Glomar stands for GLObal MARine drilling company, an oil contract company once based out of Houston, TX USA. All vessels and oil rigs of Global Marine had Glomar as part of the vessel name. In 2002 Global Marine merged with SantaFe International. The new company was named Global SantaFe and all vessels were renamed removing Glomar from the vessel name and replacing it with GSF.

Notable Vessels with name Glomar

Glomar Challenger: This vessel was used for deep sea core sampling and the discovery of plate tectonics.

Hughs Glomar Explorer: Vessel built by Hughs tool company and Global Marine for the CIA to recovery a Soviet Submarine. See Project Azoian. The vessel is still in operation as an oil rig under the name GSF Explorer owned by Transocean.

Glomar Java Sea: Oil exploration vessel that sank in a Typhoon in the South China Sea with all hands lost. Miss reports by the media that crew survived in lifeboats started a conspiracy theory that the crew was actually rescued and placed in Vietnamese POW camps. This story presisted for years but proved untrue, when the wreck was explored lifeboats were still in the davits.

Glomar has another meaning. When the story of Hughs Glomar Explorer and it's true mission broke to the media the CIA reported that it could niether confirm nor deny the story. This statement from government agenies is now called the Glomar Pledge.