2 J u l y 2 0 0 5

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

BMCM(SW/MDV) Fred K. Orns, USN

Fleet Liaison Editor

frederick.orns@navy.mil

Zoya Gorbunova

Production Manager

zgorbunova@roh-inc.com

Otto C. Adams

Graphic Designer

oadams@roh-inc.com

The “Salvage Triad”. Ever hear of it? It’s

the bones around which the muscle of

the diving and salvage community is built.

“Triad” – ‘cause like a 3-legged stool, if you

take one part away, it doesn’t work well. So

what are these three foundational elements

of the Salvage Triad?

People: Navy Divers...first and foremost.

Platforms: Our salvage ships...the venerable

“junk boat fleet.”

Equipment: Our specialty “kit”...for both

diving and salvage.

Every now and then, it’s worthwhile to

take internal inventory and see how healthy

our Triad is.

People: A new Navy Diver rating (and,

as well, an EOD Tech rating) is just around

the corner. You’ve been hearing about it for

months, but it is soon to be reality. The Center

for EOD and Diving (Capt Windhorst and

MDV Wiggins) has been leading the fight on

this initiative, and is on the very verge of

official victory. But the rest of us can’t sit on

our laurels...if we ever take for granted that

we are as good as our headlines, we’ll find out

soon enough how mortal we all are. Dive

Locker leadership (yeah – I’m talking to you

1C Diving Supervisors) should each take a

round-turn on personal leadership, safety,

technical training, and procedures. When’s the

last time you ran a challenging, surprise, neverthought-about-that-happening-before kinda

drill? Don’t overestimate how far Hoo Yah will

carry you. Lead and train.

Platforms: It’s true – the ARS 50s are

transferring to Military Sealift Command

(MSC) (two in FY06 and two in FY07). But

they’ll still be in the U.S. Navy. And they’ll

be operated by extremely competent professional mariners who will be going through

salvage training side-by-side with our MDSU

detachments. In fact, because of MSC policy,

each T-ARS will be available for operations

for an entire extra quarter each year (270 days

vs. 180 days per year)...which at least in terms

of operational days is the same as having six

vice four ARS 50s. So our inventory of ARS

50s will be more effective. Add that to the TSUPSALV Sends ........................................... 2

2005 National Maritime Salvage Conference 3

From the Managing Editor ............................. 3

Diving Requalification .................................... 4

Historical Diving Society ................................ 5

Underwater Post-Blast Course ...................... 6

Naval Undersea Museum .............................. 9

SSN 688 Class: Diving Restrictions Revisited,

Diving within 50 feet of Active Sea Suction . 10

Mark V Monument ....................................... 11

Divers and Their Rides ................................ 12

Divers and Their Rides Index ...................... 16

Transition into Commercial Diving ............... 16

Truman Propeller Change ........................... 18

Salvaging M/V LEE III .................................. 20

Command in the Spotlight ........................... 22

Deepest Open Sea Dive .............................. 24

Robert Kutzleb Obituary .............................. 24

The Pipe ...................................................... 25

Topside; Red Diver...From SUPDIVE .......... 27

ATFs, and we retain a strong population of

U.S. Navy salvage vessels. Fair enough. But

now we need to train in all the many

capabilities that the salvage vessels bring to

the fight...salvage fire-fighting, debeaching

ops, heavy lift, beach gear, multiple-point

moors, emergency tows. Got any idea when

and how to use the ARS 50 for a tidal lift?

Know how to rig for it? Salvage Locker

leadership (yeah – I’m still talking to you 1C

Salvage Supervisors) should each break out

the ship’s salvage operations manuals and

make sure you know your ships well. They

are designed with enormous capability and

flexibility and they’ll be around for a while.

Stand ready to use them.

Our mission requires us to be ready for

our Navy and our Nation at a moment’s

notice...take a local readiness inventory,

identify gaps in readiness, and exercise the

weaknesses into strengths.

