Hughes Mining Barge
The Hughes Mining Barge (HMB-1) is a submersible barge that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) built for the Azorian project from 1971 . The aim of the operation was to use the special ship Hughes Glomar Explorer to salvage the sunken Soviet submarine K-129 . The barge is around 100 meters long, 32 meters wide and up to 27 meters high, with a weight of around 4,600 t. The shipyard was National Steel & Shipbuilding in San Diego.
history
For the Azorian project, the Glomar Explorer received a gripper arm with which the submarine wreck was to be lifted from the sea floor. Since this gripper arm was developed and built in the strictest of secrecy, it could not be installed in the civil shipyard. Instead, it was stored in the Hughes Mining Barge . This submerged in shallow water in 1973, then the Glomar Explorer maneuvered over the barge and took over the gripper arm over the gates in the roof of the Hughes Mining Barge .
After the end of the operation in 1974, the barge was mothballed. It was not until 1982 that they were used again. She served as a floating dock for the secret, experimental stealth ship Sea Shadow (IX-529) . Until 1986, the Sea Shadow was hidden and taken care of in the HMB-1 during the day ; test drives were only carried out under cover at night. After an interruption, the tests continued from 1993 (until 1994) and 1999 (until 2006).
The Navy planned to donate the Sea Shadow together with the Hughes Mining Barge to an organization that would prepare the two ships as museum ships and make them accessible to the public. After no investor or organization was found for the conservation, the Sea Shadow was sold together with the Hughes Mining Barge to Bay Ship & Yacht Company of Alameda in 2012 . The condition for the sale was the scrapping of the Sea Shadow . The Hughes Mining Barge was converted into a closed dry dock.
