2 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

SUPSALV SENDS

In This Issue

FACEPLATE is published by the Supervisor

of Salvage and Diving to make the latest and

most informative news available to the Navy

diving and salvage community. Discussions

or illustrations of commercial products do not

imply endorsement by the Supervisor of

Salvage and Diving or the U.S. Navy.

Articles, letters, queries and comments should

be directed to the Commander, Naval Sea

Systems Command, NAVSEA 00C, 1333

Isaac Hull Ave. SE Stop 1070, Washington

Navy Yard, DC 20376-1070. (Attn:

FACEPLATE). Visit our website at http://

www.supsalv.org. To view an electronic

version of Faceplate in PDF format go to our

website and click on the word “Faceplate”

located in the left hand column. This link will

direct you to our list of Faceplate issues.

Captain Jim Wilkins, USN

Director of Ocean Engineering

Supervisor of Salvage and Diving

NAVSEA 00C

james.r.wilkins@navy.mil

Captain Mark Helmkamp, USN

Supervisor of Diving

Editor In Chief

mark.helmkamp@navy.mil

LCDR Jim Bladh, USN (Ret.)

Managing Editor

jimbladhsr@aol.com

NDCM (MDV) Danny Boyd, USN

NDCM (MDV) Fred K. Orns, USN

NDCM (MDV) Brian Pratschner, USN

Fleet Liaison Editors

danny.boyd@navy.mil

frederick.orns@navy.mil

brian.pratschner@navy.mil

Zoya Gorbunova

Production Editor

zgorbunova@roh-inc.com

Diving Supervisors, muse on this one: How can “success” be our adversary?

SUPSALV Sends ........................................... 2

Crane and Rigging Safety ............................. 3

Women Divers: Part of the Navy Team.......... 4

Joint Operational Training .............................. 4

Divers’ Charity Golf Classic ........................... 5

To Be or Not To Be: Continuous Eductor ....... 6

Gulf Coast Maritime Domain Awareness

Initiative .......................................................... 7

MWSA Book Review - U.S. Navy Diver:

Performance Under Pressure ........................ 8

KRASIN.......................................................... 9

Kirby Morgan Helmets ................................. 11

Sea Hunt ...................................................... 14

40th Anniversary of Palomares ..................... 15

Crossword Puzzle ........................................ 20

Cert Notes .................................................... 21

Salvage OPS ............................................... 22

Divers Recall ................................................ 26

Hard Hat History .......................................... 27

From the Managing Editor ........................... 28

The Old Master ............................................ 29

Crossword Puzzle Solution .......................... 30

Red Diver; Topside ...................................... 31

Conference Announcements ....................... 36

Ordinarily, success is an ally. We

strive and work hard to achieve success;

it doesn’t come easily. We’re given tough

jobs, and we’re frequently rising to

overcome what ever challenges get in our

path to success. So when divers seem to

once again inevitably accomplish the

impossible, and rack up yet another

success, how can that be viewed as

adversarial to our Navy Diver community?

Here’s how. Get enough successes

under our belt, and pretty soon we begin

to feel entitled to the next success. We

begin to think success is inevitable. A

disease called COMPLACENCY begins

to germinate in the fertile culture of

continued operational success. And as

soon as COMPLACENCY takes root,

success gets easily overwhelmed, and

failures occur. It might be only little

failures at first – oversights or omissions

which get addressed as one time events

and don’t yet really deter from successful

missions. Or it could be a significant “near

miss” that everyone on the dive side

recognizes, but since it didn’t result in a

major mishap, it goes unreported, and

worse, unexamined. You’ve been there

before...everyone looks around kind of

sheepishly at each other, and gives silent

thanks nothing bad really happened.

Or worst of all, there may be no little

failures to provide any warning...

COMPLACENCY may lead to a

compromise of safety so sudden

and so severe that one of our divers is

killed. It has happened before.

So how do we kill the opportunity

for COMPLACENCY to infect the Navy

Diving program? Lots of ways, and you

folks on the waterfront each day are in the (“SUPSALV Sends” continued on p. 26)

best position to accomplish it. So I’m

offering this challenge to each dive

locker’s senior leadership: Within the

first week of reading this article, take a

seemingly unnecessary “ten foot safety

stop” by gathering your entire dive

locker together to explore ways in which

your recent successes may be setting

you up for failure. What tried and true

procedural steps are getting sloppy? What

near misses or close calls happened

that nobody really identified? Most

importantly, what informal lessons

learned have “root causes” which were

never identified but need to be fixed

before you jump back in the water? Our

continued success is a great strength, but

if not kept in perspective, success rapidly

becomes a liability...particularly if the

success masks some of the initial

symptoms (inconsistent procedures,

inadequate training, near-misses, etc.)

of COMPLACENCY.

So let me lead the way with my own

“ten foot stop” by relating a personal near

miss event...one for which I still thank

God didn’t lead to catastrophe. It was

December 1987 in a southeast province

of the Republic of the Philippines’ Luzon

Island. A Marine Corps CH-53D on a

mercy mission to provide rice to some

typhoon-stricken villages was forced to

conduct an emergency landing in a stream

bed alongside the village due to a

“chip light” alarm in the main rotor

transmission. The first recovery attempt

through “airborne” lift using slings

connected to a sister CH-53E failed, and

the stricken CH-53D got emergency

“pickled” and dropped into a relatively

shallow river bed in the same vicinity.

Upon being dropped in the river, the CH53D rolled over (rotor blades had been

Otto C. Adams

Graphic Designer

oadams@roh-inc.com

Cover Photo: Overhead view of EX-SHADWELL (LSD 15) and T/V STATE OF MAINE following landfall of Hurricane Katrina.

Note: This “SUPSALV SENDS” was written several weeks ago. Just as this edition was going

to the press, we learned of two diving deaths in one of our sister services, and a diving accident

in our own. Read carefully, and think hard about your own diving locker.
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 3

On 2 June 2006, a crane team wasassigned to assist the divers with the

installation of a submerged temporary

platform. The team consisted of two

divers, a Rigger in Charge (RIC), a Crane

Operator (CO) and a Dive Supervisor

(DS). Diver 1 was to be positioned with

the platform on the bottom and would

attach the rigging gear to the platform and

chafing gear to protect the rigging gear.

Diver 2 was to be positioned midship, next

to the hull, to ensure that the rigging did

not come into contact with the hull during

the lift. The dive team would be utilizing

radio communications (Round robin, all

team members have continuous

communications with each other, which

include a Com’s box at the dive control

station, the RIC’s head set, and head sets

in the dive hats) during crane operations.

Two wire rope pendants had been

substituted for the Kevlar slings typically

used. The substitution was made due to

the wire rope’s strength and durability and

the concerns with the known chafing

points around the attachment points. The

technical work document (TWD) was a

non-deviation document and did not

authorize this substitution (Problem 1,

Severity Level 2). The team did not

recognize the need to mitigate the

potential risk of the wire rope pendants

twisting during the lift (Problem 2,

Severity Level 2). This lift had been

accomplished with Kevlar slings several

times; this was the first time that wire rope

pendants had been used to perform it.

When the Divers entered the water,

Diver 1 proceeded to attach the rigging

gear to the platform and install the

required chafing gear. After completing

this, he radioed something to the effect

“All clear” or “Good to go” to Diver 2

and the RIC. Diver 2 had his left hand on

the ship’s hull and his right hand on one

of the wire rope pendants to verify the

distance between the hull and the wire

rope pendant as the wire rope pendants

were tensioned. This was due to the low

visibility in the water. Diver 2 responded

to Diver 1 that there was at least 6 feet of

clearance between the wires and the ships

hull. Diver 1 then directed the RIC to

signal the CO to hoist up and tension the

rigging gear. As the rigging gear was

tensioned, Diver 1 noticed that the chafing

pads protecting the rigging had shifted and

needed to be adjusted. He directed RIC to

stop the lift and signal the CO to lower

the rigging.

Kevlar slings in the TWD. A pen and ink

change was made to the TWD reflecting

concurrence with the substitution. Cog

Tech Code recognized that the wire rope

could potentially twist in this configuration but did not see a reason for

concern in this application (Problem 2

repeated, Severity Level 2).

Probable Cause: The team did not

recognize the potential of the wire rope

a. Rigging gear was substituted in a nondeviation technical work document

(TWD) without authorization from

the cognizant technical code.

Assessment of Damages: There was no

material or property damage as a result of

this accident. Injuries to the employee

included a pinched right ring finger and a

broken right middle finger.

The team did not recognize the

 potential twisting together or

mitigate the risk associated with it.

While Diver 1 was making adjustments to the chafing, Diver 2 positioned

himself with his left hand on the ship’s

hull and his right hand on one of the wire

rope pendants connected to the platform.

When Diver 1 completed the adjustments

to the chafing gear, he radioed the team

“All clear” and requested the RIC to signal

the CO to come up on the crane hoist

again. Diver 2 acknowledged that tension

was going to be applied to the rigging but

did not hear the RIC’s response “Coming

up” indicating that tension was actually

being applied to the crane. As the tension

was applied to the rigging gear, the rigging

in the crane hook began to spin and

the RIC stopped the lift. When the wire

twisted, Diver 2’s right hand was pulled

into the pinch point between the twisting

pendants and two of his fingers were

injured (Event). At this same time, Diver

1 heard an abnormal sound from Diver 2

and asked if he was okay. Diver 2 did not

respond. Again Diver 2 was asked if he

was okay. Diver 2 then replied “No” and

was headed towards the surface. When he

arrived at the surface he was assisted onto

the barge and given First Aid until

emergency medical personnel arrived and

transported him to the hospital.

Engineering was later contacted about

substituting wire rope pendants for the

pendants twisting together or mitigate

the risk associated with it.

b. Team used the lift sketch but had not

thoroughly reviewed the text of the

TWD.

c. Supervisor frequently used TWD’s

that allowed for substitution of longer,

stronger gear.

d. Team thought that the wire rope

pendants were a good substitution for

the Kevlar slings due to the known

chafing points on the load.

e. First time lift made with wire rope

pendants in this riggingconfiguration.

f. Lack of visibility.

g. Lack of experience with small angle,

long pendant rigging configurations.

Contributing Factors:
4 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

The Naval UnderseaMuseum in Keyport, WA, opened a new

exhibit “Women Divers:

Part of the Navy Team”

on July 21, 2006.

Fourteen of the divers

featured in the exhibit

have been inducted

into the national

Women Divers Hall of

Fame. Captain Bobbie

Scholley, USN (Ret.),

an experienced Navy

diver who has commanded afloat and shore

Navy diving units, was

the principal speaker at

the opening.

All Navy divers, male and female,

are extraordinarily capable people.

EMCM/MDV Mary Bonnin, now

retired, is the only woman to

qualify as a Master Diver.

Captain (Sel.) Bette Bolivar Bush, former

MDSU 1 CO, is currently deployed to

Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring

Freedom.

Women first qualified as

Navy divers in 1975.

Since that time they have

worked a full range of

diving activities from

routine cofferdam work

to ship and aircraft

salvage to the advancement of undersea

medicine. The exhibit

uses diving equipment

and wet suits, photographs, video, and oral

histories to describe,

in the women’s own

words, the challenges

they have faced and the

accomplishments they

have achieved.

“Women Divers: Part of the Navy

Team” will be on exhibit through

July 30, 2007. Admission is free.

For additional information, please

call (360) 396-4148 or visit our website

at http://naval.undersea.museum.

USCGC GEORGE COBB (WLM 564)and Navy Divers from Southwest

Regional Maintenance Center (SWRMC),

Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One

Detachment One and Explosive Ordnance

Disposal Mobile Unit Three recently

participated in a joint Service diving

exercise off the coast of San Diego, CA.

This joint training was the first

of its kind with U.S. Navy divers

utilizing a Coast Guard buoy tender

as a diving platform. The four-day

operation encompassed the on-load and

set-up of the EODMU Three Recompression chamber, MDSU One Det

One Light-weight

Diving System,

and USCGC

COBB laying a

two point moor

in the vicinity

of the sunken

Canadian Destroyer HMS

YUKON.

CWO4 Rick Armstrong is Diving Branch

Head at SWRMC Code 990.

Numerous surface-supplied dives

ranging in depths of 90 to 120 FSW were

conducted with a total bottom time of 487

minutes. Master diver candidates and

advance dive supervisors were evaluated

and trained along side Coast Guardsmen

who observed Navy deep sea diving

evolutions for the first time.

The officers and crew of

USCGC GEORGE COBB provided

superb support and demonstrated

expert seamanship during all sea

and anchoring evolutions. USCGC

GEORGE COBB’s Commanding Officer

LT Pete Niles commented on the

professionalism and

“Espirit de Corp”

of the Fleet diving

community, stating

he would gladly

serve with Master

Divers Hugh Scully

and Vern Malone on

any diving and salvage

mission.

This joint service operation provided

a theory of concept for future diving and

salvage training using Navy and Coast

Guard assets and could prove to be a cost

saving, inter-service operational mission

concept of the future.

Bill Galvani is the Director of the Naval

Undersea Museum in Keyport, WA.
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 5

The 4th Annual DC DiverCharity Golf Classic was

a huge success. The event

was organized by a group of

Washington, DC area Navy

Divers and those who support or work in the Navy

Diving community and was

held at Andrews Air Force

Base. We get together once a

year to golf, have a good

time raising money for a

worthy cause, and catch up

with old friends. Although

the event is not sponsored by

NAVSEA or the U.S. Navy, traditionally

the majority of golfers are NAVSEA personnel and retired Navy Divers living and

working in the DC area.

The golfers assembled early in the

morning to register with Miss Kristina

Mann from the Virginia Class Submarine

program office and purchase their “Mulligans” and support the numerous raffles

and drawings available. Golf committee

members MDVs Steve “Fore” Smith and

Brendan “I’ll Take My Mulligan Now”

Murphy did an outstanding job selling

these opportunities to the golfers. Steve’s

“Yard of Rope” was a prolific seller and

provided a mighty advantage to many of

us golfers possessing exorbitant handicaps. Additionally, we raffled off an offiCurrent and past NAVSEA 00C

System Certification Authorities

caught in the act stealing golf balls.

Golf committee member Paul McMurtrie

presents a check for $3,000.00 to Ret. Brigadier

General Fritz Warren of the Navy Marine

Corps Relief Society.

Golf committee members McMurtrie, Smith,

and Murphy selling Mulligan tickets behind the

“Captains Cup Helmet.”

Paul McMurtrie is currently Deep Submergence and Saturation Diving Systems

Certification Manager at NAVSEA 00C.

cial Naval Academy

Golf Bag that was

donated by Mr.

Grant Thornton,

who works in the

SSGN program office at NAVSEA.

Sponsorships

are essential to the

financial success of

the tournament, as

all net proceeds

from this tournament go directly to

the Navy-Marine

Corps Relief Society (NMCRS),

www.nmcrs.org. The NMCRS has helped

junior Sailors and Marines with family

emergencies and assists families of Sailors and Marines when a service member

is injured or wounded in the line of duty.

Additionally, the NMCRS played a leading role in the support and relocation of

Navy and Marine Corps families displaced

by hurricanes in the Gulf area.

Last tournament’s sponsors were extremely generous. Their contributions

added a touch of class to our humble event

and provided the lion’s share of our

contribution to the NMCRS. Our diving

contractor sponsorships were the very

generous. Their cash donations surpassed

our loftiest expectations. We would also

like to especially thank Retired Navy

Diver Mark Dickinson, from Legg Mason

in Baltimore, who came through for us

again this year by providing golf balls and

“goodie bags” for the players.

After lunch and some socializing, the

award ceremony followed as the “Master

of Ceremonies” Retired Sat Diver Al

Porteus entertained us with his wit during

the presentation of the awards. Prizes for

longest drives and closest to the pins were

awarded. The winning team each year

earns their names engraved on plaque

attached to the “Captains Cup”, an

authentic MK V helmet that resides in the

SUPSALV’s office. Last year’s winner

was a team of “ringers” from outside the

Navy Diving community (no sour grapes

here). This year it is imperative that a team

of Navy Deep Sea Divers be assembled

to reclaim the Captains Cup for the

Navy Diving Community and regain our

dignity.

