Parade and Project Jennifer by Lloyd Shearer roject Jennifer, the supposedly minerals, and that the Summa Corp., rine in the Atlantic. partial recovery of a sunken formerly the Hughes Tool Corp., The Times had the wrong ocean, Soviet submarine, has become owned entirely by Howard Hughes, but it was the first corroboration this p one of the most widely publi- was determined to make it a profitable reporter could obtain of his original cized operations in the 28-year his- enterprise. source. tory of the Central Intelligence All other questions concerning a Immediately I phoned William Agency. secret project, Russian-speaking deep Colby, director of the CIA, and asked In September, 1974, however, when sea divers, a sunken ship, the CIA, him to confirm or deny several allega- PARADE first heard of the project, it and the U.S. Navy, were quickly and tions concerning Project Jennifer. was a most closely secured top secret, deftly turned aside. As soon as Colby heard the name, and there was no indication that any No news at Hughes Jennifer, he said, "Listen, we can't other publication in the world had discuss this on the telephone. I'll have Phone calls for help to Richard heard of it. someone out to see you in a few Hannah, one of the most knowledge- As this reporter sought to follow up hours." able men in the country on the ways and check out various angles and ru- and means of Howard Hughes—Han- mors, many of them with the Summa A change of name nah handles the Hughes public rela- Corp. in Houston, Tex., that it was tions account—proved friendly but "Let's change her name to Bar- hiring Russian-speaking deep sea div- fruitless. Hannah said he knew noth- bara," [Colby's wife's name] I sug- ers, that it was conducting a Russian ing of any sunken submarine. gested, "and just chat for a minute." language school aboard the Hughes PARADE's source, however, was "No," Colby insisted, "not on the Glomar Explorer, that it was in fact zeroed in on telephone. This one is far too impor- paying the Glomar's crew as much as the details of Project Jennifer, later termed Project Azorian, tant. I'll have someone in touch with $40,000 a voyage—he was told that and was confident it would surface you right away." the Hughes Glomar Explorer, con- Within a few minutes a CIA case "because so many men are involved structed in the Chester, Pa., ship- in it." officer based in Los Angeles phoned. yards, was involved in recovering Sure enough, The Los Angeles We made an appointment to meet at manganese nodules from the Pacific Times early in February, this year, my home. He arrived with another 1975 ocean floor. He was informed further published a front-page story about the agent. that other corporations such as Ten- robbery of Howard Hughes' Holly- Both confirmed in detail the CIA neco and Kennecott were also en- wood office on Romaine Street and project and both urged in the name of gaged in the same sort of exploration, the disappearance of a top secret national security that PARADE not that the sea bottom was in fact a memo involving Hughes with the CIA publish the story. If PARADE did, treasure house of valuable ARADE • MAY and needed recovery of a sunken Soviet subma- they maintained, it would make it ex- P N O ington. Chuck Morgan of the Ameri- ceedingly difficult for the Hughes can Civil Liberties Union has been Glomar Explorer to return to the site telling it to almost everyone in the of the sunken Soviet submarine this National Press Building. What's your July or August and try to recover the opinion?" two-thirds of the Soviet sub it had not "My opinion," I said, "is that the recovered. CIA wants the story out. At a time The main objectives when it's been accused of meddling in domestic affairs, when it's being in- What the CIA wanted most was the vestigated by several Congressional Soviet code machinery, logs, nuclear- committees, it can point to Project tipped torpedoes, and other equip- Jennifer as a superb covert operation. ment it had not brought up. Just imagine putting together a project According to its agents no other involving more than 4000 men and publication—they thought there were keeping it secret for seven years." two, The New York Times and The A moment of silence at Anderson's Los Angeles Times which knew about end of the phone. "You're probably the project—would break it. right. Why don't you write the story There is neither time nor space as you know it. After all, it's our job here to comment on the information, to get the news and print it, or how judgment, honor, and commitment of else are the people going to find it various CIA operatives. Eventually