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n Polmar, Editor, The Ships and Aircraft of the U. S. Fleet
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“spmewhat
Of
Siting lnin®’. We hove been making Prices °^^rat’onal and technological Ploring ,. are leading the way in ex- ^'ef of Njner sPace’”’ said Deputy Warfare) v^1' ®Perations (Submarine Gently a *Ce. Admiral Bruce DeMars lhe field 0f7lbinS Davy’s efforts in ^esesuh° CCCP submergence vehicles, 'hilitarv >r,1Crs'hles, which support U. S.
. Sl)bmersible NR-1 in the
SPace shntiT1^60^3®6 hrom the Challenger . faster. *
•lnner sna ,, avy entered this realm of lriS of ^ *n 1957 with the charter- Sc'er>tist,inatfiyscaph Trieste from Swiss ,afies 0f .. entor Auguste Piccard for
apart from the mainstream
^r°grarnsreSea.rc^’ and ocean engineering and unmanlnC U^6 manned vehicles Admiral^’ remotely piloted devices.
the Use last eMars is esPccial|y Proud of
Vehicle__ .fu ^ear °h one remotely piloted
^airis 0f ., C Arg°—to locate the reSank in 13 n£'uxury hner Titanic, which atl 'cehen,' * ^eet water after striking
Cently> the n? 15 APril 1912- More re-
C'ear'Pronnii 3V^ used lhe manned, nu-
SearCh (q ed SUhmerciMa KID 1 ■ „ (1,=
H pUrM.Ves' ^he following year, the ^rSsed the craft, and in 1960, °f the t0 deepest known
1984.*) From that dramatic beginning, the Navy’s submersible fleet has expanded to the six manned and numerous unmanned craft now in service.
The current fleet of manned submersi- bles can be considered in three groups: ► The first includes the small Alvin (DSV-2), Turtle (DSV-3), and Sea Cliff (DSV-4). While the Trieste was a bathyscaph, essentially an “elevator” with limited horizontal maneuverability once in the water column or near the ocean floor, these deep submergence vehicles (DSVs) are highly agile in any plane. The Alvin was built by the Navy in 1964 as a research craft, rated at 6,000 feet, to be operated under Navy auspices by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.2 Powered by electric motors and carrying one operator and two scientists, the Alvin has been employed extensively in scientific and seafloor inspection activities.
When the Alvin was built—with a pressure sphere of HY-100 steel—two additional spheres were fabricated, one as a “spare” and one for test purposes. Subsequently, these spheres were used to construct two additional deep submergence vehicles, the Turtle and Sea Cliff. Rated at 6,500-foot depths, these craft have been operated by the Navy.
The success of these submersibles led the Navy to upgrade their capabilities.
The Alvin was provided with a titanium sphere in 1971-1972, which increased her operating depth to 13,000 feet; in 1979, the Turtle's steel sphere was modified to permit 10,000-foot operations; and the Sea Cliff received a new titanium sphere in 1981-1984, and is now suitable for 20,000-foot operations. This capability permits the Sea Cliff to reach 98% of the ocean’s depths.3 With a descent rate of 160 feet per minute, with periodic stops for system checks, it requires three hours to reach 20,000 feet; she then has about four hours of bottom time before having to return to the surface.
These craft are carried and supported at diving sites by surface ships. They also can be “packed up” for transport by C-5 cargo planes.
► The second group of manned submersibles consists of the deep submergence rescue vehicles (DSRVs)—the Mystic (DSRV-1) and Avalon (DSRV-2). These craft emerged after the Thresher (SSN- 593) disaster in April 1963. Although the Thresher was lost in 8,400 feet of water, far beyond her collapse depth and with no possibility of rescue for her crew, the Navy took steps to develop a rescue craft that could remove survivors from a submarine trapped on the ocean floor above collapse depth (i.e., approximately one and one-half times operating depth).4
The result was the DSRVs, in many respects the most sophisticated submersibles built by any navy. These craft can operate to depths of 3,500 feet, carrying a crew of three with space for 24 rescuees in three interconnected spheres of HY- 140 steel.
The DSRVs’ great maneuverability, large payload, and sophisticated sensors make them extremely useful craft. When not training for submarine rescue missions or on alert status, they are employed in object search and recovery, and scientific work. Perhaps most significant, the DSRVs can be carried to sea by the two Pigeon (ASR-21)-class rescue ships, or by nuclear submarines, which can carry, launch, and recover a DSRV while completely submerged. There are 18 U. S. attack submarines configured to
Connecticut,
(Groton),
5
i\.nuuc imuiiu, jvjimo *y
and the U. S. Geological Sur sUbBeyond these six manne
va-
surface ships or submarines.
a unniannea
submersibles an aiu
and the various thetti'
mainly tug-type ships that sup ^aVy & are very important to the U • f0r ifl well as to non-military Pr0®rnace" °j creasing the use of “inner an
military, engineering, sCie other purposes.
pro'
Exploitation of the Sea.