After all earnings were counted, we

were honored to present a check for

$3,000.00 to Brigadier General Fritz

Warren, USMC (Ret.), of the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society. BGEN Warren

gave a moving speech on the accomplishments of the NMCRS this past year and

assured us that our efforts were for a truly

noble cause. BGEN Warren closed with

a heartfelt thanks for the donations and

for remembering the NMRCS.

This year, the DC Divers Charity Golf

Classic will again be held at the courses

at Andrews Air Force Base on October 6th,

2006. Enclosed you will find a flyer, signup sheet, and sponsorship form. Mark your

calendars and join us for a round of golf

to raise money for the Sailors, Marines,

and their families in need. If you know of

any potential sponsors, we would appreciate all the help we can get.

D.C. Divers Charity Golf Classic

Committee Members are Paul McMurtrie,

Al Porteus, Brendan Murphy, Steve Smith,

and Kristina Mann.

Every year this tournament has continued to grow in size and stature. The committee members put in many hours of hard work, on their own time, to

ensure all of the golfers have a great time, while helping out the Navy and Marine Corp community. On behalf of the Office of the Supervisor of Salvage

and Diving, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those people who made this tournament a great success last year, and are continuing their

sacrificial service this year.

 Sincerely, Capt Jim Wilkins, SUPSALV
6 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

Four years ago it was brought to myattention that a direct conflict existed

between the NAVSEA Underwater Ship

Husbandry Manual (Chapter 16,

Cofferdams) and the NAVSEA SSN 688

Class Ship Systems Manual (Main

Ballast Tank Topside Access Procedures,

OI 637-12). The OI 637-12 requires

continuous eductor operation to confirm

a seal on the main ballast tank grate

blanking patches. Chapter 16 requires

that patch eductors be secured after dewatering is complete and a differential

pressure seal of the patch is achieved. I

became a student of the history of main

ballast tank blanking patch applications at

many different maintenance activities.

My assessment was that the established

procedure (OI 637-12) was based

on historic need to

continuously de-water

leaking patches which had

never been designed to fit

the SSN 688 hull form

to achieve a differential

pressure seal. I was

politely told by many with

experience in main ballast

tank blanking that I was

nuts!

Four years and a challenging patch design and

fabrication effort later, I am

happy to report that, at least

as regards to main ballast

tank blanking patches, I am

not nuts! Recently-completed test application of the

purpose designed and built patches for

blanking the forward main ballast tanks

demonstrated an excellent differential

pressure seal with all de-watering eductors secured. Three days after de-watering eductors were secured topside entry

into main ballast tanks 3A and 3B confirmed water level in each tank was

roughly six inches above the deepest section of flood grates. Topside entry in main

ballast tanks 2A and 2B confirmed slow

leak flooding to roughly five feet above

the deepest section of flood grates. Although slow, I was initially troubled by

the greater leakage in tanks 2A and 2B.

After de-watering again during topside

entry, we were able to confirm the leak

path was through a temporary seal on two

unused J-bolt holes. The seven lower flood

grates on main ballast tanks 2A or 2B are

covered with

one long patch

assembly made

up of four

patches bolted

together on the

pier. I decided it

would be easier

for the divers to

install the long

patch assembly

with just two

J-bolts one in

each end of

the assembly

rather then

needing to fish

the two middle

J-bolts into their

Geoff Healy is currently assigned as Propulsion

Systems Program Manager of the Underwater Ship

Husbandry Division.

Diver handling bouyant patch on the surface.

Large four section patch assembly on the

surface.

corresponding grates. I authorized use of

a simple through-bolted plate compressing foam rubber to seal the unused J-bolt

holes. Unfortunately at depth the temporary hole seal rubber was given just

enough additional compression to cause

the slow leakage through each unused

J-bolt hole. These unused J-bolt holes

will be welded closed for future operations.

Future plans include revision of

OI 637-12 to require use of the new

blanking patch configuration and procurement of additional patch sets to support issuance from our East Coast, West

Coast and Pearl Harbor ESSM bases.

I would like to thank those who helped

me achieve the objective of developing

proper main ballast tank blanking patches:

Jim Robbins and Mike Putnam of Norfolk

Naval Shipyard for completion of the new

patch designs for the SSN 688 Class,

NAVSEA Engineer going into MBT.

Typical MBT 3 water level with eductor

secured.

CWO Frank Perna of SUBLANT for his

efforts to arrange the new test opportunity, Mike Dastous and the MARMC

Alpha dive team for their support of the

test installation, and USS BOISE ( SSN

764) and crew for their support.
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 7

Pascagoula, Miss. – The humidMississippi heat embraced Sailors

from Explosive Ordnance Disposal

Mobile Unit (EODMU) 12, Det. 10, as

they participated in the Gulf Coast

Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative

(GCI). This six-man EOD team embarked

on Naval Station Pascagoula after leaving

their home at Naval Weapons Station,

Charleston, S.C.

The Navy is continually pushing

the one Navy concept for full integration between active-duty and reserve

components. However, EOD teams have

already been doing just that. They rely

heavily on each other while working

side-by-side to meet team goals.

“EODMU-12 is the active duty component responsible for training the reservist,” explained Senior Chief Construction

Mechanic (EOD) Anthony Uzzi.“The

mobile unit has five reserve detachments.

Each detachment consists of six highly

trained divers, who are cross-trained to

do other things outside of diving. We depend heavily on each other to carry out

our assigned duties because we are all that

we have and when one of us fails our survival rate is diminished. Survival is the

name of the game when you are a selfcontained team.”

Integration becomes more important

to EOD teams as overseas commerce continues to blossom in the United States.

Ships move about ninety-five percent of

all trade acquisitions made in the United

States, thus making our coastal waters

high-traffic areas and hot

spots for terrorist activity.

Active-duty counterparts

depend on the reserve component to step-in and provide professional support,

and because of the specialized duties that they perform

there is no room for error.

 “Navy EOD divers are

looked upon as the best

in the business,” said LTJG

Kevin Grant, EOD officer

in charge. “We are the

underwater bomb squad for

the Navy. We operate on land

and sea. Our major purpose

is the disposal of ordnance,

which is a little different

from the active duty component, which is trained to disarm ordnance with a process

referred to as a Render Safe

Procedure. They actually go

in and ‘stop time’ which means to render

the explosive device inoperable

and eradicate any possible high

order explosion. The procedure

that the reserve component uses in

called Blow in Place. This is where

you use a small explosive charge

to detonate the ordnance in a

controlled explosion. In short we

blow the bomb in place with a

smaller explosive.”

Ordnance Clearance Detachments (OCD) are tasked with

augmenting EOD teams which

are responsible for the detection,

and identification of explosive

ordnance and related devices. This includes foreign ordnance, chemical weapons, biological weapons, nuclear weapons,

clandestine improvised devices and all

ordnance/devices that may be encountered

underwater and on land. EODMU divers

are capable of removing ordnance such as

mines and other explosive devices, while

utilizing SCUBA or MK 16 rebreather.

This unit continues to remain busy

and forward deployed and continually

training.

“We spent four-weeks in Bahrain supporting the Global War on Terrorism,” said

Chief Hull Maintenance Technician

(EOD) Jeff Bailey. “While in Bahrain we

received training we could not get anywhere else. We trained in the desert as well

as in the water, while protecting foreign

interest. After spending a little time in

Bahrain, it is good to see that our military

assets are also interested in things here at

home.

Gulf Coast Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative is a Homeland Security

Exercise specifically focusing on protecting my country, my people, my brothers

and sisters. This exercise will help to

coordinate efforts between the Coast

Guard and the Navy to achieve a better

state of readiness as well as protect our

way of life and our freedoms from

terrorist activity.”

“Anytime we get a chance to get in

the water it is training for us,” said EOD

Lt. Jeffrey Myers.

“This is also an opportunity to train

with new equipment,” said Uzzi. “The

equipment that we will be using is the MK

7, which is a deep water lift system for

EODMU 12 Divers during the setting of the MK 7

Deepwater Lift Kit.

Sailors from Explosive Ordnance Mobile Unit Twelve Det 10

prepare to guide the Cerberus Swimmer Detection System into

the water at Naval Station Pascagoula.
8 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

mine recovery, the AGA 2G, a full

face scuba mask and also wireless

in-water communications. The

wireless communication system

allows crew members top-side

to communicate with personnel

underwater.”

OCD teams will not only be

able to assess their unit capabilities,

they are also key players in the

overall operation of GCI.

“Our main purpose in this

exercise is the deployment of the

‘the egg’ (Cerberus Swimmer Detection System),” said Myers. “The

egg is a device that is designed to

be a high-tech watchdog protecting

our ships and coastline from terrorist insurgence. We will see how well

it detects swimmers beneath the water and how well those monitoring

the system can differentiate between terrorist (swimmers) and

other creatures that travel underwater as we play out our scenarios.”

With the efforts of EODMU12 Det 10, members of this exercise will be able to explore techniques and

the interaction of federal (including DoD),

state and local agencies preparing for and

responding to terrorism in a maritime environment. In addition, the exercise is designed to provide a dynamic learning environment at both the management and

tactical levels in support of local, state and

national response plans.

“We will be able to examine the

effectiveness of our ability to monitor and

prevent potential terrorist activity on our

coastal waters and against our assets,” said

Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class Richard

Steele, EOD operations officer. “These

guys, outside of deploying the egg, will

act as the bad guys and try to infiltrate antiterrorism detection devices and test the

Navy’s ability to

detect enemy swimmers. This is important to force protection and making sure

that our coastline and

fleet is safe.”

“Training like

this is invaluable

to the reservist of

EODMU-12,” said

Interior Communications Electrician 2nd

Class Robbie Young.

“This gives us the

ability to coexist

with our active-duty

counterparts. We

work hand in hand,

like brothers.”

EODMU-12 Det 10 Diver, enters the water to test the recently

deployed Cerebus Swimmer Detection System, which is able to

differentiate between marine life and swimmers.

Author: Mark V. Lonsdale

Publisher: Best Publishing Company

Reviewer: Bill McDonald (MWSA President)

 United States Navy Diver:

Performance Under Pressure

The Most Complete Book On Navy Divers!

Military Writers Society of America’s TOP

RATING - FIVE STARS

MWSA BOOK REVIEW

Originally published on

www.militarywriters.com website.

LTJG Kevin Grant of EODMU-12 Det 10 tends a

diver line during the insertion of the Cerberus

Swimmer Detection System into the water.

Author Mark Lonsdale has done a greatservice to the Navy diving program

with his coffee table sized book “United

States Navy Diver –

Performance Under

Pressure.” This is

the most complete

and comprehensive

book on the subject

that can be found.

It truly honors the

traditions and glory

of the entire Navy

diving program

from hard hat diving to SEALS.

This book is packed with great photos

and lots of history, data, trivia, facts, and

anecdotal information. There is enough

information in the book to give the reader

one of the richest educational experiences

on the subject of the diving programs that

one can have without actually having to

join the U.S. Navy. The book takes the

reader through the early history of U.S.

Naval diving and the equipment. It tackles

training and operations, including deep

submergence and submarine rescue, to the

war on terrorism. The reader will get an

educational look at all aspects of the

diving programs.

It is evident that this book was well

researched and documented. It obviously

was a labor of love for the author.

Lonsdale really pays great homage and

tribute to all those who have served in the

Navy diving program. He treats the reader

to an insider look at what we normally

never see, or know little about. This is a

book you would be proud to display on

your own coffee table. The photos alone

are well worth going through the book to

look at. The text only adds to the full

experience!
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 9

Think back to when you were inschool and learned about Antarctica.

It’s where the South Pole is; it’s really,

really cold, ice everywhere and home to

penguins. I’m here to tell you that reading

about it in books, or even seeing it on the

Discovery Channel is not the same as

being there.

A brief history lesson; McMurdo

Station is Antarctica’s largest community

built on bare volcanic rock of Hut Point

Peninsula on Ross Island, the farthest

south solid ground that is accessible by

ship. Established in 1956, it is the logistics hub of the U.S. Antarctic Program,

with a harbor, landing strips on sea ice

and shelf ice, and a helicopter pad. Its 85

or so buildings range in size from a small

radio shack to large, three-story structures.

The station takes its name from McMurdo

Sound, which James Clark Ross named

in 1841 after Lieutenant Archibald

McMurdo of the ship Terror.

The station accommodates 1200

people in the summer and 200 in the

winter. Research is performed at and

near McMurdo in aeronomy and astrophysics, biology and medicine, geology

and glacial geology, and ocean

climate systems. The National Science

Foundation (NSF) is the U.S. government

agency responsible for the operation of

McMurdo.

The station receives major supplies,

cargo and fuel to operate just once a year,

in the summer by ship. If these supplies

don’t reach the station, the entire operation would be in jeopardy. These ships

must transit through 20 miles of sea ice to

reach McMurdo. This transit is made

possible by icebreaker. The U.S. Coast

Guard has been the normal provider of

icebreaking capability, but this year was

different. NSF contracted the Russian

owned Far East Shipping Company

(FESCO) to provide icebreaking services

to McMurdo. It was during these duties

the Motor Vessel Icebreaker KRASIN

experienced a substantial vibration from

their starboard shaft. The ship returned to

McMurdo and NSF divers, yes they have

divers there, inspected the ship and

reported that one of the 12,000 lb blades

was missing from the starboard shaft. The

ship has three propellers (port, stbd and

centerline), each having

four bolt-on blades. The

loss of this single blade

reduced the ships ability

to break ice substantially,

so much so that emergent

repairs were needed.

NSF contacted 00C

to make repairs. 00C

had previously been to

McMurdo to make blade

repairs to USCGC POLAR STAR (WAGB 10).

Since welding repairs

were likely in support of

this operation, 00C contracted Phoenix International, Inc, 00C’s

diving services contractor to travel to

McMurdo to replace the missing

propeller blade and ESSM to provide hydraulic tools and the Hytorc

System. KRASIN carried onboard

replacement propeller blades and

bolts. All that was needed was a

diving capability, and a means to

travel 14,000 miles from the U.S.

to Antarctica.

NSF has logistics fine-tuned to a

science, no pun intended. Raytheon

Polar Services is responsible for

the transport of all personnel and

equipment to and from the ice.

All you need to do is get to

Christchurch, New Zealand; where the

United States Antarctic Program is based.

Once there you are completely outfitted with all the Antarctic gear you need.

Even though the weather in New Zealand

was summer, and 75 degree’s, they won’t

let you on the plane unless you are fully

dressed out in Extreme Cold Weather

(ECW) gear. You board an U.S. Air Force

plane, a C-17 in this case, for the 2,000-

mile flight. You land on an ice runway, of

course. Then it’s onboard a monster truck

called Ivan the Terra Bus that takes you

the one hour ride to McMurdo. Every

vehicle at McMurdo is beyond heavy duty.

Some of them even have tank tracks

instead of tires. Once you arrive, you are

given indoctrination on life at McMurdo,

where everything is, and keys to your

barracks room. One thing I forgot to

mention. The sun is up all day, 24 hours a

day. It just circles the sky. Makes you a

little crazy after the first few days. Beats

being there in the winter when it’s total

darkness for about four months.

We got right to work. The ship

was pierside, although pierside at

McMurdo is different than anywhere

else. The pier is made of, you guessed

it: ice. It’s 400 ft long, 300 ft wide and 21

ft thick with wire rope running through

it like reinforced concrete. It’s a manmade ice cube. It’s covered in volcanic

dirt. You would never know it was ice

Diver working on starboard CPP propeller.

Rigging blade off ship.
1 0 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

or that it floats unless you are told so, or

see the signs that say “Ice Pier”.

The NSF folks were there to support

us every step of the way: without them,

working in this environment would be impossible. They built us a shack on the ice

to run the dive station, provided us with

two sources of electrical power, heating

blankets and heaters to warm up the frozen compressors, machine shop services,

cranes, forklifts, and even a backhoe. We

needed the backhoe to break a hole in the

ice for diver access. The forklifts picked

up all of our air, water and hydraulic hoses

each night and put them inside a heated

warehouse so they would not freeze, then

delivered them to us each morning. We

even had a phone line in the shack with

numbers to all the movers and shakers at

NSF. You have to admire these folks that

spend six months at a time, even through

the winter, to support all that happens here.

