764-4.] [PBS, [http://www.pbs.org/saf/1305/features/ship2.htm "The Glomar Explorer"] Scientific American Frontiers, "Mysteries of the Deep: Raising Sunken Ships", page 2]

The "Hughes Glomar Explorer" (HGE), as the ship was called at the time, was built between 1973 and 1974, by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., [citeweb | url = http://www.oilonline.com/news/features/oe/20011101.and_anot.7847.asp | title = and another thing ... An offshore Hughes who
author = Snieckus, Darius | date = 2001-11-01 | accessdate = 2008-09-04 | publisher = Offshore Engineer (reprint by "Oilonline") ] at a cost in excess of $350 million. She set sail on June 20, 1974. Hughes told the media that the ship's purpose was to extract manganese nodules from the ocean floor. This marine geology cover story became surprisingly influential, spurring many others to examine the idea. But in sworn testimony in United States district court proceedings and in appearances before government agencies, Global Marine executives and others associated with the "Hughes Glomar Explorer" project unanimously maintained that the ship could not be used in any economically viable ocean mineral operation.

Project Jennifer

Since the "K-129" had sunk in very deep water, a large ship was required for the recovery operation. However, such a vessel would easily be spotted by Soviet vessels, who might interfere with the operation and so an elaborate cover story was developed. The CIA contacted the businessman Howard Hughes, who agreed to assist. [Phelan, James; "An Easy Burglary Led to the Disclosure of Hughes-C.I.A. Plan to Salvage Soviet Sub" [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0716FF395E157493C5AB1788D85F418785F9&scp=3&sq=Glomar%20Hughes&st=cse (fee)] . "New York Times" March 27, 1975. page 18 ]

While the ship did recover a portion of the vessel, a mechanical failure in the grapple caused half of the submarine to break off during recovery. This lost section is said to have held many of the more sought after items, including the code book and nuclear missiles. It was subsequently reported that two nuclear-tipped torpedoes and some cryptographic machines were recovered, along with the bodies of six Soviet submariners, who were subsequently given a formal burial at sea in a filmed ceremony.

There are claims from unofficial writers (who provide no documentation nor source data) that the material recovered by the "Glomar Explorer" included nuclear missiles and various codebooks. It is also suggested, again by writers with no first hand knowledge, that contrary to the official account, nearly the entire submarine was recovered and that the official CIA account amounts to disinformation to give the "impression" of an unsuccessful mission.

The operation became public in February 1975 when the "Los Angeles Times" published a story about Project Jennifer, followed by news stories with additional details in other publications, including "The New York Times".

After Project Jennifer

While everyone admired the ship's enormous lifting capacity, it seemed no one was much interested in operating the vessel because of her staggering cost. From March to June 1976, the General Services Administration (GSA) published advertisements inviting businesses to submit proposals for leasing the ship. By the end of four months, GSA had received a total of seven bids, including a $2.00 offer submitted by a Lincoln, Nebraska college student, and a $1.98 offer from a man who said he planned to seek a government contract to salvage the nuclear reactors of two United States submarines. The Lockheed Missile and Space Company submitted a 3 million dollar, two-year lease proposal contingent upon the company's ability to secure financing. But the GSA had already extended the bid deadline twice to allow Lockheed to find financial backers for its project without success and the agency concluded that there was no reason to believe Lockheed would find the funds in the near future.

Although the scientific community rallied to the defense of the "Hughes Glomar Explorer", urging the president to maintain the ship as a national asset, no agency or department of the government wanted to assume the maintenance and operating cost. So in September 1976, the GSA turned the "Hughes Glomar Explorer" over to the Navy for mothballing, and in January 1977, after she was prepared for dry docking at a cost of more than two million dollars, the ship became part of the navy's Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet.

Then in September 1978, a consortium called Ocean Minerals Company of Mountain View, California announced that it had leased the "Hughes Glomar Explorer" and that in November would begin testing a prototype deepsea mining system in the Pacific Ocean. The consortium included subsidiaries of the Standard Oil Company of Indiana, Royal Dutch Shell, and Bos Kalis Westminster Group NV of the Netherlands. Another partner, and the prime contractor, was the Lockheed Missile and Space Company.

In 1997, the ship was taken to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard for modifications that converted her to a dynamically-positioned deep sea drilling ship, capable of drilling in waters of 7500 feet and, with some modification, up to 11,500 feet, which is 2,000 feet deeper than any other existing rig. The conversion cost over $180 million and was completed during the first quarter of 1998.

The conversion of the vessel in 1997 was the start of a 30-year lease from the U.S. Navy to Global Marine Drilling. Global Marine merged with Santa Fe International Corporation in 2001 to become GlobalSantaFe Corporation, which merged with Transocean Inc. in November 2007 and operates the vessel as the GSF Explorer.

The GSF Explorer is currently on hire to BP Angola drilling exploration and appraisal wells in Block 31.

Popular culture

*In "The Ghost from the Grand Banks", a 1990 science fiction novel written by Arthur C. Clarke, the "Glomar Explorer" is used in an effort to raise the "Titanic" on the 100th anniversary of her sinking.
*"Glomar Explorer" also makes an appearance in the novel "Shock Wave" by Clive Cussler. It was used to dangle a modified satellite dish under the surface of the ocean to deflect a massive acoustic shockwave. "Glomar Explorer" made another appearance in a Clive Cussler book. In the novel "Fire Ice" by Clive Cussler and Paul Kemprecos, a ship named the "Ataman Explorer" is compared to the "Glomar Explorer" in size and appearance.
*"Glomar Explorer" is also mentioned in Tom Clancy's debut novel "The Hunt for Red October" where a Soviet Alfa class attack submarine sinks off the east coast of the U.S. and a Soviet intelligence officer thinks to himself of the likelihood of the reactivation of the "insidious" ship to recover it.
*The "Glomar Explorer" plays a pivotal role in Charles Stross's novel, "The Jennifer Morgue" (Golden Gryphon Press), the second in a series set in a world where Lovecraftian gods exist and quantum mathematicians perform magick. The ship was used by a megalomaniac billionaire to raise an alien weapon from a Caribbean seabed in a rolling Bond parody, incurring the wrath of deep sea intelligences.
*The "Glomar Explorer" is mentioned in reference to submarine recovery in “Seas of Crisis” by Joe Buff.

ee also

* Glomar Challenger
* Hughes Mining Barge

References

External links

* [http://www.deepwater.com/ Transocean, Inc.]
* [http://www.globalsantafe.com/fleet/rigfacts/Explorer.pdf New life as a Global Drilling]
* [http://w3.the-kgb.com/dante/military/explpics.html Images of the ship]
* [http://w3.the-kgb.com/dante/military/hmb1.html Images of HMB-1] - The Hughes Mining Barge which held the recovery claw
* [http://w3.the-kgb.com/dante/military/mission.html Project overview]
* [http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/jennifer.htm Overview of Project Jennifer]
*DeLuca, Marshall and William Furlow, editors; [http://www.offshore-mag.com/display_article/24245/120/ARTCL/none/none/2/Steeped-in-history,-Glomar-Explorer--finally-returns-to-industry/ "Steeped in history, Glomar Explorer finally returns to industry, Converted vessel set to drill in record water depth"] "Offshore" magazine, Volume 58 Issue 3, March 1998