HMB History Presents Jim Clifford ~ 50 years of Local News with UPI and AP Wire Services

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VIDEO / PODCAST. Jim Clifford (UPI/AP) reports history for the San Mateo Journal’s Rear View Column. Great stories, told well.

  • Who is Martin? Is it Martin’s Beach or Martins Beach? Jim will tell you. (Go to 38 minute mark). 
  • Know about Loren Coburn and Pebble Beach in the late 1800’s? Wonder if Martin’s Beach Vinod Kosla knew about Coburn’s playbook?
  • Did you know 300,000 people passed through the Moss Beach US Air Force Artillery training installation during WWII?

Know how a news wire service, like UPI and AP works?

Jim worked for 25 years at the UPI (United Press International) and 15 AP (Associated Press). From the 60’s to 2000’s, the glory days of wire service reporting, Jim was on the front lines from typewriter to computer.

Remember the Redwood City HMB-1 Mining Barge?

It started with a Soviet submarine sinking near Oahu. The HMB stood for Hughes Mining Barge, not Half Moon Bay. It was a cover story for the CIA. The Glomar Explorer was designed to digging up the old Russian sub? Fact or fiction? How does the top-secret radar resistant Sea Shadow fit in? Listen in as he tells the story. It should be a movie.

 

K-129 Soviet Submarine goes down in 1968 north of Oahu during Vietnam war (above)  in 16,000 feet of water.

“The Glomar Explorer was then maneuvered over the HMB-1, the retractable roof was opened, and the capture device lifted into the massive “moon pool” of the ship, all within clear sight of people on the beach.” ~Wikipedia

Hughes Mining Barge ~ HMB 1 (above).

Sea Shadow radar resistant technology circa 1968, DARPA Project,

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.

HMB-1 or Hughes Mining Barge

CIA Project Azorean built the Sea Shadow and HMB 1 in order to recover a Soviet submarine.

The vessels were bought by the Bay Ship & Yacht Company of Alameda, California for US$2.5 million in June 2012. Under the terms of the sale Sea Shadow had to be scrapped.

Coastside Buzz
Author: Coastside Buzz

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