They are experts in every sense of the

word, and many of them come back here

year after year.

Early on we discovered the root

cause of how and why the ship lost one of

its propeller blades. Each blade is held in

place with eight bolts. Each bolt is five

inches in diameter, weighs 88 lbs each and

is torqued in place with up to 27,000 ft/

lbs. This presented another problem for

00C engineers. How to interpret the drawings for the 40-year-old ship that was built

in Europe, and were printed in Russian.

Each hex head bolt had two metal plates,

keepers, which were cut to fit the head of

the bolt and were welded inside the blade palm. These

welded keepers prevented the

bolts from backing out. Each

recess for the bolts was also

filled in with concrete. In many

cases on the remaining blades,

most of the concrete was missing, and many of the keeper

plates were missing as well.

The high stress of ice breaking had taken its toll on the

blades and hardware that kept

them in place. Once the keepers failed, the bolts started

backing out. Once enough bolts came out,

the remaining bolts were ripped right out

of the hub. This was key in determining

our repair course of action.

Since four of eight boltholes

were wiped with little or no

thread material remaining, reinstallation of bolts as part of

installing a replacement

blade would be impossible.

The minimum torque to hold

each bolt (12,000 ft/lbs)

would never be achieved. It

was decided not to install a blade, remove

all remnant bolt material, and fabricate

keeper plates and

weld them on bolt

heads on the other

propeller blades. 00C also recommended with NSF to FESCO, the

ship owner that we should remove

the opposite blade, so the shaft

would be in balance. FESCO rejected this option as getting the

ship out to sea sooner to break ice

was more important. Keep in mind

that two ships were still waiting 20 miles

out for passage to McMurdo, so the clock

was ticking.

The KRASIN fabricated the keeper

plates, and Phoenix divers went to work

welding the plates in place. We also used

the Hytorc machine to check the torque

on the bolts that did not have any keeper

plates on them. No movement was

observed on any of the bolts. All work

was completed on our seventh day of

operation. KRASIN got underway immediately once we cleared the water; we

even handled lines and cast off the ship.

The ship went to sea for several hours

and returned so we could inspect our

work. All keepers were intact and no

further damage resulted. KRASIN left for

the last time to start her escort duties

and get McMurdo Station filled with

groceries, gas, spare parts and more

scientists.

We packed our bags and left the

following day the way we arrived; dressed

in 25 lbs of foul weather gear. We even

found time to get a few souvenirs and

polish our sea stories for years to come.

If you ever get the chance to go to “The

Ice”, go. You won’t regret it. It’s worth

the 28,000 miles you have to travel to

get there and back, even if you are flying

in the middle seat!

The KRASIN crew.

KRASIN in the ice.

Phoenix diver up and over.

Scott Heineman is the Underwater Ship Husbandry Operations Specialist at NAVSEA 00C.
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 1 1

Kirby Morgan designs and manufactures a line of commercial/

military diver’s masks and helmets

that are in use throughout the world.

The development of the present day

equipment has taken place in the last 40

years.

The Kirby Morgan Corporation was

founded by Bev Morgan and Bob Kirby

in 1966 in Santa Barbara, California. The

purpose of the Corporation was (and is)

to manufacture high quality commercial/

military diving equipment. Prior to the

start of the Corporation, Bob Kirby and

Bev Morgan were commercial divers.

Kirby was a former U.S. Navy diver

before that. Both worked as abalone divers

along the California Coast. They both

believed that better masks and helmets

were possible and had independently

been working on designs of their own.

Morgan made his first demand mask

in 1949 and Kirby made his shortly after

that.

The first products manufactured by

the Kirby Morgan Corporation were

heavy gear helmets. The transition from

traditional helmets to the Kirby Morgan

37 and the Super-Mask 48 is filled with

interesting underwater mask and helmet

innovations that are shown and described

below. The mechanical products are presented here.

Copper & Brass

KMAH-1. The Kirby Morgan

Commercial Air Helmet.

This helmet was manufactured from

1965 to 1967 (Kirby and Morgan were

working together as partners prior to the

Both of the above helmets were

manufactured by Yokohama Diving

Apparatus from 1966 to 1990. Kirby

and Morgan could not economically

produce the helmets in the United States.

Yokohama Diving Apparatus is no longer

in business.

Composite Helmets

Kirby Morgan began development of

a line of light, fiberglass based masks and

helmets which have culminated in the

current (2004) state of the art masks and

helmets produced by Kirby Morgan Dive

Systems, Inc. today. These masks and

helmets have a long and varied history,

which is briefly touched on below. The

endless research and testing continues

today, ensuring that the Kirby Morgan

products of today are the best and safest

equipment to be found anywhere in the

World.

KMHeH-2. The Kirby Morgan

Commercial Helium Helmet.

This helmet was manufactured from

1965 to 1967. The design was the same as

the air hat with the addition of a

permanently mounted canister and

venturi recirculator system. A standard

Sodasorb® CO2

 absorbent chemical

cartridge was utilized in the canister. This

helmet was the first practical commercial

helium helmet with a venturi. Mr. H. Dan

Wilson was the first designer and user of

a commercial helium helmet that used a

demand system, not a venturi. His helmet

preceded this hat by two years. The U.S.

Navy was the pioneer of gas diving,

starting in the ‘30s.

MCSHX-3. The Morgan Clam Shell.

Ed: The editors of Faceplate felt

that this history would provide

valuable education for our younger

divers who might be interested in how

diving equipment developed over the

past 40 years. The Mask section will

follow in the next issue of Faceplate.

We plan to include information on

other equipment manufacturers in

future issues. Kirby Morgan Corporation formation).

The breastplate was made by Yokohama

Diving Apparatus. The helmet was spun

from two sheets of copper by Hummel

Products in Santa Barbara. The forming

and assembly was done by Kirby Morgan.

The helmet had several improvements

over previous designs. The viewing

ports were made of one inch plexiglass,

threaded to screw into the helmet and

sealed with O rings. This eliminated the

need for grills over the former glass ports,

and thus improved visibility. Incoming air

was more effectively silenced, improving

communications and preventing a loss of

hearing to the diver.

KMCSHX-4. Kirby Morgan Clam

Shell Helmet.

The Kirby Morgan Clam Shell Helmet was designed and made in 1966 under contract with the U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit. The helmet was designed for use with semi-closed circuit

breathing systems. The rear of the helmet

was free-flooding. Only one prototype was

made and tested.

This hat was designed to be dry over the

entire head with a neck seal. It was not

immediately successful and was not used

beyond tank testing. The primary problem

was leaking in the joint between the front

and rear of the hat. By the time this was

fixed, other designs had been created and

this hat was abandoned.
1 2 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

KMCSHX-5. Kirby Morgan Clam

Shell Helmet.

The next progression in clam

shells, this helmet used a demand regulator as a back up breathing system. The

main breathing system was a back

mounted semi-closed recirculator. This

photograph shows Kirby suited up for

a test, using a chest mounted breathing

bag on a venturi recirculator. This helmet was free flooding in the rear and

was made of fiberglass. Only one was

made in 1967.

KMCSH-6. Kirby Morgan Clam

Shell Helmet.

This was the final version of the

early Kirby Morgan Clam Shell Helmets. The hinge point was at the front.

It was made of fiberglass and was freeflooding in the rear. Twelve of these helmets were made in 1968 for the U.S.

Navy and eight for commercial use.

Several dry head versions of this helmet were tested, but were not successful. The wet head version had limited

success.

KMSLH-7. Kirby Morgan SemiLight Helmet.

At the same time the clam shell series was being made, the Semi-Light fiber glass helmet was designed and

manufactured. A face seal separated the

face area of this helmet from the back.

The first was made in 1966. In all, 36

Semi-Lights were made and sold. The

helmet was discontinued due to lack of

time and funding. This helmet was the

direct forerunner to the Kirby Morgan

SuperLite-17.

KMSLHX-8. Kirby Morgan

Experimental Semi-Light Helmet.

One modified version of the SemiLight was made and tested. The balance

was not right so the helmet was not

manufactured.

MHX-9. Experimental Helmet.

This unnamed helmet was designed

to be used with a rubber mask section

inserted into the forward part of the helmet. One was made and tested.

MH-10. The Morgan 10

Recirculator Helmet.

This hat was designed in 1971

to be used with the General Electric

Mark 10 closed circuit breathing

system. The side mounted tubes

were connected to hoses that ran

breathing gas to and from the back

mounted recirculator. A unique hood

that was easily removable and adjustable was used on this unit.

MH-11. Morgan 11 Recirculator

Helmet.

This helmet was similar to the

MH-10 with the addition of a demand regulator which was used as

a backup breathing system. It differs very little from the Band Mask

design in appearance. The gas flow

tubes are provided for use with the

Westinghouse supplied U.S. Navy

Mark 11 breathing system. The

diver’s head was dry in this hat.

MHX-12. Morgan 12

Experimental Dry Helmet

Design To Attach To A Band

Mask.

A rubber hood liner inside the

hard helmet provided a dry environment for the diver’s head. Two versions were made. This design led to

the KMH-16.

KHX-13. The Bucket Hat.

This helmet was made as a joke,

but several important findings were

made as a result of water testing this

unit. The helmet dives quite well

and is surprisingly comfortable.

MHX-14. Morgan Helmet,

Experimental 14.

This hat had a rubber insert in

the front which isolated the diver’s

face from the rest of the helmet to

improve the operation of the demand regulator. Water tests were not

favorable, so work on this hat was

stopped.
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 1 3

KHX-15. The Kirby Helmet,

Experimental 15.

One was made and sold to the U.S.

Navy. It was made of fiberglass and fitted with a simple steady flow breathing system. This hat was used as a platform on which to test a new neck dam

and yoke system. The rubber neck dam

(seal) is attached to a metal band that

is clamped with a cam lever around the

circular neck area of the helmet. The

yoke system provides a closure at the

bottom of the helmet that is smaller

than a diver’s head and securely fastens the hat to the head.

KHXD-15. The Kirby

Experimental Demand 15.

This helmet had several features

that were new. A silenced servo demand

regulator was positioned on the side of

the hat. One was made and tested. The

overall size of the helmet required

counter balancing weight that made it

heavier than we liked.

KMH-16. The Kirby Morgan

Helmet 16.

This helmet was an add on hat for

the KMB-10 Band Mask. A rubber

hood inside the fiberglass helmet provided a dry head environment to the

diver. The neck seal clamped in place

with a cam-action band similar to the

SuperLite-17.

KMSL-17A/B. Kirby Morgan

SuperLite-17B.

The SuperLite-17B Commercial

Diver’s Helmet was introduced in

1975. It was the culmination of all the

years of testing and alterations by Kirby

Morgan. This helmet set the working

standard for the commercial diving industry worldwide for many years.

Many thousands of underwater hours

have proved the design to be dependable, comfortable, and extremely safe.

The 17 continues to be the most widely

used commercial diving helmet in the

World.

KMSL-27. Kirby Morgan

SuperLite-27.

The SuperLite-27 was introduced in 1991. Advances in metal

machining that allowed cost reduction of the matched neck ring-neck

dam ring designs. This enabled us to

make improvements to that area of

the helmet to improve sealing from

water leaks and make the locking system simple but more secure. We also

reduced the size of the helmet shell

to reduce the buoyancy and weight

of the hat.

KMSL-17K. Kirby Morgan

SuperLite-17K.

We received many inquiries

from divers with larger heads to make

the improved neck ring, neck seal

system on a larger hat. We combined

the standard 17 shell design and the

27 neck ring design to make the 17K.

This gave the divers who preferred

the 17 the improved next ring at no

change in the 17 size. However, there

was some customer confusion and

many of our customers did not realize the 17K was a very different hat

from the 17B.

KMH-37. Kirby Morgan Helmet

37.

The model 37 Kirby Morgan

Helmet made it clear that this new

hat was an improved model and not

just another 17. A new and very advanced exhaust system, the Tri-Valve

Exhaust, was added to the 17K to

make it the 37. The new exhaust system made the 37 very dry and yet

lowered the breathing resistance.

KMH-47. Kirby Morgan Helmet

47.

As yet not released for sale, this

hat has by far the lowest breathing

resistance of any mask or helmet on

the market. The new, “Rex” regulator

system incorporates a balanced valve

regulator that has proven rugged,

reliable, and low maintenance.

Testing continues on this hat.
1 4 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

My brother Greg and I were stationedaboard the USS Hartley (DE 1029)

in the early sixties. Even though I was the

one that ended up being a Navy Saturation

Diver, my brother Greg was the one that

first got into diving. I remember he

purchased or traded for an old wet suit,

regulator, mask, fins and a set of double

38s. Neither of us knew the dangers of

diving but we were both fully aware of

the mystique and challenge of diving.

After all we both made sure we never

missed a SEA HUNT show. Mike Nelson

was our hero.

Anyway, Greg and I were in charge of

the mechanics of the motor whaleboat and

a boatswain mate by the name of Butler

(I think that was his name) was in charge

of the boat itself.

The three of us decided to go diving.

We got all of Greg’s gear together and

found an old drysuit in the boatswain’s

locker. It was the two piece king that

rolled together with a large o-ring.

We got underway and went out into the

middle of the bay. I think we even tied up

to a buoy (real knowledgeable sailors).

We decided I would try out Greg’s

equipment first. I put all the gear on and

dived head first into the bay. Needless to

say the first thing that happened was I lost

the mask. I tried to swim after it but my

ears were in the process of imploding. I

also had way too much weight on and

started sinking. I thought I was going to

die. I finally managed to make it to the

Captain Gary Windhorst, Commanding Officer

of the Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal

and Diving (CENEODD) presents a belated

Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal

(For Heroic Action) to Gregory J. Sullivan for

his act of heroism while stationed aboard the

USS Hartley in 1967. Greg’s wife Janet observes.

(“Sea Hunt” continued on p. 22)

put a little air in it to make sure he was

buoyant. Butler told us he didn’t know

how to swim but wanted to try it anyway.

Seems to me he just wanted to try

breathing underwater, even though we had

lost the mask. We tied a line around his

waist. He dove in the water headfirst also.

When he hit the water all the air in the

suit went to his feet, which kept his head

underwater. Greg and I got a big laugh

out of that sight. But we figured he was

fine cause he had SCUBA on. Pretty soon

he started thrashing around in the water

and ended up spinning around and

wrapping the line around himself like a

top. Greg and I finally realized he was in

trouble. We started pulling in on the line

real fast and Butler just started spinning

like a top being unwound. Finally we got

down to the knot and pulled him out of

the water. He never had a clue that

anything was wrong but did say he

couldn’t understand why we would want

to learn to SCUBA dive. As far as he was

concerned, it wasn’t very much fun.

The reason I write about this is

although my brother Greg was not a Navy

Diver, approximately 40 years ago while

stationed on the above mentioned ship, he

performed an act of heroism that went unrecognized until a couple of Navy Divers

got involved. I told the above story to

Captain Helmkamp about my first dive

during a sea story telling session a few

years ago. Later I remembered something

else Greg had done that I felt needed

surface. I just wanted out of the water and

into the boat. Greg was ready to try it but

I had lost his mask. So we suited up Butler

in the drysuit. We really didn’t know what

we were doing here either. We finally

figure out how to roll the top and bottom

together with the o-ring. But our biggest

mistake was assuming the “DEFLATOR”

hose was an “INFLATOR” hose, so we

KMH-57. Kirby Morgan 57. major motion picture productions such

as, “Sphere”. Other designs have been

used in many other television and

documentary productions.

Many of our original designs have

been copied by the current crop of

competitors. Some of the copiers are

so bold as to claim our designs as

theirs. Unfortunately this prevents us

from showing all of our experimental

masks and helmets. Hopefully, the patent

process will keep them at bay.

Bev Morgan worked as a

commercial diver for many

years. Shortly after becoming a diver, he started

designing and making

equipment and formed Kirby Morgan in

the early 1960’s. Through continued

research and innovation, KMDSI has

developed the world’s leading line of

diving helmets and full face masks.

