Hughes Mining Barge
{{short description|US submersible barge}}
{{Infobox ship begin |display title=ital}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Image:HMB1SanDiegoJune2005.jpg | Ship caption = HMB-1 in San Diego, June 2005 }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = United States | Ship flag = {{USN flag|2012}} | Ship name = Hughes Mining Barge | Ship namesake = | Ship owner = | Ship operator = | Ship registry = | Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship awarded = | Ship builder = | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = 1974 | Ship sponsor = | Ship christened = | Ship completed = | Ship acquired = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship renamed = | Ship reclassified = | Ship refit = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship homeport = | Ship identification = | Ship motto = | Ship nickname = | Ship honors = | Ship fate = Sold June 2012{{cite web|url=http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/06/4614558/innovative-stealth-ship-sold-to.html |title=Innovative stealth ship sold to Alameda firm for scrap |first=Matt |last=Weiser |work=The Sacramento Bee |date=July 6, 2012 |accessdate=11 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710083653/http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/06/4614558/innovative-stealth-ship-sold-to.html |archivedate=10 July 2012 }} | Ship notes = | Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Ship class = | Ship type = Submersible barge | Ship tonnage = | Ship displacement =
| Ship length = {{Convert|324|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{Convert|106|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship height = | Ship draft = {{Convert|13|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship depth = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = None | Ship speed = | Ship range = | Ship endurance = | Ship test depth = | Ship capacity = | Ship complement = | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = | Ship aircraft = | Ship aircraft facilities = | Ship notes = }} |
{{Coord|37.791404|-122.293196|display=title}}
The Hughes Mining Barge, or HMB-1, is a submersible barge about 99 m (324 ft) long, 32 m (106 ft) wide, and more than 27 m (90 ft) tall. The HMB-1 was originally developed as part of Project Azorian (more widely, but erroneously, known as "Project Jennifer"), the top-secret effort mounted by the Central Intelligence Agency to salvage the wreckage of the Soviet submarine K-129 from the ocean floor.
The HMB-1 was designed to allow the device that would be used to grasp and lift the submarine to be constructed inside the barge and out of sight, and to be installed in the Glomar Explorer in secrecy. This was done by towing the HMB-1, with the capture device inside, to a location near Catalina Island (off the coast of California), and then submerging it onto stabilizing piers that had been installed on the seafloor. The Glomar Explorer was then maneuvered over the HMB-1, the retractable roof was opened, and the capture device lifted into the massive "moon pool" of the ship, all within clear sight of people on the beach.Polmar et al. 202, p. 93.
After the conclusion of Project Azorian, the HMB-1 was mothballed at the Todd Shipyard in San Francisco, California until November 1982. At that time, the United States Navy towed the huge barge to a Lockheed Martin facility in Redwood City, California, where it became a floating drydock for the construction and sea trials of the Sea Shadow, an experimental stealth ship being tested by the Navy. Sea trials of the Sea Shadow continued until 1986.{{cite news|journal=Wall Street Journal|date=February 24, 2009|page=1|title=The Navy Has A Top-Secret Vessel It Wants To Put On Display; Sea Shadow and Its Satellite-Proof Barge Need a Home; Plotting in Providence|first=Barry|last=Newman}}{{cite news| url=https://www.foxnews.com/tech/navy-plans-to-scrap-first-experimental-stealth-ship | work=Fox News | title=Navy Plans to Scrap First Experimental Stealth Ship | date=June 18, 2011}}
Fate
After several attempts to find the vessel a home at a museum, General Services Administration offered the HMB-1 and Sea Shadow for sale as scrap. The vessels were bought by the Bay Ship & Yacht Company of Alameda, California for US$2.5 million in June 2012. Under the terms of the sale Sea Shadow had to be scrapped.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/01/05/now-tons-of-scrap-sunnyvale-lockheed-facilitys-sea-shadow-leaves-a-stealthy-high-tech-legacy/|title=Now tons of scrap, Sunnyvale Lockheed facility's Sea Shadow leaves a stealthy, high-tech legacy|date=January 5, 2013}}
The HMB-1 was refitted at Treasure Island for service as a covered drydock. This enables the shipyard to more easily control waste byproducts, maximize quality control for painting, and avoid loss of productivity due to bad weather.{{cite news| url=http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/Bay-Ship-and-Yacht-Opens-Only-Enclosed-Dry-Dock-on-the-West-Coast--2013-08-05 | work=Maritime Executive | title=Bay Ship and Yacht Opens Only Enclosed Dry Dock on the West Coast | date=August 6, 2013}}
The overhaul included new equipment to allow the dock to submerge and surface by pumping ballast water, rather than by the previous compressed air system. The barge is no longer capable of submerging completely. Like other floating drydocks, it takes on enough water to allow entry of a vessel, then pumps out ballast until the interior of the dock is above water.
As of August 2013, HMB-1 was moored at the Bay Ship & Yacht Company facility on Main St. in Alameda, CA.{{cite web |url= http://www.bay-ship.com/uploads/4/0/3/3/4033527/press_release_-_hmb1_08-01-2013.pdf |title= HMB-1 Press Release |website= Bay Ship & Yacht |date= 2013-08-01 |url-status= bot: unknown |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20131224162647/http://www.bay-ship.com/uploads/4/0/3/3/4033527/press_release_-_hmb1_08-01-2013.pdf |archivedate= 2013-12-24 }} In March 2015, the helipad was removed from atop the dry dock.Bay Ship Rhumbline. "Fly Away Helipad" Spring 2015, Vol. 6, No. 2, pg 4.
References
;Notes
{{Reflist}}
;Bibliography
- Roy Varner and Wayne Collier "A Matter of Risk: The Incredible Inside Story of the CIA's Hughes Glomar Explorer Mission to Raise a Russian Submarine", 1978
- {{cite book|last=Sharp|first=David|title=The CIA's Greatest Covert Operation: Inside the Daring Mission to Recover a Nuclear-Armed Soviet Sub|year=2012|publisher=University Press of Kansas|location=Lawrence, KS|isbn=978-0-7006-1834-7|pages=344|url=http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/shacia.html|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728214106/http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/shacia.html|archivedate=2012-07-28}}
- {{cite book|last=Polmar|first=Norman|title=Project Azorian - The CIA and the Raising of the K-129|year=2010|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis MD|isbn=978-1-59114-690-2|pages=238|url=http://www.usni.org}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090205063115/http://projectjennifer.at/ AZORIAN The Raising of the K-129 / 2009 - 2 Part TV Documentary / Michael White Films Vienna]
- [http://w3.the-kgb.com/dante/military/hmb1.html Photos and details of HMB-1]
- [http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/jennifer.htm Overview of Project Jennifer]
- [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123543023154353525?mod=djemWMP "The Navy Has a Top-Secret Vessel It Wants to Put on Display"] by Barry Newman - Wall Street Journal - February 24, 2009
- [http://maritime.org/tour/seashadow/ Virtual tour inside HMB-1 and Sea Shadow, 2011, includes HMB-1 operating manual.]