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Posted on 12/13/2003 12:02:49 AM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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 Diving in the U.S. Navy: A Brief History The US Navy is the forerunner in the development of modem diving and underwater operations. The general requirements of national defense and the specific requirements of underwater reconnaissance, demolition, ordnance disposal, construction, ship maintenance, search, rescue, and salvage operations repeatedly give impetus to training and development. Early History of US Navy Diving The early history of diving in the US Navy parallels that of the other navies of the world. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, the Navy has employed divers in salvage and repair of ships, in construction work, and in military operations.  For the most part, early Navy divers were swimmers and skin divers, with techniques and missions unchanged since the days of Alexander the Great. During the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay, swimmers were sent in ahead of Admiral Farragut's ships to locate and disarm Confederate mines that had been planted to block the entrance to the bay.   In 1898, Navy divers were briefly involved in an international crisis when the second-class armored battleship USS Maine was sunk by a mysterious explosion while anchored in the harbor at Havana, Cuba. Navy divers were sent from Key West to study and report on the wreck. Although a Court of inquiry was convened, the reason for the sinking was not found.  The beginning of the twentieth century saw the attention of all major navies turning towards developing a weapon of immense potential - the military submarine. The highly effective use of the new weapon by the German Navy in World War I heightened this interest, and an emphasis was placed on the submarine that continues today. The US Navy had operated submarines on a limited basis for several years prior to 1900. As American technology expanded, the US submarine fleet grew rapidly. However, throughout the period of 1912-1939, the development of the Navy's F, H, and S class boats was marred by a series of accidents, collisions, and sinkings. Several of these submarine disasters resulted in a correspondingly rapid growth in the Navy diving capability.  Until 1912, US Navy divers rarely went below 60 fsw (feet of seawater). In that year, Chief Gunner George D. Stillson set up a program to test Haldane's diving tables and methods of stage decompression. A companion goal of the program was to develop improvements in Navy diving equipment. Throughout a three-year period, first diving in tanks ashore and then in open water in Long Island Sound from the USS Walke (Destroyer No.34), the Navy divers went progressively deeper, eventually reaching 274 fsw. The experience gained in Stillson's program was put to dramatic use six months later when the submarine USS F-4 sank near Honolulu, Hawaii. Twenty-one men lost their lives in the accident and the Navy lost its first boat in 15 years of submarine operations. Navy divers salvaged the submarine and recovered the bodies of the crew. The salvage effort incorporated many new techniques, such as the use of lifting pontoons, but what was most remarkable was that the divers completed a major salvage effort working at the extreme depth of 304 fsw, using air as a breathing mixture.  These dives remain the record for the use of standard deep-sea diving dress. Because of the depth and the necessary decompression, each diver could remain on the bottom for only ten minutes. Even for such a limited time, the men found it hard to concentrate on the job at hand. They were unknowingly affected by nitrogen narcosis. The publication of the first US Navy Diving Manual and the establishment of a Navy Diving School at Newport, Rhode Island were the direct outgrowth of experience gained in the test pro gram and the USS F-4 salvage. When the United Stares entered World War I, the staff and graduates of the school were sent to Europe, where they conducted various salvage operations along the French coast. The physiological problems encountered in the salvage of the USS F-4 clearly demonstrated the limitations of breathing air during deep dives. Continuing concern that submarine rescue and salvage would be required at great depth focused Navy attention on the need for a new diver breathing medium. In 1924, the Navy joined with the Bureau of Mines in the experimental use of helium-oxygen mixtures. The preliminary work was conducted at the Bureau of Mines Experimental Station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Experiments on animals, later verified by studies with human subjects, clearly showed that helium-oxygen mixtures offered great advantages over air for deep dives. There were no undesirable mental effects and decompression time was shortened. This early work laid the foundation for development of reliable decompression tables and specialized apparatus, which are the cornerstones of modern deep diving technology. One year later, in September of 1925, another submarine, the USS S-51 (SS-162), was rammed by a passenger liner and sunk in 132 fsw off Block Island, Massachusetts. Public pressure to raise the submarine and recover the bodies of the crew was intense. Navy diving was put in sharp focus and the Navy realized it had only 20 divers who were qualified to go deeper than 90 fsw. Diver training programs had been cut at the end of World War I, and the school had not been reinstituted.  Salvage of the USS S-51 covered a ten month span of difficult and hazardous diving, and a special diver training course was made part of the operation. The submarine was finally raised and towed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York. Interest in diving was high once again and the Naval School, Diving and Salvage, was reestablished at the Washington Navy Yard in 1927. At the same time, the Navy brought together its existing diving technology and experimental work by shifting the Experimental Diving Unit (EDU), which had been working with the Bureau of Mines in Pennsylvania to the Navy Yard as well. In the following years, EDU developed the US Navy Air Decompression Tables, which have become the accepted world standard, and continued developmental work in helium-oxygen breathing mixtures for deeper diving.  