The next helmet to be introduced

will be the Kirby Morgan 57. In addition

to several other improvements, this

helmet will have a new stainless steel

regulator that has extremely low

breathing resistance.

Several other helmets have been

developed by Kirby Morgan over

the years. Over 200 prototypes of

varying designs have been made.

Some of the hats have been used in
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 1 5

On 17 January 1966, a B-52 bombercollided with a KC-135 tanker

aircraft while refueling over Spain. The

collision and explosion destroyed both

aircraft. Most crew members of the two

A/C perished, only four crew member of

the B-52 survived. During AC breakup, four Nuclear (Hydrogen) Bombs

descended as part of the total debris

that rained down on Spain and the

Mediterannean Sea. Three H-Bombs

impacted on land and were later Rendered

Safe by AF EOD personnel. At least one

of the H-Bombs had low ordered and

burned, spreading alpha contamination

over a large land area (and the shallows of

the sea where it rapidly dispersed). The

parachute deployed on the fourth

H-Bomb and it descended slowly while

being steered by the winds, eventually

splashing into the Med. and descending to

the depths off the coast of Palomares,

Spain.

The A.F. mounted an operation to

recover the H-Bombs, the A/C Debris and

mitigate the Apha Contamination that was

spread across the rural landscape. The

USS KIOWA (ATF 12) conducted a twoday surface search for aircraft debris

before being released. On January 19, the

USS SAGACITY (MSO 469), USS PINNACLE (MSO 462), and a forwarddeployed EOD Team from EODU2 started

a near shore search with mine hunting

sonar, while the EOD Team conducted

shallow water searches in the surf line.

The EOD Team recovered two B-52

ejection seats.

On January 22, the A.F. requested

assistance from the U.S. Navy. This request set in motion a massive response to

locate, recover, and Render Safe the

missing H-Bomb. In Washington DC, the

Navy convened a Technical Advisory

Group (TAG), Chaired by RADM L. V.

Swanson. This group was composed

of individuals highly respected in their

chosen field of expertise. Among them

were Dr. John P. Craven (well known

for his work on deep submergence) and

CAPT W. F. Searle, Jr. (former Supervisor of Salvage and Director of Ocean Engineering at the Naval Ships Systems

Command). The TAG identified four

research submarines along with other

equipment that could be of use during the

proposed operation. Action was taken to

immediately start moving additional

skilled personnel, the four submersibles,

and other assets to Spain.

I was the Officer in Charge of

EODU2, Charleston, S.C. with the Mine

Force Command, Atlantic Fleet. EODU2

was responsible for EOD Incidents on

the East Coast of the United States and

supported the Atlantic Fleet, including the

European Theater. That night I received

a call from the Duty Captain at CNO,

directing EODU2 to respond with personnel and EOD assets. A general recall

brought all EODU2 in and we were prepared to depart early on the morning of

the 23rd. We departed Charleston on a KC135 (stationed at Bergstrom AFB, Texas)

from the same tanker squadron of the

tanker lost over Spain. It was a very solemn start of a demanding operation. After

a number of weather related and schedule

delays we arrived “Camp Wilson” at

Palomares about 0830-25 Jan. The crew

set up tents and diving equipment near the

beach and checked out logistics. I was first

briefed by the A.F. Operations Officer and

about 0930 reported to RADM Guest on

his flagship, USS MACDONOUGH

(DLG 8). I was assigned to the staff of

CTF 65 as the Assistant Operations Officer for EOD and Diving. The EOD officers and men at Camp Wilson continued to ready things for diving and were in

the water later that same day. Bouys and

jackstay lines were used to ensure that a

complete search would be accomplished.

The sea was calm, very little wave action,

and visibility about 25 feet. They soon encountered A/C debris in the shallows.

Soon many other individuals and

surface vessels reported for duty. There

were Navy Officers, Scientists, Operational Analyst, Technicians, auxiliary

The H-Bomb over USS PETREL (ARS 14) fantail.
1 6 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

ships, amphibious ships, salvage ships,

and more divers. Eventually about 23

ships and 3,400 personnel were involved

to one degree or another. We worked long

hours to develop a viable Operations Plan

and determine if those unproven systems

that were offered would work in the harsh

environment of the operating site. The

Navy did not have search equipment or

remote control vehicles capable of working at the required depth. As the Op Plan

was being finalized, I was also designated:

CTG 65.3 – Inshore Underwater Search

Group. Initially EOD personnel conducted

the search until the USS FORT

SNELLING (LSD 30) and UDT 22, Med.

Detachment reported in. The EOD/UDT

divers also conducted towed searches

when visibility and weather permitted, and

continued searching until the search area

to a depth of 80 feet was covered twice or

more. (After the operation was complete,

it was officially reported that EOD/UDT

divers located over 50 tons of debris.) The

mission of CTG 65.3 was later expanded to include the salvage, recovery and Render Safe of the HBomb. We were also concerned

about possible Alpha contamination

and requested the A.F. monitor the

shoreline between our search area

and the debris site. In addition, we

conducted Alpha radiation monitoring on all ships. The A.F. did find

some contamination and moved

part of the camp complex to a clean

area. No Alpha contamination was

reported by any CTF 65 ship.

It is impossible to remember

all the dedicated officers and men

that were a part of Salvops Med, but

some of the individuals involved

with setting up search parameters

were:

• LCDR “Brad” Mooney –

Designated as CTG 65 Assistant

Operations Officer for Deep

Submersibles. He was a qualified

Submarine Officer and former OIC

and Pilot of the Bathyscape Trieste

II. He was at the controls of Trieste

II when the debris of the SSN

Thrasher was investigated in the

depths of the Atlantic.

• LCDR Malcom “Mal” MacKinnon –

Naval Architect/Engineer, represented the

Supervisor of Salvage.

• CAPT Ray Pitts USN (Ret.) – CEO of

Ocean Systems, Inc. and Senior Contract

Administrator. All civilian contractors

worked through CAPT Pitts.

• Mr. Jon Lindbergh, Ocean Systems, Inc.

– Underwater and diving consultant.

Lindburg had served with UDT Units

while on active duty and worked in underwater research and diving after leaving the Navy.

• Dr. Henry R. “Tony” Richardson,

Daniel Wagner Associates – Operations

Tactical Analyst. Worked on the Thresher

search and was an expert in search theory.

(Unfortunately the Navy was in the position that we may have to prove the negative. In other words, if we did not find the

H-Bomb, we had to prove statistically that

it was not there. The Navy was in a really

hot seat.)

The search effort was divided up

according to personnel and equipment

capability. Admittedly, we pushed the

envelope, as it would be easier to become

more conservative as the operation

unfolded and operational constraints were

refined. The search parameters were:

• 0 – 80 feet – SCUBA Divers

• 80 – 250 feet – Honeywell Sea Scanner mounted on a utility boat. Contacts

identified by SCUBA or Hard Hat.

• 80 – 400 feet – PC3B Cubmarine. Contacts identified by SCUBA, Hard Hat or

photograph.

• Shallow Water – 600 feet – Minesweeps

(MSO) with Mine Hunting Sonar. Contacts identified by Cubmarine, Hard Hat

or photograph.

• Deep Water – Westinghouse OBSS.

Deep Submersibles Alvin and Aluminaut.

Contacts in deep water were photographed

for identification.

(One critical incident occurred when

The EOD men were joined by CAPT Page, C of S, CTF 65 and an unidentified A/F officer. The

author is third from left.
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 1 7

a Salvage Ship, with divers down,

was placed at hazard by another ship.

The voice net got pretty hot, when

the Salvage Ships C.O. pointed out

the errors of endangering his divers.

The Task Force Commander immediately corrected the situation and

thereafter the C.O. of a Salvage Ship

would be designated On Scene Commander when diving operations were

ongoing.)

Deep Search Equipment

In the meantime some of the

equipment for deep search started

arriving.

Westinghouse Ocean Bottom

Scanning Sonar (OBSS) is a low frequency towed sonar system was designed for mapping the geology of the

ocean floor. The OBSS had some success, but it was ill suited as a search

vehicle for a small target on an uneven precipitous bottom. Several

ships toiled for several weeks (losing

two tow fish after striking bottom)

until the system was returned to CONUS. (Experience with the OBSS

pointed out the need for a dedicated

high speed oceanographic winch and

a smaller (lighter) side scan sonar system for deep ocean search.)

Honeywell Sea Scanner and Bottom Profiler gave a visual readout and was

equipped with an over the side transducer.

It was mounted on a utility boat and employed in water depth from 80 to 200 feet

of water. Targets were checked/identified/

recovered by divers. The system had limited success on the larger pieces of debris

and was used through most of the operation. (It’s a great fish finder and many

commercial fishermen used the unit in the

Gulf of Mexico.) The Bottom Profiler

gave a nice profile of the bottom, but had

little success in locating debris.

Decca Hi-Fix Navigation System is

a low frequency system which require

three stations, one central interrogator antenna and two remote stations (responder)

antennas about 15 miles North and South.

Accuracy reported to be less then 30 yards,

but found to be greater during the operation. Navy Oceanographic Office’s Survey Ship, USNS DUTTON steamed in and

was employed in a underwater survey

from which charts were published and the

Decca System was surveyed in. DUTTON

also placed some underwater velocity

meters. (Prior to DUTTON charts, the TF

had to depend on some old Spanish charts

dated in the early 1900’s.)

NOTS, Pasadena Underwater Television Cameras consisted of two TV

Cameras and UW lights mounted in an

over the side cage. It quickly proved

unsatisfactory and was shipped back to

CONUS.

The first submersible staged to Spain

by air was the Deep Jeep which is

designed to withstand a depth of 2,000 feet

for four hours. DJ was found to be underpowered and after about three attempts to

dive was returned to CONUS.

The Cubmarine PC3B, (arrived

about Feb. 16) built by Perry Submarines

and owned by Ocean Systems, Inc looked

like a big torpedo with a two person

(operator/observer) compartment on the

top center. It was a great performer in

water depths down to about 400 feet. A

Decca Receiver was installed with a trailing wire antenna. When debris was sighted

the PC3B would settle on the bottom and

if within diving limits, a diver would descend to complete the recovery. The PC3B

was very versatile and rugged like a little

submarine. It was easy to maintain and

could be housed onboard and deployed by

the flagships boat crane. (I have worked

with other Perry Submarines since the

Palomares Salvops and they have all been

outstanding performers.)

The USNS MIZAR is an Oceanographic Research ship that had located the

debris field of the SSN THRESHER. The

Unidentified A/F officer, MGEN Wilson, the author, CAPT. Page and RADM Guest inspecting the

damage to the aft end of the bomb.
1 8 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

MIZAR had a moon pool and a large

winch system capable of towing instruments at great depth. MIZAR was outfitted to track and direct Alvin and

Aluminaut, therefore allowing them to

return to the bomb. Pingers were also

requisitioned to assist in returning to a

specific underwater location.

Operations

Salvage ships started arriving, among

them the USS Petrel (ASR 14) reported

in on 1 February. They were employed in

identification and recovery and towing operations. The Salvage Ships spent some

time laying and recovering multiple leg

moors. Even when in a tight moor over a

contact, it was difficult for the hard hat

divers because of mobility, visibility and

current. Eventually hard hat divers were

primarily used in recovery operations.

MGEN Wilson and RADM Guest inspecting the H-Bomb for the benefit of the international press.

Looking back in hindsight, a lot of diving

manpower was wasted, waiting for meaningful tasks that were compatible with

hard hat diving.

Operations settled down over time

and some ships and individuals were

detached. On 10 February Alvin and

Aluminaut arrived. Alvin could be

used to search the canyon areas, while

Aluminaut was limited to the smoother

bottom areas. Alvin underwent a short

shake down and then commenced searching the rugged underwater slopes. Alvin

sighted a skid mark going downslope unlike any of the trawl marks sighted on the

flatter ocean floor. Alvin followed the skid

mark down, often having to back down

while increasing depth (sometime pausing to let the silt cloud clear) and eventually spotted the H-Bomb. Several unsuccessful attempts to send down recovery

lines were attempted. We were faced with

the fact that Alvin would have

been placed in danger and was

under powered to carry down a

line and the ocean environment

carried away other systems. A rig

designed by Pitts, Moody and

Lindbergh, hence the code name

“POODLE” was sent down by the

Mizar and placed close to the

bomb. The POODLE tumbled

over on the bottom and Alvin was

unable to clear all but one grapple.

That grapple was attached to the

parachute and a lift attempted by

Mizar. Mizar drifted toward

shore, dragging the weapon

upslope. The grapple line failed

and the weapon skidded back

downslope. CTF 65 was once

again engaged in a search effort.

The Navy also towed two barges

into the Atlantic Ocean, where aircraft debris that had been recovered (ashore and underwater) was

jettisoned in deep water (over

6,000 feet). After the barges returned to Spain, a small Alpha

reading was detected. Two EOD

Technicians were dispatched to

the Spanish port to supervise the

decontamination of the barges.

Capt. Searle had also set the following in motion:

• The Cable-control Underwater Vehicle

(CURV) was modified to work in water

depths of over 2000 feet, after which

CURV and an operating crew deployed

to Spain. “Mal” MacKinnon coordinated

the modification and also deployed to

Spain. This was to be the deepest attempt

by a remote control vehicle to recover explosive ordnance from the ocean floor.

CURV had already recovered a number

of practice torpedoes in water depths less

than 2000 feet.

• Several 3000 foot coils of braided three

inch nylon line were dispatched to Spain.

Lt Herman Kuntz was also ordered to

Spain as an escort to insure the line did

not get side tracked. Most nylon lines at

this time were twisted, vice braided. This

may well have been the first time braided

nylon line was used in a deep ocean lift.
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 1 9

After a number of agonizing days

Alvin once again made visual contact

with the bomb. In the meantime CURV

had been embarked on the Petrel. Alvin

placed strobe lights and pingers at the

bombs location. During the day the

local winds blew onshore as the mountains warmed from the sun. Wave and

wind action during the daylight

hourswas marginal. After sunset the

mountains cooled down and the winds

calmed accordingly. We conducted

most of the critical operations at night

to take advantage of the calm wind and

sea. The Petrel held position over the

site by use of two LCM’s and CURV

descended, homing in on the pingers

and attached a grapple to the parachute

risers. This method was repeated two

other times, one successfully attaching

a grapple. CURV was scheduled to descend and place the third lift line late the

evening of 7 April. In anticipation of the

attachment and lift, ADM. Guest shifted

to the Petrel with a number of other staff

members. There was standing room only

in the tiny wardroom. The atmosphere

was tense and when CURV became

entangled, Howard Talkington, CURV

Project Manager, fainted from the stress.

Dr. Smith, a respected scientist who had

constructed a scale model of the bottom

terrain and an expert in lift out forces

was onboard. Dr. Smith was extremely

concerned that a lift from such depth in

the ocean could cause harmonics (or

attenuation) in the lift lines and cause the

lines to fail. He paced back and forth,

hands in his pocket, with an intense frown.

So much so that we could tell he was

upsetting some individuals in the wardroom. We steered Dr. Smith topside and

as gently as possible asked him to either

stay clear of the wardroom or lighten up.

He understood the need to remain calm,

gave us a slight grin and was smiling ear

to ear before the morning was over. Both

of these men were true gentlemen and

devoted to their individual expertise.

When it was apparent that CURV could

not clear itself the decision was made to

lift.

Prior to that decision (and based

on hard lessons learned) it had been

decided that undue stress on the lift lines

would not be acceptable. For example

if the bomb weighed 1 ton – the maximum

allowed force on the lift lines would be

5 tons – thus giving us a healthy safety

margin. LCDR Max Harrel, C.O. of

Petrel came up with a well designed

system to lift, dividing the stress equally

between the two lift lines, with a dynamometer placed such that it would indicate the total lift force being exerted.

