K129 Thread cont.

This is the Hughes Mining Barge (HMB1).

It was built to allow the secret construction and installation of Clementine.

It went on to do something cool, i'll cover that shortly.

The Burglary

After the partial success of the fiest attempt, disaster struck in 1975 when there was a burglary at Hughes' offices.

Although officials couldn't be sure that Azorian documents were taken, the possibility meant a wider group had to be briefed of the possibility.

This included the LAPD, who investigated the burglary, and it is believed that someone within the LAPD leaked information about Azorian to the media.

Source: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v35/d200

Despite efforts by the CIA director, the story was published.

Consideration was given to returning to the remains of the wreck, but ultimately it was decided against. More on that shortly when in look at what we can learn from declassified docs.

When the CIA were asked to provide information about this operation, they said that they would neither confirm nor deny that such information was held.

This became known as the Glomar Response. https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/27/archives/an-easy-burglary-led-to-the-disclosure-of-hughescia-plan-to-salvage.html?sq=Glomar%2520Hughes&scp=3&st=cse

Once the story got out, HMB1 and the Hughes Glomar Explorer were mothballed into the reserve fleet.

This picture shows HMB1, lower left.

Enter the Sea Shadow, a prototype US Navy ship that was built to test radar cross section technology, and was famously used in one of the James Bond films.

In the same way that HMB1 was used to keep the construction of Clementine secret, it was used once again to keep secret the construction of Sea Shadow.

Here she is gently entering HMB1.

The Explorer was huge, but the other pictures didnt really do it's size justice. This one, I thought, did.

What can we glean from declassified documents about this operation?

We know that there were several intel sources of interest on the sub.

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v35/d191

And that the cryptographic equipment was the primary target.

We know that part of the sub was successfully raised as part of the first attempt.

It's unlikely that the raised portion contained the items the CIA was seeking.

What remained on the sea floor?

When the sub broke in half during ascent, it spilled the contents of the sub into a debris field.

We can conclude that the hull landed on the sea floor in two distinct sections.

There was initial optimism for a second mission.

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v35/d193

After the operation was made public, assessments were made about possible responses from the Soviets to a second mission.

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v35/d202

The appendix contains a fascinating assessment of the HGE systems vulnerabilities.

In June 75, Kissinger wrote to President Ford recommending termination of MATADOR.

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v35/d206

The question then arose, what to do with the ship.

This memo details efforts, unsuccessfully, to find someone who might have use of it.

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v35/d208

Here she is, a rather lonely mothballed figure, in 1993.

She did spend some years living out her original cover story as a deep-sea drilling ship.

In 2015 she was sent for scrap to a shipyard in China.

And to save the most interesting part till last. Here is a record of an exchange between CIA William Colby and Henry Kissinger in which Colby admits that he would resign to avoid giving evidence on the project.

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v35/d194

Part 1 here https://twitter.com/Bakerloo4/status/1327909906486276103?s=19

@CovertShores