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Once the green light was received from the White House, the CIA knew exactly whom they wanted to use as the cover for the submarine salvage: Howard Hughes, the eccentric billionaire who personally commands a business empire of airlines, hotels and electronics companies. Explains a CIA official: "The Hughes organization had the technical know-how for a project of that difficulty, and moreover Hughes has a passion for secrecy, which frankly was precisely what we had in mind." There were other advantages. The new president of Hughes Aircraft, A.D. Wheelon, was an agency alumnus, and the upper ranks of the company were studded with former ranking military and CIA officers. Hughes was known to be intrigued by the possibility of mining the sea for mineral deposits. That interest would make an ideal cover under which to conceal the salvage operation.
Hughes was also pleased—so pleased that he took the project on for very little fee profit. For the design of the entire recovery system, Hughes revived his old relationship with Lockheed Co. The firm, which has in recent years acquired expertise in deep-sea rescue vessels, developed an innovative design. The main ship—a hefty 36,000-tonner that would be 618 ft. in length and 115.5 ft. in beam—would serve as a floating, highly stable platform. Amidships would stand a high derrick that would pass piping directly through a well, or "moon pool," in the ship's hull, which could be opened or closed with a sliding panel. The ship's companion was to be a huge submersible barge roughly the size of a football field, which would be covered by an oval roof. The barge's purposes would be to carry the huge retrieval claws that would grapple for the submarine and later transport it to the U.S. The roof was meant to conceal its cargo from prying Soviet satellites.
With those plans in hand, Hughes' men sought out builders. They engaged the respected Los Angeles-based firm of Global Marine Inc. to supervise the construction of the ship and chose the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. to construct the ship, which was to be christened the Glomar Explorer. The barge, designated the HMB-1, was constructed by the National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. in San Diego. While the ships were abuilding, the Hughes people, who normally are noncommittal, delighted in spreading stories about Hughes' deep-sea-mining plans. Everyone, including TIME (July 29), accepted Hughes' account, and the press ran glowing stories about the ship's capabilities. "If all sails smoothly," went one typical newspaper account, "the mystery ship may be at work next year, scooping such metals as titanium, manganese, uranium, copper and nickel up out of the depths to add to the fortune of the world's wealthiest recluse."