This system was excellent example of

Max Harrells years of experience as a

salvor. Once the decision to lift had been

made it was the Petrel’s show. Max had

already held the Petrel in position for long

hours and he continued to do so until the

bomb was on deck. The deck force

conducted a slow lift, monitoring the strain

constantly, until the bomb was in sight at

between 50-70 feet. Two EOD divers

descended and placed wire straps (attached to a 3 inch nylon recovery line)

around the bomb in such position that it

would clear the water in a horizontal attitude. The weight of the bomb was transferred to the recovery line and hoisted

clear of the water. The parachute presented

a problem as it acted like a big sea anchor

and had to be dealt with. The bomb was

finally placed in a skid, allowing Lt. Walt

Funston and his combined EOD Team

(Navy and Air Force) to render it safe

(RSP). The outside case of the bomb

was unclassified, so it was paraded past

the flagship with a number of international press personnel to prove we had

removed a nuclear threat. The carcass

of the H-bomb now resides in the Sandia

Laboratories Museum in Albuquerque,

N.M.

After a demanding (and successful)

operation, most participants returned

to normal activities. Shortly thereafter some critics of ADM Guest made

some remarks about his leadership style

and ability. They apparently thought he

was too tough, abrasive and ill prepared

for such an operation. I flatly disagree

with those critics. He was challenged

with the toughest, first and only deep

recovery of a nuclear weapon in our

history. I found him to be demanding,

but fair and sensitive about the conditions that his Task Force experienced and

the hazards faced by the hard working

people assigned. If you knew your job,

worked hard and performed like a professional, he in turn respected you. That is

one of the aspects of salvage and recovery in the sea that may not be clear to others untrained in such matters. Salvage in

the sea is a difficult and demanding task.

Divers for years have been known for their

ability to accomplish the toughest of tasks

under extreme conditions. When you add

explosives in the mix (particularly nuclear

bombs) the risk factor takes a huge leap.

I salute all those skilled divers (past and

present) who put up with tough leaders,

tough operations and got the job done.

This can be attributed to the people, the

training and the “Can Do” spirit all up

and down the line. During the operation

situation reports (SITREP) were

submitted daily. One such SITREP that

addressed the thinking of most divers

stated: “The individuals engaged in

SALVOPS MED diving operations have

been enthusiastic, devoted and tireless.

They could be capable of much more

versatile roles if they were furnished

adequate systems with which to work.

An integrated man-in-the-sea program

encompassing all continental shelf depths

could optimize the usefulness of the

talented people.”

H-Bomb on the ocean floor, completely covered by

its parachute.
2 0 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

ACROSS DOWN

4 We’re Home! (2 words)

7 Salvage Diver (2 words)

12 GMs (slang, 2 words, plural)

13 Those That render explosives safe (abbr.)

14 Junk Food (slang)

15 Man Overboard

17 Die-Lock or _______ (2 words)

19 Creamed hamburger on toast (slang)

20 Plague Stopper (2 words)

22 Merritt-Chapman and _____

23 On a whale and an anchor

26 Measure of water depth

29 Safety valve on a MK V diving helmet

31 Early abbreviation for lab at Panama City

32 Side sonar system, also constellation of

 the hunter

33 Enlisted rating badge

35 T-ATF 171

36 Type of anchor (abbr.)

38 5 Short

39 CONREP Sys (abbr.)

40 Dip the _____

Note: For a fee, you can use Crossword Weaver to print a nice copy of this puzzle (one that doesn’t look like a web page).

You can check it out for free by downloading the demo from www.CrosswordWeaver.com . For puzzle solution, see page 30.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

1 Popular Supervisor of Salvage,

 Black _______

2 More Than Full

3 Stern (slang)

5 CVN (slang, 2 words

6 Bogus Cleaning Agent (2 words)

8 Main Space Engineer (slang, 2 words)

9 Repetitive Dive Consideration (abbr.)

10 Senior Here (abbr.)

11 Stairs

16 Navigation instrument

18 DD (slang, 2 words)

19 Skivvie Waiver

21 Popa Topside

22 1939 sub lost, later salvaged by divers

24 Sewer Pipe (desig, old)

25 Sick List reported to the CO

27 Propeller

28 At the Dip

30 Type of underwater patch

31 Most senior diver designation (abbr.)

34 Number of view ports on a MK V

37 “You can trust your keel to the man

who wears the wheel” (abbr.)
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 2 1

Some of the recent observations fromthe system certification folks in

response to visits are recurring and others

are unique. We have listed some recurring

problems and some one-of-a-kind

problems that we thought might be

interesting to you.

5. DIVE SYSTEMS: All dive systems

must have their own assigned gas supply

and vice versa, each gas supply rack must

9. Dive System/DFS: When a command orders a spare or replacement part

from a vendor and the part received comes

in with a part number other than that called

out in the drawing, a Departure From

Specification (DFS) must be submitted to

00C3. This must be done when the command decides it must use the part received

because there is no longer the availability

of part (number) called out for in drawing. Do not wait to submit DFS until the

on-site survey team is conducting survey.

Paul McMurtrie is currently Deep Submergence and Saturation Diving Systems Certification Manager at NAVSEA 00C.

1. Number ONE recurring problem that

still persists is the lack of significant MDV

involvement prior to and during the

cert visit. Without exception, all the certification surveys have gone smoother

when the MDV has been significantly involved.

2. TRCS/LWDS: Using a 5000-PSI

compressor for jamming a 3000-PSI

Flasks without a relief valve on compressor or whip has been noticed at some commands. This is extremely dangerous and

is also ignoring a requirement IAW TRCS

Technical Manual OP-8 and LWDS Technical Manual OP-7. As an option, the

LWDS Roof Rack Assembly has a 3300-

psig relief valve and is designed for jamming bottles that are in this exact circumstance.

3. TRCS: BENT POPPET VALVE

STEM ON NATO MATING RING INTERLOCK: When mating the TRC to the

TL, caution must be taken when turning

the NATO manway ring. When rotating

the ring closed, do not “slam” the NATO

ring “into the stop.” Doing so has damaged a number of poppet valve stems,

which has resulted in a leaking valve.

4. TRCS: MATING THE SYSTEM:

This seems to be a common hurdle during

TRCS certification surveys. It is evident

that many lockers are not regularly performing this task as part of their TRCS

training. It is not only frustrating to the

SCA representative to witness repeated

mating attempts during the survey, but we

are sure a bit embarrassing for the diving

command. This is and always will be part

of the certification demonstration so ensure your locker is trained on this procedure.

6. TRCS Bulk O2

 Supply: If you are

going to use bulk O2 (i.e. O2 from any

other source but your rack assembly), the

whip from Bulk O2 to Rack Assembly

must have clean/hydro documentation and

check valve or properly sized relief valve

to prevent inadvertent over-pressurization

of bulk O2 sources. In addition, a sketch

of the whip assembly and associated material must be approved by 00C3. The reason for this requirement is the possibility

of over pressurization and the possibility

of using unauthorized materials in an O2

system. These same rules will apply for

any future use of the ORCA.

7. Missing OQE: During recent reviews of some REC packages, we have

been unable to find material OQE for parts

replaced. Where material OQE is required, it must be available for review.

For example, the required OQE for an O2

valve replacement is:

- Hydrostatic test data to 1.5 times the

 working pressure of the system

- Valve seat tightness test

- Valve cleanliness IAW Mil-Std 1330D

 or other NAVSEA approved cleaning

 procedure

- Requisition forms and supporting COC’s

 demonstrating that the valve ordered is

 in fact the valve received

- Proper torque requirements followed

 and accomplished correctly

Requisition forms or purchase orders

that have a supporting COC. If the

commands or contractors requisition form

states that the ordered valve will be

cleaned and tested as previously stated

and the supplier or manufacturer of the

valve provides a COC stating the part ordered under the specific requisition number meets those requirements then the requisition form and supporting COC will

suffice as adequate OQE.

be assigned to, and certified as part of an

entire DLSS. Gas supply racks cannot be

used in any certified DLSS unless those

racks are part of that system or part of

another already certified system.

8. Umbilical: Hydro and pull test not

accomplished IAW PMS periodicity.

10. Dive System/PMS: Commands are

not submitting PMS feedback reports

when they find maintenance problems or

inadequate PMS Coverage. Do not leave

it to the SCA rep to ask why a particular

maintenance action has not been accomplished as required in the quarterly schedule, or where the MIP is for a particular

piece of equipment.

Items of interest:

a. On some of the Bauer VT26-E3 compressors that provide 3000 psi service for

the FARCC, the inline check valve just

prior to the BPR has developed a crack in

the inlet body where a 1⁄4 NPT adapter is

threaded into it.

b. On some Swagelok hoses (stainless

steel wire braided hose used on LWDS and

CAOS gas racks) we have seen Stress

Corrosion Cracking taking place in the

swaged portion of the hose. Swagelok did

not advertise the fact that the swaged portion of the fittings is CRES 303.

c. When using a Haskel Pump, the

manufacture recommends using Diver

Quality Air for your drive air. This became evident on a Haskel pump that was

supplied unfiltered service air as its drive

air, and the pump became completely inoperable due to moisture contamination.

Another safety concern is not mixing hydrocarbon contaminated service air with

oxygen in the event that the seal separating the oxygen and air-drive pistons fails.
2 2 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

Salvage Master Dale Springer (DONJON Marine Services)

observing repositioning of Dredges during effort to refloat EXSHADWELL (LSD 15).

recognition. I told CDR Dave Davis (CO

NDSTC) and Captain Mark Helmkamp

(Supervisor of Diving) about the act and

asked what they would recommend for an

award if the act were performed under

their command. They both said it would

be a Navy and Marine Corps Medal. I then

asked what they thought the chances

would be for an award forty years after

the fact. CDR Davis said good luck and

Captain Helmkamp said, what can I do to

help. That started a year long endeavor by

Captain Helmkamp and myself to gather

official deck logs and affidavits

concerning the event. Eventually

SECNAV awarded the Navy and Marine

Corps Commendation Medal (for heroic

action) to my brother Greg. An award

ceremony was conducted at NDSTC and

the medal was presented by Captain Gary

Windhorst, Commanding Officer of the

Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal

and Diving (CENEODDIVE).

The citation read as follows:

For heroism while serving as a member

of the damage control fire party onboard

USS HARTLEY (DE 1029) on 9 February

1967, Naval Station Newport, Newport,

Rhode Island. As a result of routine

maintenance work, a Class Bravo fire broke

out in the Operations berthing compartment

and quickly became out of control. The

situation was critical, as the adjacent ship’s

magazines were at risk of exploding due to

the intense heat. After the primary hoseman

was unable to enter the burning compartment

due to the unbearable heat, flames and

smoke, Petty Officer Sullivan volunteered

to assume hoseman duties. Without regard

for his own safety, he entered the engulfed

space without any team members to assist

him and commenced fighting the fire. With

the ship developing a three-degree list from

the large amount of firefighting water

expended, Petty Officer Sullivan steadily

fought the fire, despite being temporarily

knocked unconscious when making contact

with a 440 alternate current power panel.

Knowing that the ship’s magazines were in

jeopardy of exploding, he shook off the

effects of the electric shock and was able to

extinguish the fire. The fire’s intensity was

so severe that nearby tugs moved USS

HARTLEY to a remote location in the harbor

to minimize potential damage to other

vessels. Petty Officer Sullivan’s bravery,

initiative, and willingness to risk his own

life in the face of extreme danger were a

true testament to his character. By his

courageous and prompt actions in the face

of great personal risk, Petty Officer Sullivan

saved USS HARTLEY from extensive

damage and saved the lives of his

crewmates, thereby reflecting great credit

upon himself and upholding the highest

traditions of the United States Naval

Service. Albeit forty years late, a Deep Sea

HOOYAH to Greg Sullivan.

Standing on the dock observing the rising sun, it was hard to imagine the

events that had occurred more than 7

months ago that brought SUPSALV and

the salvage team to Mobile Bay, AL. On

29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck

the Gulf Coast with devastating results

from Louisiana to Florida. In Mobile Bay,

sustained winds were measured at 58 mph

with gusts to 90 mph and a tidal surge of

12 feet. The damage to the local area was

extensive and recovery work was still being done more than 6 months after the hurricane.

At the north end of Mobile Bay, in a

cove on Little Sand Island, EX-USS

SHADWELL (LSD 15) and T/V STATE

OF MAINE (T-AP 198) were serving as

fire research and test platforms for the

Naval Research Laboratory and US Coast

Guard, respectively. On the morning of the

29 August, the forces of the hurricane were

more than their mooring systems could

handle and the ships were driven

northward.

EX-SHADWELL was moved approximately 100 yards north and rested on the

beach at the north end of the cove. T/V

STATE OF MAINE was driven 20 yards

north and 150 yards east until it rested on

a sand bar at the mouth of the cove.

An initial survey was conducted

in September by

SUPSALV and

DONJON Marine

(US Navy East Coast

Salvage Contractor).

Of immediate concern was the material

condition of EXSHADWELL’s hull.

Decommissioned in

1970, the ship had not

been dry docked since

then and had minimal

maintenance on the

external hull below

the water line. The

condition of T/V

STATE OF MAINE

was significantly better, due to the ship’s

continuous usage through 1997.

From the initial survey, a notional

salvage plan was developed which called

for the use of dredging to reduce

grounding forces and refloat the ships.

An opportunity was also identified to
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 2 3

conduct a joint salvage operation between

commercial assets (DONJON Marine and

local subcontracted assets) and US Navy

Salvage Forces (SUPSALV, ESSM, and

MOBILE DIVING AND SALVAGE

UNIT ONE, DET ONE), which would

reduce the cost of the salvage operation

to the US Government and provide

valuable salvage training and experience

to the US Navy participants.

USS GRAPPLE (ARS 53), in theater

participating in the Gulf Coast recovery

from Hurricane KATRINA, provided the

first post-hurricane depth survey of the

cove. This depth survey provided an

indication of the amount of dredging work

that would be required to refloat the ships.

GRAPPLE also provided additional input

on the material condition of the ships and

a situational report on the surrounding

waters.

Due to the poor material condition of

the hull, an in-depth survey of EXSHADWELL’s hull, including ultrasonic

testing, was conducted by GPC/PCCI (US

Navy contractors for ESSM support and

POSSE Modeling) in November 2005.

The survey documented considerable

corrosion of the hull below the waterline

and found that the longitudinals in this

same region were completely wasted at the

hull. This loss of the longitudinal stiffeners

meant that much of the bottom plating was

unsupported between the frames and

susceptible to buckling under compressive

loads.

Both hulls were modeled in SUPSALV’s Program of Ship Salvage

Engineering (POSSE) to calculate hull

stresses and to estimate the ground

reaction. POSSE’s versatility allowed for

hull corrosion and loss of structural

support to be figured into the strength

analysis of the hull girder. In EXSHADWELL’s case, buckling of the

bottom plating in compressive loading was

the dominant failure mode of concern and

the ship was estimated to be 4088 LT

aground. T/V STATE OF MAINE was

estimated to be 1800 LT aground and the

analysis yielded no significant concern for

the strength of the hull girder.

Concern for the potential of local

failure through plate buckling resulted

View of EX-SHADWELL (LSD 15) stern as dredge work proceeds on the port and starboard side of hull. Note channel created on port side to

facilitate salvage work to refloat ship.
2 4 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

in the development of a system to

monitor very small deflections of EXSHADWELL’s hull. This system, the Hull

Girder Laser Monitoring System, uses a

surveyor’s laser level and a laser sensing

target to measure changes in the hull at

multiple defined points, which are then

used to calculate stress in the hull. This

system proved to be simple to operate,

produced reliable data, and was accurate

to within 1/16 an inch over the length of

the well deck.

With the completion of a hydrographic

survey of the bottom topography and

soil core samples, the Salvage Plan was

finalized. In general, the salvage plan

called for a commercial dredge to remove

bottom material from around the hulls,

allowing the ships to settle into the water,

and thereby reducing the ground reaction.

T/V STATE OF MAINE was grounded aft

with the bow cantilevered over the ship’s

previous mooring position. After first

dressing up the mooring with the dredge,

Salvage Team survey’s underside of EX-SHADWELL (LSD 15) in preparation for start of

salvage ops.

the stern was to be dredged until the

ground force was estimated to be 150 LT.

