76-04-A7

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Glomar Explorer

Transcript What's 600 feet long, is worth about $60 million, eats submarines and is about to be encased in a plastic cocoon? When it dredged a large part of a Soviet submarine up from the Pacific, the Glomar Explorer made history. The 600-foot-long deep sea mining vessel had withstood the stresses of the ocean to lift the submarine up from a depth of 16,000 feet. Built ostensibly as a mining ship, and the only one of its kind in the world, the Glomar Explorer holds some exciting research and industrial possibilities for future use. It could be used as a means for conducting advanced engineering tests for subsurface oil and gas wells at great depths; for test work in deep sea mining; for oil drilling, pipelaying and assistance in building offshore structures; as well as ship and aircraft salvage. The huge lifting mechanism was the largest single piece of steel ever made, and last spring it avoided the scrapcutter's torch with only 24 hours to spare. Glomar Explorer's center well is two-thirds the length of a football field. The federal Energy Research and Development Administration foresees the possible use of Glomar's system either as a test bed hastening their investigation of ocean thermal energy conversion, for the disposal of nuclear wastes deep into the ocean; or for exploration of oil and gas in areas that are otherwise inaccessible. Unfortunately, for U.S. science and industry, politics got in the way. The CIA was the behind-the-scenes owner of the Glomar Explorer. It was built to recover that Russian submarine, but it was ostensibly being operated by the Howard Hughes organization for deep seabed mining. When the CIA was caught in the crosscurrents of political debate over clandestine activities--whatever their merits or demerits--the Glomar Explorer became an incidental victim. Not enough funds had been authorized for long-term maintenance so the General Services Administration offered it for lease. Getting no takers, the federal government has since treated it as just another piece of no-longer-useful equipment and is preparing to mothball it -- at a cost of more than two million dollars -- and anchor it with the reserve fleet at Suisun Bay, California. What are the alternatives? The National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmospheres suggests several. For one, they suggest creation of a federal commission to allow time for scientists, industry and government to come up with a sound long-range plan for the ship. Meanwhile, the Commission would prevent competing government agencies from getting "dibs" on various pieces of the Glomar Explorer (several put in such requests earlier this year). The advisory committee also says that a government holding company, such as the one that governed the use of the nuclear freighter Savannah, might take charge. The board of such a corporation could have representatives from government, industry and the academic world. A third alternative would be to have one agency, such as the Energy Research and Development Administration, take over the ship. Whichever it is, the Glomar Explorer and the American people deserve better than they've been getting in this matter this year. With the elections a thing of the past, it's time for government leaders to come up with a solution. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for Listening.		Details Batch Number 76-04-A7 Production Date 11/02/1976 Book/Page Online PDF Audio No Youtube? No
		Added Notes Golmar Explorer K-129 Soviet Submarine