The loss of the USS F-4 and USS S-51 provided the impetus for expanding the Navy's diving ability. However, the Navy's inability to rescue men trapped in a disabled submarine was not confronted until another major submarine disaster occurred. In 1927, the Navy lost the submarine USS S-4 (SS-109) in a Collision with the Coast Guard cutter USS Paulding. The first divers to reach the submarine in 102 fsw, 22 hours after the sinking, exchanged signals with the men trapped inside. The submarine had a hull fitting designed to take an air hose from the surface, but what had looked feasible in theory proved too difficult in reality. With stormy seas causing repeated delays, the divers could not make the hose connection until it was too late. All of the men aboard the USS S-4 had died. Even had the hose connection been made in time, rescuing the crew would have posed a significant problem.  The USS S-4 was salvaged after a major effort, and the fate of the crew spurred several efforts toward preventing a similar disaster. Lieutenant C. B. Momsen, a submarine officer, developed the escape lung which bears his name. It was given its first operational test in 1929 when 26 officers and men successfully surfaced from an intentionally bottomed submarine.  USS Squalus (SS-192) The Navy pushed for development of a rescue chamber that was essentially a diving bell with special fittings for connection to a submarine deck hatch. The apparatus, called the McCann-Erickson Rescue Chamber, was proven in 1939 when a submarine sank in 243 fsw.  The USS Squalus (SS-192) carried a crew of 50 [56 and 3 civilians]. The rescue chamber made four trips and safely brought 33 men to the surface. The rest of the crew, trapped in the flooded after-section of the submarine, had perished in the sinking. The USS Squalus was raised by salvage divers using air and helium-oxygen mixtures. Following renovation, the submarine, renamed USS Sailfish (SS-192), compiled a proud record in World War II. World War II Navy divers were plunged into the war with the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. The raid began at 0755, 7 December 1941; by 0915 that same morning, the first salvage teams were cutting through the hull of the overturned battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) to rescue trapped sailors. Teams of divers were put to work recovering ammunition from the magazines of sunken ships, to be ready in the event of a second attack.  The immense salvage effort that followed at Pearl Harbor was highly successful. There were 101 ships in the harbor at the time of the attack and most sustained damage. The hardest hit were the battleships, being one of the primary targets of the raid. Six battleships were sunk and one was heavily damaged. Four of these were salvaged and returned to the fleet for combat duty; the USS Oklahoma was righted and refloated but sank en route to a shipyard in the United States. Only the USS Arizona (BB-39) and the former battleship USS Utah (AG-16) could not be salvaged.  Battleships were not the only subjects of the salvage effort. Throughout 1942 and part of 1943, Navy divers worked on destroyers, supply ships, and other badly needed vessels, often using makeshift shallow water apparatus inside water and gas-filled compartments. In the course of the Pearl Harbor effort, Navy divers spent 16,000 hours underwater during 4,000 dives. Contract civilian divers contributed another 4,000 diving hours. While divers in the Pacific were hard at work at Pearl Harbor, a major challenge was presented to the divers on the East Coast. The interned French passenger liner Normandie, rechristened as the USS Lafayette (AP-53), caught fire alongside New York City's Pier 88. Losing stability from the tons of water poured on the fire, the ship capsized at her berth.  To clear the vitally needed pier, the ship had to be salvaged. The Navy took advantage of this unique opportunity for training by using the New York site for a new diving and salvage school. The Naval Training School (Salvage) was established there in September 1942, and was transferred to Bayonne, N J in 1946.  Salvage operations were not, of course, the only missions assigned to Navy divers during the war. Many dives were made to inspect sunken enemy ships and to recover materials such as code books or other intelligence items. One Japanese cruiser yielded not only $500,000 in yen, but also provided valuable information concerning plans for the defense of Japan against the anticipated Allied invasion. Combat Swimmers The combat diving mission was the same in World War II as it had been in previous wars: to remove obstacles from enemy waters and to gather intelligence. The Navy's Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) were created when bomb disposal experts and SeaBees (combat engineers) teamed together in 1943 to devise methods for removing obstacles that the Germans were placing off the beaches of France.  The first UDT combat mission, however, was in the Pacific. It was a daylight reconnaissance and demolition project off the beaches of Saipan in June 1944. In March of the next year, preparing for the invasion of Okinawa, one underwater demolition team achieved the exceptional record of removing 1,200 underwater obstacles in two days, under heavy fire, without a single casualty.  Diving apparatus was not extensively used by the UDT during the war. No suitable equipment was readily available. UDT experimented with a modified Momsen lung and other types of breathing apparatus, but not until 1947 did the Navy's acquisition of Aqua-Lung equipment give impetus to the diving aspect of UDT operations. The trail of bubbles from the open-circuit apparatus limited the type of mission in which it could be employed, but a special SCUBA (self- contained underwater breathing apparatus) platoon of UDT members was formed to test the equipment and determine appropriate uses for it. Through the years since, the mission and importance of the UDT has grown. In the Korean Conflict, during the period of strategic withdrawal, the UDT destroyed an entire port complex to keep it from the enemy.  