out?" Jack Anderson, the columnist and I told Anderson I would. Here it is. PARADE's Washington bureau chief, did break the story on radio, explain- ing to me "the story's all over Wash- ' Jenni- ers was to deceive observers (including Soviet fishing ships) into believing The 36,000-ton Hughes Glomar Explorer was used in secret CIA Project that the Explorer was deep sea mining. The plan involved 4000 persons. fer—an effort to raise a sunken Soviet sub. The purpose of the structural tow- - - • During recovery operations, the barge, shown open, rested 150 feet beneath the Explorer. The CIA, as a cover, registered both vessels under the name of Howard Hughes. Consequently, Hughes is now liable for property tax on $350 million to the state of California—a tax that comes to about $9 million. The size of a football field, the barge, shown closed and at anchor, had fitted into its bottom—so no one could see it—a 6-million-pound claw. Lowered three miles to grab the sub, it reportedly dredged up a third of the vessel. arly in March of 1968 a diesel- uncoded language over the marine dis- powered Soviet submarine of the tress channels for the submarine to G or Golf class, departed Vladi- identify its location. E vostok and proceeded southeast on The U.S. Navy monitored these dis- a test voyage. tress calls. In May the Soviets gave up Originally constructed in 1958 it had their search. Our Navy thereupon weni been remodeled and equipped with at least two nuclear-tipped torpedoes. Approximately 750 miles northwest of the Hawaiian Islands, the Soviet sub ex- ploded, possibly as a result of improper venting procedure. It quickly went to the bottom, three miles deep, with all hands. The U.S. Navy, through its vari- ous supersecret listening devices, de- tected and recorded the explosion. Uncoded message§ From March until May in 1968, the Soviets made numerous attempts to locate their missing submarine. They sent out trawlers, a submarine tender, and from time to time called in plain, DAVID PACKARD WILLIAM COLBY HOWARD HUGHES Pushed the project His ship—maybe Secret or leak? back to its recordings, computed the ship would support and then have at- various coordinates and by superb tached to it a large, clawlike device that analysis determined where the Soviet would be lowered to the ocean bottom, submarine lay on the ocean's bottom. entwine itself around the submarine, It then sent down sophisticated and draw it up via one single pipeline photographic equipment which took into the ship itself. photos of the Soviet sub. A report in- The cost would be approximately cluding the photos was sent to David $350 million. On July 4, 1974, the Hughes Glomar Packard, then Deputy Secretary of De- Explorer with a crew of 172 and its fense under Melvin Laird. accompanying barge arrived over the Packard was interested in what might recovery site in the Pacific. The recov- be derived from the recovery of the ery attempt was started one month sub. Intelligence experts were brought later on Aug. 4. It took almost four days in for their professional opinions. They to lower the pipe at the rate of seven were ecstatic at the possibility of get- feet an hour to the sub, site. The pipe ting their hands on a Soviet sub with its claw weighed 6 million pounds. Guided coding devices, its torpedoes, its guid- by computer, its eight subsidiary claws ance system, and all the remainder of grabbed the Soviet sub midship, fore, its gear. and aft and began to raise it. The intelligence analysis was pre- From a depth of 16,000 feet, it raised sented to the 40 Committee, which re- the sub 7000 feet. Then the submarine views and approves intelligence proj- itself fractured, broke some of the ects, and which voted to "go," and of claws, and two-thirds of it sank back to course to Richard Nixon, then Presi- the ocean bottom. dent, who gave the final go-ahead. The one-third of the sub that was The Central Intelligence Agency un- salvaged was drawn up into the well of der Richard Helms was assigned the the ship. It was carefully examined. responsibility of secretly recovering the From five to seven Soviet bodies, some Soviet submarine, no small assignment. skeletonized, were found. Decides on Hughes A burial ceremony was conducted in Russian and in English by a U.S. Navy Helms decided after much consulta- captain in full uniform. The Soviet na- tion with his technological experts that tional anthem was played. The Ameri- the Hughes Tool Co., owned by How- can national anthem was played: The ard Hughes, was the private company burial ceremony—there was one com- best qualified to undertake the job.