This would allow beach gear to pull the

ship free of the bar and then be

repositioned it in its moor by tugs.

EX- SHADWELL was to first have the

mid-section of its hull freed from the

bottom via a combination of dredging and

jetting by MDSU Divers, then to have the

stern dredged. Dredging at the stern was

designed to roll the ship upright from its

7.75° starboard list and then to lower the

stern into the water. Once the stern was

free or lightly supported, the bow would

be freed from the beach. This sequence of

dredging was intended to maintain the

bottom plating in tension for most of the

salvage operation and to minimize the

magnitude and time the bottom plating

would be in compression.

On 2 April 2006, personnel from ESSM

arrived on the scene to receive and offload Salvage Gear shipped from the ESSM

Facility in Cheatham Annex, VA. Working

with US Coast Guard Fire Safety and

Test Det, Mobile, the equipment was

transported to the site of operations on

Little Sand Island. During this same time,

MOBILE DIVING AND SALVAGE

UNIT ONE, DET ONE arrived to assist

in beach set-up, conduct dive surveys,

and commence removal of known

obstructions to dredging.

Dredging commenced on 11 April

2006. From the beginning, it was evident

Jetting in-progress from utility barges moored next to EX-SHADWELL.
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 2 5

Rick Thiel is currently the Salvage Engineer

at NAVSEA 00C.

that the amount of debris on the bottom

was going to have a significant impact

on the progress of dredging operations.

MDSU Divers were in the water nearly

every day removing obstructions and

unfouling the dredge. Each job could

take from a few hours to a few days.

As dredging proceeded on T/V

STATE OF MAINE, the clay bottom

composition began to have a significant

impact on the operation. Not only was

the clay more difficult than sand to cut

through and pump with the dredge, the

compacted clay underneath the hull was

able to continue supporting the weight

of the ship. Only after achieving cutting

depths to 30 ft and angling the cut to

extend under the hull, was an extreme

low tide able to adequately load the

column of clay under the hull and cause

it to collapse. On the morning of 5 May

2006, T/V STATE OF MAINE was freed

from its strand by beach gear set up and

operated by MDSU. Local tugs were then

used to move the ship to its previous

mooring location.

Emphasis now shifted to EXSHADWELL. Two weeks earlier,

MDSU ONE began jetting under the

mid-section of the hull from a utility

barge loaded with jetting pumps and

support equipment, and moored alongside

the ship. MDSU ONE Divers jetted using

traditional Navy equipment and were

successful in quickly removing

the bottom material composed of sand. The task proved

more daunting when all that

remained was the Alabama

clay. Undeterred, the Divers

developed numerous methods to

successfully complete removal of

the clay.

The next phase of the plan

involved removal of material

along the port side of the hull

using an extended arm excavator.

To accomplish this, a large hill

of spoil material needed to be

moved more than 80 yards to the

north. This allowed the trench to

be widened so that a small dredge could

be employed to create a channel on the port

side

The plan worked so well that the big

dredge was able to move into the newly

created port channel and remove material

at a depth of almost 30 ft. Dredging

continued for 6 weeks, progressively

lowering the stern into the water. On

the morning of 26 June 2006, EXSHADWELL floated free. The hull was

MDSU-1, Det 1 works to set up beach gear to assist

refloating of T/V STATE OF MAINE.

MDSU-1, Det 1 divers prepare to descend on debris fouling dredge involved with work on

T/V STATE OF MAINE.

moved by a team of local tugs to its new

mooring location at the south end of the

cove.

A temporary 8 point mooring system

was established using the ship’s bow

anchors and 6 mooring legs. The mooring

legs were created from existing anchor and

chain that was on the island and with 10”

line provided from ESSM.

The salvage operation of EXSHADWELL and T/V STATE OF MAINE

took 13 weeks to complete and successfully combined commercial assets and US

Navy Salvage Forces to refloat the two test

ships. MDSU ONE provided critical

services to the project at a substantial costs

savings to the US Government. MDSU

ONE statistics for the operation included

220 man-hours of diving, over 20,000 lbs

of debris removed, mobilization of 65 tons

of ESSM equipment, and the successful

safe rigging and employment of 2 legs of

beach gear.

This salvage operation was successful

in that it returned assets back to the Navy

and Coast Guard for continued use and

provided valuable training and experience

to US NAVY Salvage Forces. This salvage

operation also demonstrated and reinforced the ability of US Navy Salvage to

respond to domestic natural disasters with

a robust multi-compositional salvage team

that is adept at performing difficult large

scale salvage.
2 6 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

Who we are and what we do is bestexplained by our mission statement. “To provide a friendly annual

gathering of Deep Sea Divers, commercial and military, retired and active to

foster and maintain the camaraderie that

we all uniquely share that is inherent to

the occupation to which we are proud.”

We hold an annual reunion that

continues to grow each year. Since 1993,

our Reunion attendance has increased

from approximately 100 to over 500

attendees. Held in Chesapeake at the

Fleet Reserve Association Branch 40,

we provide a camping area for tents,

“pop-ups”, and RV’s. The gates open

at noon for food, beverage, games, and

entertainment. We sell Divers Recall

merchandise and provide display areas

for our invited guests, local diving

organizations. During the day we have a

DJ and tournaments such as horseshoes,

volleyball, and tug of war. During the

evening we have a live band with a

dancing area and ask that all children be

off premises. To provide shelter, there are

tents covering the dining area, band, and

dancing area. We have a drawing for an

authentic Mark V Diving helmet. Tickets

are available through our web site

www.diversrecall.org for a $10 donation,

and you need not be present to win. We

will ship the helmet to your choice of

destination at no cost to you. We have

attendees from all over the U.S. and other

parts of the world. The reunion is open

to ALL divers, not just military and

commercial.

Admission at the gate is as follows:

Single $20

Couple $25

Family $30

To raise funds for our annual event,

we hold a fundraiser the last Friday of

each month. Additionally, we request

sponsorship from various diving companies, dive lockers, and business. The sponsor receives advertisement in the form of

a “hot link” from our website to theirs.

We also display banners if sponsors wish

to provide at the Reunion.

For more information please visit our

web site, www.diversrecall.org.

SUPSALV SENDS

(“SUPSALV Sends” continued from p. 2)

previously removed) due to topside

weight, and it sank unceremoniously

“wheels up” in the soft river mud. Two

weeks later, I was on scene with a small

SCUBA team assembled from available

divers from SRF Subic and Diego Garcia.

We’d arrived by T-ATF towing a lift-barge

(with a 40-ton crane temporarily welded

aboard) and two pusher boats to maneuver

the barge up the shallow river and deploy

the four mooring legs. There was a degree

of military urgency to the mission as

members of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA

– a Filipino communist rebel group which

several months earlier assassinated U.S.

military members) were reported in the

area, and we only had small arms defenses.

Our salvage plan consisted of using

our four member SCUBA dive team to

place a wire-rope “choker” around the

main rotor head of the inverted helicopter, then take tension and slowly rotate the

helo out of the mud with the crane, lift it

clear of the river and on deck. But during

the two weeks prior to our arrival, the rotor head sank into the soft mud of the river

bottom, and on the first dive it became

clear that we’d have to tunnel through the

mud to get to the rotor head. HT1 “Brick”

Bradford was our first diver who upon

surfacing reported the bottom conditions

and that the rotor head was sunken below

arm’s reach into the soft mud. Soon after

we began constructing a make-shift jetting capability he recommended we make

the lift instead by attaching slings to the

accessible landing gear. I decided against

that plan, as I didn’t believe the landing

gear would support the mud-suction loads

associated with freeing the rotor head and

upper fuselage. So Bradford went to work

tunneling in soft mud to get to the rotor

head. In SCUBA. After repeated “caveins,” and reverse tunneling to free himself, we still had made little progress. I

splashed next to give it a try. I should have

listened to Bradford’s advice. It was a

near-impossible task with the tools and

equipment we were using, and it was a violation of both common sense and the Navy

Diving Manual. After a short but futile

effort, I finally exercised some better judgment and changed plans. We rigged to the

landing gear instead (as previously recommended), and sure enough – slowly –

the CH-53D broke free of the mud and

we landed her on deck. Upside down,

damaged by the effort, but out of the river

and with no diver casualties.

Lessons learned? Several that I’ve

kept front and center since: (1) Don’t get

so mission-focused that you ignore or

violate established procedures and good

judgment (in short, don’t be stupid). (2)

Listen carefully to the collective wisdom

of the assembled dive team. (3) Be willing to risk further damage to an already

broken airplane to protect diver safety.

There are plenty of others, but I’ll never

forget those.

Elsewhere in this edition of Faceplate, you’ll find an article regarding

an underwater injury that occurred

during heavy-rigging supporting underwater ship husbandry operations. The

message? Even in the midst of mission

success, take stock around you, and

don’t let any mishaps or close calls get

ignored. Identify them, analyze them

for root causes, establish root cause

corrections, and advertise them through

Naval Safety Center’s new WESS, and

FACEPLATE so others can learn. Aggressively attack all opportunity for COMPLACENCY to get a foothold into your

dive locker.

Have you held your dive locker’s

“Ten Foot Safety Stop” yet...or are you

too successful?

P.S. Hard as it is to believe, it has

been my privilege and honor to be

a Navy Diver for the past 25 years

and in the Navy for almost 3 decades.

I’ll be turning over the SUPSALV

reigns on 29 September 2006 to

Captain Rich Hooper, an outstanding

leader and diving and salvage officer.

Hoo-yah, Deep Sea!
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 2 7

Navy pioneer’s life,

career led by determination

444...MDV Brashear...444

NORFOLK — Even while dying, CarlMaxie Brashear seemed unwilling to

let go of a life built on determination.

“Even though his lungs failed him,

man, his heart was still beating,” Phillip

Brashear said Saturday at his father’s

funeral.

Carl Brashear, who died Tuesday at the

age of 75, defied racism to

become the Navy’s first black

deep-sea diver. He lost a leg in

a shipboard accident, then

became the first amputee to

return to active duty as a diver.

His story inspired the movie

“Men of Honor.”

About 780 people filled

the Little Creek Amphibious

Base Chapel for Saturday’s

service.

Retired Master Chief K.

Lemount King told the congregation that a television show

on Brashear’s accomplishments inspired

him as a teenager to become a master diver.

“Carl showed us what a human being

is capable of when he’s faced with overwhelming odds,” he said.

The service even attracted those who

never met Brashear. Wally Cotten came from

his home in Suffolk and sat in the back of

the church in an extra row of chairs.

“I had to be here,” Cotten said. “I know

what he went through.”

Cotten joined the Navy in 1956 - eight

years after Brashear - and said he often dealt

with racism as the only black man in outfits

of 100 or more sailors.

Brashear’s perseverance was only part

of the story . A grainy black-and-white photo

on the back of Saturday’s funeral program

made this clear.

In the photo, Brashear is jogging in

shorts and a hooded sweatshirt. His head is

down. He appears to be struggling. The

photographer caught him as the shoe on his

prosthetic leg is about to hit ground.

Under the picture are Brashear’s words:

“I ain’t gonna let nobody steal my dream.”

Such single-minded focus came out in

a story that Brashear’s son DaWayne told

about Sept. 11, 2001. DaWayne said he was

working as a flight attendant that day for

United Airlines. After hearing of the attacks

on the World Trade Center, Brashear called

United Airlines and stayed on the phone for

an hour and 45 minutes.

“He wouldn’t let them hang up that

phone until it was confirmed that

I was OK,” DaWayne said.

In the eulogy, retired Master

Chief Conley White recalled his

first impression of Brashear, back

in 1984. “When he entered the

building I knew he was someone

of enormous stature and importance,” White said.

Brashear carried himself as

someone who demanded respect,

but in a way that wasn’t overbearing or arrogant. He was

humble yet oozed with confidence,

White said.

“The amazing thing about him was, a

man of his stature, yet he was approachable,”

White said.

Brashear never turned down an

opportunity to inspire a young sailor, said

Hakim Diaz , Command Master Chief at the

base. In retirement he became a pen pal to

amputees. “It’s OK to fall down, as long as

you get back up,” he liked to tell his sons.

“He stood for what we all should

believe in our hearts,” Phillip Brashear said.

Reach Dave Forster at (757) 222-5563

or dave.forster@pilotonline. com.

 The Virginian-Pilot © July 30, 2006

 By David Forster

How did the “black fish,” which ispainted on the bow of only one type

of ship in the U.S. Navy, the Submarine

Rescue Ship (ASR), come to be used?

What is the true history of this insignia?

Efforts to find answers to these

questions have created quite a puzzle!

No official directive authorizing this

insignia can be located. After a search

of Naval Historical Records, the files

of the Submarine Force Library and

Museum in New London, and Library of

Congress, nothing more than a picture of

one the first commissioned ASR’s could

be found. Finally, bits and pieces of

information, collected from some of those

who had served on these ships, were put

together to form answers.

Although the following story is

not recorded as true documentation,

it represents our facts collected on the

events concerning the history of the

“black-fish insignia.” After you have

read our version of this historical

insignia, perhaps you will verify this or

drop us a line and tell us your version.

* * *

In 1882, a diving school was

established at the U.S. Naval Torpedo

Station in Newport, Rhode Island by

a retired Chief Gunner’s Mate, Jacob

Anderson. At that time, the Chief trained

volunteer divers by recovering practice

torpedoes fired from the station’s

tubes. As the story goes, the divers devised

and displayed a flag from their boat to

signify the recovery of torpedoes. At

first, this flag was a black torpedo-like

symbol against a white background with

a red border. It wasn’t long after this

that the divers called these torpedoes by

the nickname “fish,” because these

“fish”were all over the bottom of the

river, and they did resemble a long

fish-like objects. Logically, it follows

that the symbol on the flag was replaced

by a fish-like object, with a torpedo-like

shape.

The Black Fish
2 8 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

Irecently attended a briefing in Wash-

 ington at the Army and Navy Club to

hear about the Ocean Technology

Foundation’s upcoming search for the

remains of the Bonhomme Richard, which

was captained by U.S. naval hero John

Paul Jones. On September 23, 1779, Jones

engaged HMS SERAPIS in one of the

most memorable battles in U.S. Naval

History. It was during this three and a half

hour fight, most of it taking place at point

blank range, that Jones shouted his

legendary words, “I have not yet begun

to fight!” Ultimately, he emerged victorious and took control of Serapis. Bonhomme

Richard had served him well, but 36

hours later Jones watched his ship disappear beneath the waters of the North Sea.

I was impressed with this event’s

outstanding presentations by Peter

Reaveley, expert on the battle of the

BONHOMME RICHARD and HMS

SERAPIS, and Evan Thomas, author of

the bestselling book John Paul Jones:

Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy

and Assistant Managing Editor at

Newsweek. The expedition is getting

underway in July and I understand from

CAPT Jack Ringelberg, President of the

OTF, that funding is sufficient to operate

for three weeks at sea. Their probability

numbers indicate that six weeks is ideal

for best search success. I commend this

effort to you all, remembering that John

Paul Jones is the Father of the United States

Navy and if you read Evan Thomas’s book,

you’ll discover that Jones seemed to

possess many of the traits that deep-sea

divers are known for when conducting

themselves ashore. Articles about the

upcoming expedition have been featured

in Naval History magazine, the

Surface Navy Association’s Surface

SITREP, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s

Bulletin and other publications, but for

a complete description, please visit

www.bonhommerichard.org.

NOTE: Captain Jack Ringelberg was the

first Commanding Officer of the U.S. Navy

Experimental Diving Unit at its present

location in Panama City, FL.

Jim Bladh

Managing Editor

FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR

At the start of the twentieth century

(about October 1900), our first submarine

was commissioned as the USS

HOLLAND (SS-1). When the submarine

went to sea to conduct trials, it was

escorted by a small craft. The mission of

this escort was: to standby in case of an

emergency while the submarine was

submerged; to act as a safety vessel by

patrolling the operational area to warn

ships and other smaller craft to keep clear

of the submarine operating area; and, to

recover practice torpedoes fired by the

submarine.