UDT in Korea Today Navy combat swimmers are organized into two separate groups, each with specialized training and missions. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team has the mission of handling, defining, and disposing of munitions and other explosives. The Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) special warfare teams make up the second group of Navy combat swimmers. SEAL team members are trained to operate in all of these environments. They qualify as parachutists, learn to handle a range of weapons, receive intensive training in hand-to-hand combat, and are expert in SCUBA and other swimming and diving techniques.  In Vietnam, SEALS were deployed in special counterinsurgency and guerrilla warfare operations. The SEALs, also participated in the space program by securing flotation collars to returned space capsules and assisting astronauts during the helicopter pickup Fleet Diving Since World War II. Navy diving has not been limited to tactical combat operations, wartime salvage, and submarine sinkings. Fleet diving has become increasingly important and diversified since World War II. A major part of the diving mission is the inspection and repair of naval vessels to minimize downtime and the need for day-docking. Other aspects of fleet diving include the recovery of practice and research torpedoes, installation and repair of underwater electronic arrays, underwater construction, and location and recovery of downed aircraft. Ship sinkings and beachings caused by storm damage and human error continue to demand the fleet's salvage and harbor clearance capabilities in peacetime as well as in times of hostilities. Loss of the USS Thresher (SSN-593) Just as the loss of the USS F-4, USS S-51, USS S-4 and the sinking of the USS Squalus caused an increased concern in Navy diving in the 1920s and 1930s, a submarine disaster of major proportions had a profound effect on the development of new diving equipment and techniques in the postwar period. This was the loss of the nuclear attack submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593) and all her crew in April, 1963. The submarine sank in 8,400 fsw, a depth beyond the survival limit of the hull and far beyond the capability of any existing rescue apparatus.  An extensive search was initiated to locate the submarine, and if possible, determine the cause of the sinking. The first signs of the USS Thresher were located and photographed a month after the disaster Collection of debris and photographic coverage of the wreck continued for about a year. Two special study groups were formed as a result of the sinking. The first was a Court of Inquiry, which attributed probable cause to a piping system failure. The second, the Deep Submergence Review Group (DSRG), was formed to assess the Navy's undersea capabilities. Four general areas were examined: search, rescue, recovery of small and large objects, and the Man-In-The-Sea concept. The basic recommendations of the DSRG called for a vast effort to improve the Navy's capabilities in these four areas.  Man-In-The-Sea Deep Submergence Systems Project Direct action on the recommendations of the DSRG came with the formation of the Deep Submergence Systems Project (DSSP) in 1964, and an expanded interest regarding diving and undersea activity throughout the naval service. Submarine rescue capabilities have been substantially improved with the development of the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) which became operational in 1972. This deep diving craft is air-transportable, highly instrumented, and capable of rescue to a depth of 5000 fsw.  Three additional significant areas of achievement for the Deep Submergence Systems Project have been that of Saturation Diving, the development of Deep Diving Systems, and progress in advanced diving equipment design. US Navy Saturation Diving  The US Navy has developed and proved saturation diving techniques in its Sealab series as well as in ongoing programs of research and development at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU), Naval Medical Research institute (NMRI), and the Navy Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) as well as many institutional and commercial hyperbaric facilities. In addition, saturation diving using Deep Diving Systems (DDS) is now a proven capability.  The Navy developed two types of DDS. The DDS MK I supported two 2-man teams of divers through a 14 day mission profile. The DDS MX I system used in trial dives to 1,148 fsw is no longer in service. The DDS MX 2 MOD 1, designed for saturation diving, supports two 4-man teams for an extended mission time. DDS MK 2 is installed as part of the basic equipment of the ASR 21 class of submarine rescue ships  Open-Sea Deep Diving Records Diving records have been set and broken with increasing regularity in the past 70 years. In 1915 the 300-fsw mark was exceeded when three U.S. Navy divers, F. Crilley, W. E. Loughman, and E. C. Nielson, reached 304 fsw using the MX V dress. In 1972 the MX 2 Mod 0 DDS set the in-water record of' 1,010 fsw which was subsequently broken in 1975 when divers using the MX 1 Deep Dive System descended to 1,148 fsw. A French dive team subsequently broke the open-sea record in 1977 with a depth of 1,643 fsw.  Summary Throughout the evolution of diving, from the earliest breath holding sponge diver to the modem saturation diver, the basic reasons for diving have not changed. The needs of national defense, commerce, and science continue to provide the underlying basis for the development of diving What has changed, and continues to change radically, is diving technology.   Note: fsw = feet of seawater      |
I remember my mom getting mad cuz I kept filling the bathtub to play with them.
