Hughes Mining Barge

The Hughes Mining Barge ( HMB -1) is a submersible barge, the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA) built in 1971 for the Azorian project. The aim of the operation was to recover the sunken Soviet submarine K -129 using the Glomar Explorer Hughes special ship. The barge is about 100 meters long, 32 meters wide and up to 27 meters high, with a weight of about 4,600 t. Shipyard was National Steel & Shipbuilding in San Diego.

History

For the Azorian the Glomar Explorer project received a gripper arm with which the submarine wreck should be raised from the seabed. Since this gripper has been developed and built under the utmost secrecy, he could not be installed in the civilian shipyard. Instead, it was stored in the Hughes Mining Barge. This appeared in 1973 in shallow water off, then maneuvered the Glomar Explorer from the barge and took over the gripper arm on the doors in the roof of the Hughes Mining Barge.

After the end of the operation 1974, the barge was mothballed. Not until 1982 that another use for it was found. She served as a floating dock for the secret, experimental stealth ship Sea Shadow (IX -529 ). Until 1986, the Sea Shadow was hiding during the day and supplied in the HMB -1, test drives led by only under cover of night. After an interruption of the tests went from 1993 ( to 1994 ) and 1999 (until 2006) on.

Currently, the ship is in the Suisun Bay, San Francisco. The Navy has before, together with the Hughes Mining Barge to donate Sea Shadow to an organization, the need to organize the two ships as museum ships and make available to the public.