Explorer Pictures
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More pictures I have taken or found of the Glomar Explorer:

Explorer shown in mothballs
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.

Glomar Explorer in CIA service at sea
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".

Diagram of the unmodified Glomar Explorer
Cross-section of the Explorer, from A matter of risk

Inside the CIA mission control van, aboard the explorer
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.

Lockheed facility where HMB-1 was built, and the
CIA's secret school was held for crewmembers
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.
USGS Photo of Explorer at Susiun Bay Mothball Fleet
A USGS photo from Terra Server showing the Explorer in the mothball fleet at Susiun Bay.


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