4In the late 1920s, the Navy submarine rescue chamber,
can
which
crvivors one from a surface ship to remove sur feet-
rines on the ocean floor down to ^ sub . ifl these devices rescued 33 men r0^ j40 1 Squalus (SS-192), sunk at a dep
1939. . Saua01'"„,-
The NR-1 is assigned to Submarine ^ <;ubn’
.................................
carry a DSRV on a mission. This obviously presents a capability for under-ice and covert operations. The nominal DSRV mission duration, however, is only five hours at a speed of four knots, after which the craft returns to the mother submarine for a battery charge.
The original plan was to build six DSRVs, and have pairs home ported at three U. S. bases, from which they could be flown or taken by a submarine rescue ship (ASR) or submarine to the site of a sunken submarine. However, only two craft were built (completed in 1971— 1972) owing to the dollar crunch of the Vietnam War, the high cost of the rescue “system,” and a loss of interest in deep submergence and ocean engineering.
Both DSRVs are based at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California. One unit is always on 24-hour alert for a rescue mission, except when a U. S. submarine is on sea trials, when a DSRV goes on a four-hour or less alert. The DSRVs can be rapidly embarked on SSNs or ASRs based at nearby Point Loma, or can be loaded on C-141 or C-5 transports and flown to another location, for transit on a submarine or other ship to the disaster site. They can mate for rescue with all U. S. submarines except the research submarine Dolphin (AGSS-555), as well as with many foreign submarine classes.
No additional DSRVs are planned. Another casualty of the cutback in support of deep submergence operations in the early 1970s was a planned companion deep submergence search vehicle (DSSV). That craft was to have a 20,000- foot capability for sustained seafloor work and was to be capable of being embarked on a mother submarine for sustained support. While the Sea Cliff now provides the Navy with that depth capability, that craft does not have the sen-
120
...............
sors, work systems, or submarine-transport features that were planned for the DSSV.
► The third type of Navy deep submergence vehicle is the nuclear-propelled NR-I. This is the most capable deep- ocean craft in the U. S. fleet and probably in the world. (In 1984, the Soviets completed a similarly sized craft, given the NATO-U. S. code name X-Ray. Few details of the Soviet craft have been published, but at a reported length of 206% feet she is larger than the NR-1.)
The NR-1 was built in 1967-1969 under the direction of Admiral H.G. Rickover, then head of the Navy’s nuclear-propulsion program. She has the general appearance of a submarine, but is a hybrid incorporating features of a submarine, submersible, and bathyscaph.
Displacing 372 tons submerged with an overall length of 137 feet, the NR-1 normally embarks a crew of five plus two scientists. Her pressurized-water reactor plant permits an underwater patrol capability limited only by crew endurance.
Besides long underwater endurance, the NR-1 provides a vast array of sensors and work devices for seafloor activities. Other features include wheels that permit the craft to roll along the bottom without using her maneuvering thrusters, which stir up sediment and obscure the view.
The NR-1 has an HY-80 pressure hull and an operating depth of about 3,000 feet, according to the National Academy of Sciences. Like the other DSVs, the NR-1 has been employed in a variety of seafloor search, recovery, equipment emplacement and maintenance, and research tasks. Before her participation in the Challenger debris search earlier this year, her most publicized operation was locating and helping to recover an F-14 Tomcat fighter that rolled off the deck of the carrier John F. Kennedy (CV-67) in 1,890 feet of water off the coast
land. . ■ fth eW'1?
The principal limitation o uSualiy
her lack of transit mobility-S s ^ond01!
towed from her base at Nc ationa* to ope‘a
areas." „sed m°stlj
While the NR-1 has been uconducted for military projects, she has j^arnont' missions for Woods Hole, 1 ^ co-
Doherty Geological Observatou jty 0t lumbia University, the Rhode Island, Johns Hopkins^
deep
mersibles, the U. S. Navy °Pe^n£j riety of submersible searc ^cF*1 devices. These appear to be te ped W which can be launched and co
:d
These
devices,
gpjCf*
‘See Don Walsh, “Conquering Inne ceedings, January 1985, pp- 98'
2The Alvin is named for Woods 0naifl Allan Vine; the other submersib es the Navy.
3The only other submersible with a -s u,_ bility, according to the U. S. ges^
operated by the French Institute „
t*M**!*£
r tt>(
4re">
Alvin, Sea Cliff, and Turtle are assign^- Development Group 1 at Point 0