Explorer Pictures
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More pictures I have taken or found of the Glomar Explorer:
The Glomar Explorer laid up in Mothballs at Susiun Bay, 1995. The docking legs
have been cut short, and the pieces are laying at the front of the ship
just behind the forecastle. The Explorer's derrick has been chopped and one
section is visible rusting away in front of the bridge. These measures were taken
so the ship could pass under the Benecia Highway and Rail bridges.
As you can see, she's in pretty poor shape here.
A view of the complex machinery used to raise and lower the docking legs. The middle
left shows one 4 cranes on the Explorer. All this machinery would be stripped
away when she was refitted in 1997. In the background, you can see the rest
of the "mothball fleet" at Suisun Bay, California. She'd remain here for
almost 20 years (except for a short time when she was leased to Global
Marine in 1978. The Navy became her owner and assigned her "AG 193".
Cross-section of the Explorer, from A matter of risk
The CIA van controlled the recovery equipment. It was driven to the dock and
one of the Explorer's cranes lowered the van below open deck plates. Through these
monitors, tecnicians saw the Soviet Golf II submarine break in half and three
nuclear tipped missiles slid out and fell back to the bottom of the sea.
This is the Lockheed facility where the Clementine was built
(inside the HMB-1 which was docked just outside). Sort of a
Lockheed "Marine Skunk Works". The Explorer's Submarine recovery crew was trained
here using a mockup of the Russian sub they were to recover.
Many years later, the Sea Shadow was
built here. The facility still exists, who knows what they are building in there
now!
Update: I drove by the Lockheed facility on 4/2000, and it
had been torn down. There was nothing left except the cyclone fence.
A USGS photo from Terra Server showing
the Explorer in the mothball fleet at Susiun Bay.
Explorer Pictures
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