Good question. In the case of this particular cofferdam, we ran two 1/4' cables around the hull of the destroyer to some padeyes attached to the cofferdam. A chain-fall is attached to the cable and the cofferdam. We then tightened the chain-fall (see photo three).
The venturri valve was a brass valve mechanism (T shaped). We hooked a 1-1/2 fire hose to one end. With the hose charged at all times, water passed through the venturri section and discharged out the other end. The flowing water under pressure created a suction on the third opening of the valve. That suction drew the water out of the box (cofferdam) and at the same time outside water pressure on the box held the box in place.
When we used the venturri valve on other projects, like plugging intake areas on the hull, the suction was so great, the cofferdam couldn't be removed. Only closing the valve on the firehose would release the pressure. Care had to be take that the firehose valve was tagged and assurances that the ships fire protection pumps wouldn't be secured.
Hope that explains and answers your question.
Oh, btw, it wasn't all work for us. We did manage to go fishin' a few times. One trip netted us 13 lobsters. Forget the mess decks for dinner that night. :)
U.S. Navy Frogmen
In 1955, one of America's favorite cereal companies introduced what would become one of the best-selling premiums of all time, the U.S. Navy Frogmen. Powered by mom's baking powder, they would "swim, dive, and surface all by themselves!" Each diver (3 divers per pack) is 3.5 inches tall..
From the deep, a mission diver writes home
Michael Stedman
A British deep-sea diver has been telling a television channel-s website back home of the weeks he toiled underwater on the Kursk salvage mission, writing via e-mails he sent from a shipboard pressure-chamber the size of a bathroom. Mark Girdlestone was one of 12 divers who spent up to a month at a time working on Kursk-s hull 108 metres deep in Russia-s Arctic Barents Sea, preparing for the vessel-s successful lift last week.
Between gruelling seven-hour shifts below the waves hauling massive lift-gear weighing 22 tonnes into holes bored through Kursk-s battered frame, Mark rested with his shipmates aboard Norwegian diving support ship Mayo, part of the Russian Northern Fleet-s mission task force. And from those cramped quarters, he told BBC television-s weekly Real Time series of the conditions the experienced 42-year-old former Royal Navy ?saturation diver¦ endured daily as the project proceeded.
Mark worked to help raise Kursk under seabed pressures of about ten times those the human body is used to in the air.
Within minutes, this environment threatens those working beneath the waves with a decompression sickness called ?the bends,¦ when helium and oxygen manufacture a deadly cocktail in the human body. The permanently-pressurised chamber aboard Mayo was that safeguard, protecting him from a danger ever-present for those working in the deep, one he faces regularly on other contracts building and maintaining oil rigs, platforms and pipelines in the North Sea. And one that recalled a previous assignment in 1982, when he worked on recovery of the British Navy-s first submarine, HMS Holland 1, which sank in 1913.
Mark shared his living space with two Russian divers, lowered with them to the seabed daily in an already-pressurised diving "bell." After each shift, the bell was winched back on board, then clamped to the chamber, also at seabed pressure. Food, clean clothes, life-support systems and daily requirements were seen to by others on the crew, passing what was needed through an air-lock. Via hand-written notes through the air-lock, he told the TV channel-s audience of a final task on the seabed v laying a memorial stone at the wreck site and remembering in prayer those who died in the submarine.
"A lot of the divers and crew are ex-armed forces and felt an affinity for the Russian sailors lost on the Kursk and those we have been working with," Mark wrote before beginning four days of decompression at the end of the mission. "When the Kursk was finally raised, I felt pleased, relieved and proud of a job well done. I also felt we have helped the relatives of the lost Russian sailors. I made many Russian friends on board the Mayo, who I will keep in contact with and who I hope to visit in St. Petersburg next year with my wife."