At this time in history, there

was no international flag signal to

signify that a submarine was conducting

operations. Seemingly, because of the

lack of any other flag signal, the small submarine escort displayed

the same “black-fish

insignia”as was displayed

at the Newport torpedo

firing range.

When our Navy began

to operate more submarines further and further

from their home bases, we

came to realize the need

for Submarine Rescue

Ships. These ships would

have to range far and

conduct submarine rescue

and salvage operations

whenever needed. To meet

this need, the U.S. Navy converted six

minesweepers (the AM type) and

commissioned all six of them on 12

September 1929. As soon as these ASR’s

joined the Fleet, they assumed the role as

“guardians of submarines,” and they

adopted the “black-fish insignia.” It

became traditional to paint this insignia

on al the ASR-type ships.

During World War I and the years

immediately after, this insignia stopped

appearing on most of the ASR’s probably

due to the heavy work schedules during

the war and the mass reduction of

manpower that followed. The insignia

began to reappear in the early 1950’s.

(A former officer on one of the

ASR’s remembered the insignia being

repainted on the bow after a noticeable

period of absence. He recalled the First

Lieutenant finding guidance on the

size and location of the insignia in the

Painting Instructions for the ASR type.)

A recent letter from the Commanding

Officer of the USS KITTIWAKE (ASR

13), LCDR R.F. James, USN, advised that

guidance for displaying the insignia is

contained in the NAVSHIPS Technical

Manual, paragraph 9190.152, and

NAVSHIPS Plan No. S-2804-860-342.

Today, the “black fish,” which has

existed “on” and “off” for almost a century

in our Navy, can be seen on the ASR types.

This insignia represents the proud heritage

of our Navy divers from their earliest days

in small boats to the ocean-going ASR

types of the present.

How did the “black fish,” which is painted

on the bow of only one type of ship in the

U.S. Navy, the Submarine Rescue Ship

(ASR), come to be used?
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 2 9

Recently, I traveled to the SalvageESC in Washington, DC where

SUPDIVE asked if I would write an article

for this column. My first thought was “Oh,

hell no,” only the ole guys retiring get to

write those articles, then SUPDIVE politely reminded me that I am not getting

any younger.

I toiled over what to write about for

quite some time. I really wanted to write

about one of my past dive jobs, but to be

honest it has been several years since the

Navy has used me in that capacity. Just

like the day will come that I will retire,

the day has passed that I am as smart or

sharp as the newest breed of Master

Divers. However, the weathering of and the

tarnish on my

dive pin has

prepared me

for my last job

in the Navy, as

a Command

Master Chief

(NEC 9580).

Therefore, the

topic I chose to

write about is

leadership, and

doing the right

thing!

 Throughout

our careers we

make choices.

It may seem

that early on

that those

choices are

made for us.

As a young 2nd

Class diver, I

was arrogant,

cocky, and my

mouth was always getting

me in trouble.

In doing so, I

always seemed

to land the

worst set of orders, or at least

so it seemed.

The Chiefs and

By MDV Richard Bettua

Master Divers who I thought were doing

me a disservice by getting me orders

onboard ships and in overseas dive lockers were in fact setting me up for success

early on. These Supervisors of yesteryear

did not pamper young sailors by constantly saying yes. In retrospect, they did

the “right thing” and prepared sailors for

future assignments. Therefore, eventually

replacing themselves.

Recently a friend and co-worker

of mine went to the Senior Enlisted

Academy, and while there, he noticed

that since the school’s opening, only

5 Master Divers had attended. I would

like to say this to those who are eligible

but have not yet attended, how can

you ask our young divers to go above

and beyond if you are not willing

to do so? Master Divers are shortchanging themselves and our community by thinking they do not need

this additional leadership training. Our

qualification as the “Technical Master”

in the field of Navy Diving is just a

stepping stone. The writing is on the

wall that future advancements will

require College Degrees and Advanced

Leadership Training.

With the advent of the Navy

Diver Rating (ND), our community

needs to align so that young sailors

will always have upward mobility. It is

imperative that we have more Senior

Leaders grasp the reigns and assist in

driving the Navy Diving program. Our

three new Command Master Chief

positions are just the beginning and

hopefully soon we will get a Force

Master Diver position at Fleet Forces

Command. After that, the sky is the

limit and a Master Diver may someday

be the Master Chief Petty Officer of the

Navy!

MDV Bettua fishing!

MDV Bettua is currently assigned to

MDSU 1
3 0 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

CROSSWORD PUZZLE SOLUTION

J

a

k

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s

C o r n e r Corne By Rick Armstrong
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 3 1

Red Diver; Topside...

From the Supervisor of Diving

 Captain Mark Helmkamp, USN

My Last Faceplate...

On 27 October at 1300, aboardUSS Wisconsin (BB-64) I will retire,

ending 26 years as a US Navy Diver. That

date will also mark the beginning of my

new career as Class Manager for the TARS and T-ATF class ships for the Military Sealift Fleet Support Command in

Norfolk. Hopefully, we will have cool

weather for the ceremony aboard the

Whisky Boat; I initially considered a date

in September, but that idea was soundly

rejected by the little lady and my daughter “The Gator”. Gator is a bright young

woman but (to paraphrase Cory Farley)

she can pack four syllables of abuse into

the word “hot” in a way that makes me

question our rejection of corporal punishment.

Since you are reading this, you must

be on Faceplate distribution (or stole the

magazine – and that’s OK) and are in or

an extended member of the Navy Diving

family – and as such, please consider yourself invited to my retirement ceremony,

even you Faceplate thieves out there. At

first, I planned on slipping out without a

ceremony, but MDV Paul Schadow and

MDV Steve Smith both informed me that

I was a numbskull and would soon regret

that decision. And since I respect the opinion of all MDVs (well, maybe not MDV

Brick Bradford – JK, JK) I decided to do

the deed, but only if SUPSALV, Captain

Jim Wilkins, agreed to yap as guest yapper.

Besides, MDV Fred Orns put me in a headlock until I agreed to have a ceremony.

After a few seconds of a close-up visit with

the die-lock chain (NOT stud-link you

non-salvage pukes) tattooed around his biceps, I figured heck, why not? We’ll meet

at Jillian’s after a brief ceremony and

shake hands and slap backs. Please join

me.

It’s been a great deal of fun organizing and putting together this magazine

(especially the crossword puzzle in this

issue) and I reluctantly turn over editorial

and management responsibilities to Jim

Bladh. But I will remember fondly the bile

rising in Jim Wilkins’ throat and the constriction of his pupils after I told him I put

a centerfold in my first Faceplate. The

color returned to his face after I told him

it was of the MK V hat plans rather than

MDV Storment in a studded, leather

thong.

A hearty “Thank You” to all of you

DVs out there “on the side” that tolerated

my incessant whining for articles and

“hi-rez” photos of diving operations – you

were very convincing and I almost believe

you didn’t mind my nagging – good

job, I’m at peace. Also, I appreciate

Comradette Zoya Gorbunova’s tireless efforts in keeping up with my maddening

habit of constantly changing articles, last

minute edits and selection and placement

of photographs – thank you, Zoya (and

Geoff, Otto and the U-Boot Kommander

too!).

It’s been a genuine blast being a

US Navy Diver these past 26 years - I have

great friends, I’ve had great experiences

throughout the world, I’ve stored a

vast compilation of unabridged -

well...embellished sea-stories in my peabrain, and I have the requisite tattoo; time

to move on. I am very excited about working with the Military Sealift Command and

the professional civilian mariners that

crew our USNS ships. They love to go to

sea and one, Captain Tom Schwinn, has

already offered great insight through his

definition of the term ocean; “A large body

of water surrounded by trouble.”

Thank You: To “My Name is Robert

August Barth”, the only guy I will ever

know who actually was on the television

show “What’s My Line?” (thanks for the

“Barth Burgers”), Diamond Jim Bladh,

Coop the Deep-Sea Weasel and the

NOAA/Aquarius gang (THANKS for the

opportunity to SAT with ya’ll), MDV

Frederick the Great (YOU should fight

crime!), Christopher Cyrus, K2, KL,

Sully-Mon (you really should ride a BMW

K1200GT instead of that loud, nasty

hawg), Super Dave, Uncle Dave, Bosn’

Ed (of “Delanoy Shoals” fame), Ragman

(in Heaven’s Dive Locker), Richard Scott

and Krissy (Masters of His Most Royal

Fatness, Bosco), Capn’ Gym (the greatest

CO of Reclaimer ever...except for me, and

MAYBE Paul Bruno), Woody, Joel the

Rambling Wreck, Silas (throwing nickels

around like they were man-hole covers)

EOD Paul (he retained ALL ten digits

throughout his career!), EOD Dru (yea,

EOD divers ARE better looking than hardhats, OK?), Dr. Ross, Dr. John, Dr. Ed,

Doc “Bobbie”, Captain Fleck-man, Bru

(NO partying with you; Bad Dog! Sit!),

Doc “Row-He-Lee-Oh” Garcia, JR, “Arc

Man” Glennster Rubin, Xerx the DeepSea Bubble-Head, JPJ, “Piggy”, Butch,

Trombone Frank, Mark V, MDV Chuck,

MDV Pete, TK, Deep “C” Mikey Ward,

UK Mike, Brit Dave, my British counterpart Chris, Speedster driver Buck the Brit,

Walker the Stalker and his naturally aspirated big block, Fraulein Anke, Young

Deep-Sea Citizens Vanzant & Griffin,

Kasler (where’s your Rolex?), Ranger

Griz, Ed the SEAL, Junky, Leet the Great,

A neophyte Deep-Sea Diver circa 1980.
3 2 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

Furr the Lesser, Herby, MDV Paul

“Aloha”, MDV Skeletor, Starky, Captain

Bobbie S, Bubble Bob, the other

“Kamper”, MDV Lyle, Capn’ Terry,

Vinchenzo Frag my gumba, Neil-Bob

in P’Cola, Red-Light Sandy, Sweat-Pump,

Glennster, Chip Chase (the most efficient

dive re-qual organizer in this sector of

the galaxy), and finally my Dive School

SCUBA partner from 26 years ago,

Gentleman Jim Wilkins, my Miss Kathie

and many, many others up and down

the umbilical and over and around the side

for all these years – thanks for the memories!

honorary Navy Divers at the Green Derby

Bar & Grill were not “official” and therefore, Cuba Gooding, Jr. was still the first,

I thought MDV Brashear was going to

have a stroke he was laughing so hard.

Certainly MDV Brashear had a

strong case for being bitter, but after

having met him, I must to tell you that he

exhibited nothing of the sort, and instead

was a supremely pleasant and personable

man. I’m glad I met him; rest in peace

Carl.

tell you about things they did that

‘till this day they can’t talk about,

although others can write about.

Their tales would be something to hear.

There’s not a one of us who at one time or

another hasn’t experienced something that

will remain in our memory bank for the

rest of our life.

High excitement memories are what

makes for great stories, however I have

found that as you approach old age, (approach it hell, when you’re smack in the

middle of it) you begin to think about the

one thing that makes for far better memories than a dive in some far away place.

No, what slowly begin to show up in your

thought process are the folks you have met

and worked with during your career.

I have had one of the best diving experiences anyone could ask for. I got to

do stuff that few were able to do, go places

that few had gone before, and now that

it’s all over, I take great delight in remembering those who traveled that road with

me. I would probably never tell you to

your face what a great person I thought

you were, I won’t reveal to you the respect and admiration I had for you, and I

sure as hell would never tell you of the

things you did that I will fondly remember. If I thought of you as one great individual, I sure would never tell you to your

face. Hairy-chested Navy deep sea divers

just don’t do that kind of thing.

As my life gets simpler, as I have less

to do, I have more time to reflect on the

folks I worked with and what an important part of my life they were. I worked

MDV Brashear...4-4-4

 About the time I was ready to send

this issue to press, I received word

through MDV Ken Brown and others that

MDV Carl Brashear had been hospitalized and was near death. By now most all

of you know that MDV Brashear left bottom on Tuesday, 25 July and made his

ascent to the great Dive Locker in the sky.

We received permission from the Virginia

Pilot to copy his obituary in this issue.

In 2000, when I was CO of the Dive

School, I was fortunate to have met MDV

Brashear in Washington, DC at a premier

showing of the movie “Men of Honor”.

On stage with SECDEF, SECNAV, and

the CNO, I proudly presented him the new

and improved MDV certificate we developed while down in Panama City. Along

with our CMC, MDV John Schnoering, I

presented Cuba Gooding, Jr. a certificate

making him an honorary US Navy 2nd

Class Diver. MDV Schnoering jabbed a

2C pin on Gooding’s lapel while I

remarked that Gooding was the first

officially so honored. When I mentioned

that the bar maids previously made

Just before going to press, the Institute of Diving (IOD) has decided to focus

their effort on erecting a Jake at NDSTC

in Panama City instead at the old location

of the NSDS and NEDU at the Washington Navy Yard. This decision was based

on the high cost associated with site preparation required to support the combined

weight of the statue and pedestal. See Bob

Barth’s letter below for an update on the

project and how you might contribute.

Meanwhile, the Homeland Security

Policy Information Group (HSPIG) is

forging ahead with plans to erect a Jake at

the WNY location. Ken Dreger of HSPIG

wrote me providing details on their efforts,

including production of a film to document the process. Ken’s letter is below

and within it you’ll find their website and

associated links. Initial, conceptual architectural renderings of the WNY location

are pretty impressive.

To both groups, I say: “Give it

hell!”

Letters to the Editor...

Sea Stories and Great Memories

from Bob Barth

WNY and NDSTC “Jake” Projects

alongside some giants, not many of them

could earn the title of “Simple Men”; they

were far from that. But loyalty and dedication seem appropriate; great shipmates

sort of fit in there someplace. Some of them

are still alive today, some are still in the

Navy, some are retired and working in the

diving fraternity someplace or another but

far too many are gone and I never had a

chance to tell them how much their friendship meant to me. We seem to be spending

too much time putting them in the ground

or spreading their ashes off the fantail of

some vessel. What remains is, they are still

alive in my mind and have a lot to do with

providing the best memories I could ever

hope for.

The one thing that Navy divers are

fond of is telling stories. During a career

in diving, it is certainly no problem finding things to spin yarns about. Diving has

its mystique, excitement and in a lot of

cases the experiences that make for some

great tales – and on special occasions –

some of these tales are even known to be

true. There’s not a one of us that can’t tell

great stories about events we were involved with during our underwater career;

there’s even a group out there that could

A wizened Deep-Sea Driver, circa 2006.
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 3 3

Not too far from where I live is a

cemetery where my best friend is buried.

I drive down the road several times a week

and seldom do I not say out loud as I pass

by “Hey Wilbur”, then after a short pause

I might add “I miss you, pal.” Then, for

some reason I added, “Say hi to everyone.” Those of you who knew Wilbur will

surely understand why I have some great

memories of him – Wilbur Henry Eaton

was just that kind of a guy and I can tell

you one thing, he is the great provider of

many things I think about.

A few weeks ago we took Frank

Buski out to sea to spread his ashes. It was

a windy day, not the kind of weather for

spreading ashes. After a short ceremony,

Fernando Lugo kneeled over the side and

let Frank back into the sea. With the wind

like it was, a lot of us went home with

some of Frank on our clothes. No one

minded and I swear I heard Frank and

Wilbur chuckling somewhere close by. A

lot of young sailors have a lot to thank

Buski for. Come to think of it, they are

not young sailors any more. Frank Buski

is another provider of good memories.

A few years ago I passed through Bat

Cave, North Carolina and stopped by the

graves of Doctor and Mrs. George Bond.

They are buried side-by-side in the

churchyard not too far from the clinic

where, as a country doctor, he practiced

medicine. Now, here is that giant of a man

who has provided material for great

memories, a big bunch of memories for

not just for me but a hell of a lot of people

who were part of the things George Foote

Bond wanted to do in life. Bond was the

man who provided me the most exciting

experiences I could have ever imagined.

I had a lot to say as I stood there and was

sad because I don’t think I ever took the

time to tell him when he was alive, what

he did for me, what I thought of him, let

alone thank him. My life and memories

are chock full of neat things we did when

we worked for that man.

Some many years ago I was at the

real NEDU in Washington, DC and

worked with a guy known as Andy.

Memories, my God, have I got some stories to tell about Lester Everett Anderson

– some I could even write about in this

article. Andy left a lot of memories with a

lot of divers. He and I made a 200-foot

dive together with a bottom time of a bit

over 16,000 minutes, all of which generated stories that have given me many a

smile these past 41 years. Tell me the name

of one man who couldn’t tell the same kind

of story about Andy. Lester Anderson died

in his sleep a few short years ago.

Fortunately, a lot of the people who

made an impact on my life are still around.

They continue to add chapters of things

to remember and their thoughts, as mine,

travel back those many years and give us

a lot of great stories to tell when we see

each other. I am blessed to have known

them all. Late at night I can push the

“Great Memories Button” and entertain

myself for hours with things that happened

while I was a Diver in Uncle Sam’s Navy.

My list of notable men could go on for

hours and even then only a small group

will have been covered. I mentioned four;

they are gone now and deserve honorable

mention. But there are hundreds who have

also made that contribution.

I am told that elders have the responsibly to pass on words of wisdom to those

who follow in our footsteps. I never considered that I had a great deal of wisdom

that I could pass on. But I can tell you for

sure that what you do today, how you conduct your life, what you personally contribute to your diving career will make a

big difference to someone some day as

they begin to look back on their life as a

Navy Diver. The more you put into it, the

better it gets. What you do today is something that someone most likely will remember down the road. If you make it

worthwhile and honorable, you will be remembered for the good you did and the

esteem in which you are held by your

peers.

Last year when I encountered my second Navy retirement, it had been 55 years

since I got into this racket. Can you imagine all the great stories I could tell? Now

if I could just remember the damn things.

For those of you who are still at it, stop

for a moment and think about it: is what

you do today going to provide someone

with fond memories? How you present

yourselves can make a big difference to

not only yourself but everyone around

you. Whether you realize it or not, yours

is a story that might be told in

years to come by those around

you right now, give them something they will proudly remember. I have

a lot of good stories to tell but most of

them are about guys who are still alive and

I don’t want to embarrass them, more importantly I would never want them to think

I held them in a special place. Divers don’t

do that kind of stuff.

You are a Diver because at one time

or another in your life you saw a Diver at

work, were witness to his daily routine as

a Diver, saw a diving movie, saw some

Diver sitting around with his UDT shorts

on doing nothing inspirational, whatever

it was, you decided that you had to be part

of all. Whatever your motivation, you became a diver and it is now that you may

inspire someone else who might want to

follow in your footsteps, what he sees in

you might make a big difference to his future. And while I’m talking about future,

you are tasked with making someone’s

memories good ones, too. A diving pin on

your chest does not necessarily make you

a Navy Diver; that distinction has to be in

your heart.

As you look back on your life make

sure that when you get into the last part of

it you can feel comfortable in thinking “I

made that bunch of guys glad they were

divers and glad they knew me.” Tomorrow when you show up for work make it

the best day you ever had and give your

shipmates some great memories.

Bob Barth

Anniversary of DSS Mishaps...from

RDML Timme

Twenty-four years ago, on 16 January 1982, men from the USS GRAYBACK (SS 574) were performing routine

dive training operations. Such operations

had been conducted safely for over a decade. Inside one of the boat’s two large

diving chambers, six divers awaited reentry into the submarine. During an improperly conducted chamber draindown process, the divers lost consciousness when a vacuum was created, and five

subsequently drowned. One man survived

when his arm hooked over a valve, keeping his head out of the water after he collapsed. The Navy review concluded that
3 4 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

“the accident...was the result of a combination of design deficiency, material defect, unsound operating procedures, and

personnel error.”

Thirty-three years ago, on 17 June

1973, four men were operating the privately owned submersible Johnson Sea

Link. The vessel had safely completed 129

dives. On this day, however, the submersible became entangled in wreckage on the

sea bottom in 360 feet of water. By the

afternoon of the next day, when a salvage

vessel raised the submersible, the two men

in its after compartment had died. One of

them, Edwin C. Link, was the son of the

submersible’s inventor. The U.S. Coast

Guard Marine Casualty Report identified

the causes as pilot error, inadequate rescue capability, poor submersible design,

and casualness of operations.

Thirty-eight years ago, on 17 October 1968, Deep Submergence Vehicle

ALVIN was preparing for dive number

308. With three men aboard and the hatch

open, a hoisting cable parted. The occupants were able to escape with minor injury before ALVIN dropped to the bottom

in 5,000 feet of water. The Advisory Committee Report cited the following causes:

corroded lift cables, poorly designed hoist

equipment, contaminated hydraulic fluid,

uneven lift cable loading, and unsafe operating procedures.

Currently, NAVSEA is experiencing

a rapid growth of new Deep Submergence

Systems (DSS), from new submarine rescue systems to integrated systems onboard

SSGN, SSN 23, and VIRGINIA Class submarines that provide lockout capability

similar to USS GRAYBACK. At the same

time, we are challenged by the demands

of downsizing, rapid technology change,

aggressive schedules, and diminishing

dollars.

Recent events such as the near loss

of the Russian submersible AS-28 remind

us that, despite these challenges, we must

maintain our vigilance, intensity, and integrity in all matters involving the DSS

Program. Our outstanding DSS safety

record since the tragic mishap on

GRAYBACK is a direct result of disciplined compliance with the material and

procedural requirements of the DSS Certification Program.

Has NAVSEA thought of everything

that can go wrong? Have the DSS builders manufactured these systems in accordance with the drawings, using only approved materials? Has required maintenance been completed properly? Have the

operators been adequately trained, and do

they have a questioning attitude about unexpected indications?

 Lives depend on the answers to these

 questions.

 RDML W. G. Timme, USN

 Deputy Commander Undersea Warfare

 Naval Sea Systems Command

 william.timme@navy.mil

war-fighting effectiveness,

and captures efficiencies in

common synergies.

• Redistribute current forces throughout

the Navy to better contribute to the

GWOT and to temporarily relieve stress

on Marine Corps and Army missions

 in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Recognize where our Navy must expand

current expeditionary capabilities and

develop new ones for the long war.

With this all-encompassing approach,

the Navy will ensure that expeditionary forces have sufficient capability

and capacity to meet requirements for

the Global War on Terrorism, major

combat operations, and Homeland

Defense, while maintaining solid core

capabilities that can respond rapidly to

evolving irregular-warfare missions.

Nearly 40,000 highly skilled Sailors

are part of NECC including Divers,

EOD technicians, security specialists,

cargo handlers and constructionmen.

Every day expeditionary combat Sailors

are integrated in the joint maritime

environment, filling critical needs to

win the long war. NECC is developing

our future capabilities so that there

is truly a seamless transition from our

powerful blue water forces into the

green and brown water battle space.

This includes the capability to contribute

at home, as you did during post-Hurricane

Katrina operations to open up ports for

much needed relief supplies.

Navy Divers, as part of the expeditionary combat team, are flexible, scalable

and rapidly deployable. You are selfreliant, self-sustaining and capable in the

most diverse environments in the world.

I am tremendously proud of the hard work,

determination and performance of every

Sailor who calls themselves: “Diver”. I

thank you for serving your country and

also thank you for the honor to serve with

you.

With Respect,

Rear Adm. Don Bullard

Navy Expeditionary Combat

Command...from RADM Bullard

In the short few months since I assumed command of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) I have

been most impressed with the Navy Diver

Community’s professionalism and expertise. Whether working on NOAA’s undersea laboratory Aquarius, responding to an

“emergent” request from USS Albany,

conducting coalition exercises in the

Mediterranean, or serving with distinction

in the Persian Gulf, you prove every day

how fundamental Navy Divers are to the

Navy’s mission throughout the world.

Your performance has been nothing short

of extraordinary.

As the Commander of NECC, I will

bring fleet flag advocacy to the Diving

Community. I intend to help our Navy

make the best use of your skills at every

level. I will need your help and support in

moving the community forward to maintain readiness for today’s Global War on

Terrorism, while looking forward to preparing Navy Divers for the challenges of

the future. All levels of our military have

a great need for you’re the experience and

skills that Navy Divers bring to the fight.

As we move forward with NECC, I am

working on the overall makeup of the

entire Expeditionary Force and how we

better meld it together. My three goals for

NECC, what I call the three “r’s” to accomplish this mission are to:

• Realign current Navy expeditionary

forces into a structure that increases capacity for GWOT missions, improves

NDSTC “Jake”... from Bob Barth

Most of you know, some of you do

not, that we started a program a little over

a year ago to take donations toward the
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 3 5

can contact you. The sale of these will

assist us in funding the standing 10’ Man

In The Sea Memorial Monument projects

and ensure that we have the needed capital to build the full size statues! If you or

your organization would like one of these

limited edition standing miniatures, let us

know and get on the list for this pre-casting order. This price will be held for Six

weeks. You will receive a letter for the

amount of deduction when you purchase

your statue, and the proceeds of your donations will go towards this project.

If your organization or corporation

would like to make a donation of over

$10,000 we will ship you a numbered

statue for your generous donation, along

with the granite base, a letter of appreciation of your efforts in this fine project and

a donation receipt for taxes.

California Entertainment Group, Inc.

(www.calentgrp.tv) is assisting in the cocoordinating of the production of “The

Man In The Sea Memorial Monument”

documentary series and has informed us

that they are well on their way toward

gathering material for the series, and hope

to have more information for all of us in

the near future. They have hopes of interviewing many of the divers who we have

contacted, or who have contacted us about

their part in diving history. If you have a

interesting diving history story or film

from your diving career, please email

us at: stories@hspig.org with the details

and a short description of your unique

story. If your corporation is interested in

being a sponsored advertiser on our TV

Series, please contact us for further details about how you can participate, just

send us a short note with your contact information to: tv@hspig.org

eventual fabrication and installation of an

8’ tall bronze Mark V diver that will placed

near the location of the Navy Diving

School and NEDU building at the Navy

Yard in Washington. As of now we have

about 100 folks who have put money towards this noble project, but we need

more. Funds on hand and in the bank are

approaching 28 K, That’s about 30% of

what we need to see this statue installed.

You might want to look at our website

www.markvmonument.org. It will tell you

who the donors are, what we are trying to

do, and every two weeks or so the total

figure will be updated. You will also find

on the website bits of interesting info and

a place for you to leave us some words. If

you might are to join un in the endeavor

(designed to honor the thousands of

Divers that attended the school) please do,

we need all the help we can get.

Man in the Sea Memorial Monument...from Ken Dreger

The MSMM project is intended for

memorial monuments to ALL MILITARY

DIVERS and locations where significant

military diving events have taken place.

Homeland Security Policy Institute Group

will be taking orders soon for the “Limited Edition” of the official 250 of the 22”

tall standing “Man In The Sea Memorial

Monument” bronze miniatures. These statues will have an optional 2” thick 12” diameter granite-rotating base to allow for

360 degrees of viewing. The price for one

of the 250 sequentially numbered bronze

standing statues will be approximately

$3,900.00 each, which in today’s market

of bronze statues is in the middle price

range, plus shipping, handling and tax with

50% down and the balance when the statue

is ready to ship to the customer. After each

pre-casting order is completed, proceeds

will go to support creation of the full size

10’ standing monument in Washington DC

at the Navy yard. (Details on this can be

made by contacting us). The approximate

time for delivery will be 6 weeks after the

initial order has been placed with HSPIG.

These statues will be numbered serially for

this release. If you would like one of the

first ones, call us today or send us an

E-mail to: orders@hspig.org so that we

As Supervisor of Diving,

Captain Helmkamp’s office is

located on the historic Washington Navy Yard. Daily he would meander through the parking lot that had previously been the location of Naval School

of Diving & Salvage (NSDS) and the

Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU).

During one of these daily strolls he had

an epiphany. He realized nothing marked

the location where so many military divers

began their journey into the small, specialized community He felt it fitting that a

bronze version of the classic “Jake” - the

Mk V Air Diver - be commissioned and

rigged along the waterfront at the historic

Navy Yard. To memorialize all military

divers at a location where neophyte divers

earned and proudly wore, for the first time,

the coveted Dive Pin indicating to all that

“I am a professional military diver; I survived Navy Dive School.”

Understanding that he could not endorse the project as SUPDIVE he mentioned it to Bob Barth and that is all it took.

Bob got the Institute of Diving (IOD) in

Panama City, Florida involved. IOD members formed a committee to spread the

word of the project to divers around the

world and to solicit and manage donations

for the project. Homeland Security Policy

Institute Group (HSPIG) volunteered their

services to assist IOD in bringing the

project to fruition. For the past year the

effort has been to fulfill the vision of

Captain Helmkamp and place the JAKE

at WNY.

In a recent meeting to present the concept to the Commanding Officer of the

WNY, Captain George Chamberlain, it

was revealed by a prominent Engineering/

Architectural firm, HDR, that the cost of

engineering, design and site preparation

for the monument would be in excess of

$3,500,000. With this information the IOD

committee determined it would be cost

prohibitive to place the JAKE at WNY.

The IOD committee has decided Naval

Diving and Salvage Training Center

(NDSTC) Panama City is the proper place

to place the JAKE. Thousands of divers

will see it on an annual basis and students

will pay homage to it daily.

“JAKE”...from “Deep Sea” Dave

Sullivan and the Institute of Diving

Since this is the last FACEPLATE thatCaptain Helmkamp will be the Editor

on, the Institute of Diving (IOD) Mark V

Monument Committee wanted to thank

him for his many years of service as a

Navy Diver and the immeasurable support

he has provided for divers around the

world.
3 6 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6

As Captain Helmkamp so eloquently

said, “This monument is dedicated to

Divers around the world who gave their

life’s work to underwater construction and

the salvage of ships lost at sea. Their

method of training and development of

equipment set standards adopted by the

international diving community, from the

development mixed-gas diving techniques

used to save Squalus survivors to the saturation diving procedures developed by

Sealab during the Man in the Sea Program

that are now common in the oil industry,

Their traditions will last forever..”

You can find out more about the

project and how to support it on the project

web site markvmonument.org.

HOOYAH Captain

 Helmkamp.........................

demonstrations and exhibits of the latest

diving equipment.The packed agenda

included overviews by

Navy and sister service

diving specialties, such

as the comprehensive

presentation on

Underwater Construction Teams and the

Navy’s Ocean Facilities

Program. Community

manpower and manning issues provided a

common backdrop for

lively discussion.

The imminent integration of most Navy

diving communities

within the Navy Expeditionary Combat

Command ( http://

www.necc.navy.mil/)

makes opportunities

like WDC 2006 not

only important but

critical to the future

of our multi-faceted

disipline. Check out

http://www.supsalv.org

to download copies

of briefs pertinent to

your work. Thanks to

SUPSALV for another

great opportunity!

Working Diver Conference

 ...from Captain Karin Lynn

This year’s Working Divers’ Conference was held 8-12 May in San Diego.

Like those that have gone before, WDC

2006 was the latest opportunity for today’s

military divers to get up-to-the-minute

word on diving operations, medicine,

equipment and technology. With over 40

presentations and workshops spanning the

diverse spectrum of diving-related

topics, NAVSEA 00C again provided

an unparalleled forum for cross-tell,

networking and collaboration among the

many sub-communities of military diving.

Topics included the most recent updates

on diving medicine, and cutting edge

The IOD Mark V Monument Committee

(Thanks Dave, I can’t take all of the

credit, Captain Mike Herb and Lee

Woolford were there at the beginning

too, but ...sniff...you’re too kind ya

knucklehead...sniff...darn, I said I

wouldn’t cry! – Ed.)

The Retirement Ceremony for Captain Jim Wilkins, SUPSALV, will be held on September 29, 2006.

The Retirement Ceremony for Captain Mark “V” Helmkamp, SUPDIVE, will be held on October 27, 2006

aboard USS WISCONSIN (BB 64) in Norfolk, VA.

You can find out more about the ou can find out more about the project and how to support project and how to support it on

the web site the web site markvmonument.org

CAPT Karin Lynn, CEC, USN

NAVFACENGCOM HQ