"Raising the wreck to the surface and bringing it to shore is in itself a triumph of engineering," BBC Russian affairs analyst Stephen Dalziel said, noting that "vital work lies ahead." The BBC News website said "everyone accepts that this is one of the most ambitious deep-sea salvage missions ever."
Mammoet / Smit - Kursk salvage operation
In June 2001 NCA was awarded the contract for cutting holes in "Kursk" from the joint venture of Dutch companies Mammoet and Smit International. The scope of work included cutting open access holes in the outer hull and 26 holes in the inner hull where the special designed gripper units was to be installed. The cutting was an important part of the total concept for salvage of the 18000 ton submarine, due to requirements for accuracy of hole size and positioning; and the need for a smooth hole edge in the contact zone to the grippers.
After an intensive engineering period, building of special designed subsea cutting manipulators, and a succesful test cutting at the Kryov Institute of Shipbuilding in St. Petersburg, two complete abrasive waterjet cutting spreads and several hydraulic driven guillotine saws where mobilised on the DSV Mayo to the Barents Sea. The cutting operation on Kursk started 21. July.
Divers installed the special designed cutting manipulators while all cutting were remote controlled from the vessel. NCA personnel operated two parallel abrasive cutting systems from the deck of DSV Mayo. This enabled two holes to be cut at the same time, which contributed to the project progress. All 26 holes in the inner hull were completed according to schedule at 28. August.
Cut plate of the inner hull
Cut plate of the outer hull
Puncturing high pressure ballast air system
Halliburton Subsea - recovery of casualties
In October 2000, NCA was responsible for cutting access holes during Halliburton Subsea's operation to recover casualties using the DSV "Regalia". The project objective where to recover as many bodies as possible from the submarine. In less than 5 days, the equipment were mobilised to the Diving Support Vessel "Regalia", leaving for the location.
For this project NCA completed the following tasks:
cutting of 4 access holes in the outer hull (compartment 3, 4, 8 and 9)
cutting 3 pressure release holes in the ballast air piping systems
cutting of 3 entrance holes in the inner hull (compartment 4, 8 and 9)
All cutting were done with subsea abrasive waterjet cutting technology.
The project was executed with Oil States MCS in UK as a sub supplier.
The sawn-off bow section will remain on the sea bed
The Sea Cliff was in San Diego at the Submarine base. Typical jobs for the subs were to retrieve test torpedoes and perform repairs to hydrophones placed on the ocean bottom. However, the Sea Cliff was also involved in the raising of a sunk Russian submarine with the Glomar Explorer.
Project Jennifer
Hughes Glomar Explorer
The Hughes Glomar Explorer [HGE] was built in 1973 by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. for an intricate CIA undertaking. The mission of Glomar Explorer was to raise a Soviet nulear submarine that had sunk in the Pacific, resting on the ocean floor nearly 17,000 ft. (5,200 m) down. The Soviet Golf-II Class ballistic missile submarine sank on April 11, 1968, approximately 750 miles northwest of Hawaii. Naval intelligence at Pearl Harbor had tracked the submarine and learned of its fate through underwater listening devices. After months of futile searching by Soviet vessels, it became apparent that only the US knew the location of the sunken submarine.
Oceanographers have long known that parts of the Pacific sea floor at depths between 14,000 ft. and 17,000 ft. are carpeted with so-called manganese nodules, potato-size chunks of manganese mixed with iron, nickel, cobalt and other useful metals. In the 1970s, Howard Hughes used the Deep Ocean Mining Project [DOMP] search for nodules as a cover for building the ship Glomar Explorer. Global Marine supervised construction of the Glomar Explorer , at a cost in excess of $200 million dollars, and operated it from 1973 to 1975 under contract to the US government. Glomar Explorer went to sea on June 20, 1974, found the sub, and began to bring a portion of it to the surface. The Soviets watched the "deep-sea mining" operation with interest, but did not attempt to thwart it. An accident during the lifting operation caused the fragile hulk to break apart, resulting in the loss of a critical portion of the submarine, its nuclear missles and crypto codes. However, according to other accounts, material recovered included three nuclear missles, two nuclear torpedoes, the ship's code machine, and various code books.
History Channel covered the dive on the wreck of HMS Prince of Wales. Here is one site on the event.
Miniature frogmen charged in demolition of Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior
LOL! My bet is that it was the guy with the Limpet mine. Mr. Yellow.
Good read on the Kursk Salvage job.
I used to watch Sea Hunt all the time one of my favorite shows back then.
History Channel covered the dive on the wreck of HMS Prince of Wales.
Snippy and I watched that one ,good show, gave the background to why the ships were sent, the sinking and the dive.
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