Equipment: Our salvage ships and

MDSUs are outfitted with yellow gear that’s

up to the tasking, and the USN Emergency

Ship Salvage Material (ESSM) Pool is a

national asset of specialty equipment

warehoused and maintained ready for

immediate issue and use. And we’re about to

undertake a baseline review of our ESSM

“inventory objective” (basically...how much

stuff we really need). But do we know what

all of our issued gear is, and what it’s for?

When’s the last time your salvage team broke

out and reeved a pair of 4-sheave blocks? How

many of your newly reported salvors could

identify a carpenter stopper, know how they’re

sized and how many are needed for a leg of

beach gear? While you’re at it, break out a few

of the recently republished pocket-sized USN

Salvor’s Handbooks, and run a few numbers.

Do you know where your issue of USN

Salvage Manuals is? (Hint – check the

SUPSALV Tech Doc CD issued August 2004).

The experiences (good and bad) recorded in

our Salvage Manuals are based on decades of

operations. Although nothing beats personal

experience, the second best option is to be able

to study lessons learned from someone else’s

successes and failures.

Front Cover Photo: D/B CAPPY BISSO and D/B LILI BISSO completing the lift of the supply vessel LEE III.

SUPSALV SENDS

SUPSALV SENDS
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 3

Mark your calendars to plan to attendthe 2005 National Maritime

Salvage Conference, sponsored by the

American Salvage Association (ASA),

November 1 through 3, 2005 in New

Orleans, LA.

The first day, Tuesday, November 1,

will offer a training seminar focusing on

marine salvage, wreck removal, and harbor

clearance operations as they relate to port

security.

The conference program for

Wednesday, November 2 and Thursday,

November 3 will include a discussion of

maritime security, wreck removal, harbor

clearance, firefighting contracting, U.S.

salvage regulations and the international

view of the salvage industry, incident

command structure (ICS), responder

immunity, salvage and the environment,

places of refuge, training and safety, and

more. 

Details on the program and agenda can

be found at www.americansalvage.org.

Associate ASA Members:

VADM James C. Card, USCG (Ret.)

ADM Robert E. Kramek, USCG (Ret.)

RADM Joel D. Sipes USCG (Ret.)

RADM Paul J. Pluta USCG (Ret.)

RADM Robert C. North, USCG (Ret.)

CAPT Jim Wilkins, USN

CAPT W.F. “Bill” Searle, USN (Ret.)

CAPT Eugene B. Mitchell, USN (Ret.)

CAPT J. Huntly Boyd, USN (Ret.)

CAPT Robert B. Moss, USNR (Ret.)

CAPT William N. Klorig, USN (Ret.)

CAPT Colin M. Jones, USN (Ret.)

CAPT Charles S. Maclin, USN (Ret.)

CAPT Richard P. Fiske, USN (Ret.)

CAPT Chip McCord, USN (Ret.)

CAPT “Bert” Marsh, USN (Ret.)

Miles Atchison, Marine Engineer

Christopher P. Constantine, Maritime

Solutions, Inc.

J. Kenneth Edgar , Marine Response

Consultants

Frank Igaz, Ocean River, Inc.

CAPT Mark T. “Reef” Perkins, Key West

Harbor Service, Inc.

CAPT Jack Ringelberg, P.E., JMS, Naval

Architect

William I. Milwee, Jr., Milwee Associates, Inc.

General Members:

American Marine Corporation

Bisso Marine Company, Inc.

Crowley Marine Services, Inc.

Donjon Marine Co., Inc.

Foss Maritime Company

Global Diving & Salvage, Inc.

Marine Pollution Control

Ocean Group, Inc.

Parker Diving Service

Resolve Marine Group

SMIT Salvage Americas, Inc.

T&T Marine Salvage, Inc.

Titan Maritime LLC

Weeks Marine, Inc.

This issue of Faceplate has a lot tooffer. The EOD community has

provided material that is current and is a

welcome addition to the publication.

For those of you who are planning a

new or second career in Diving and

Salvage, the article “Transition into

Commercial Diving” on page 16 will be

of particular interest. There is also a notice

of the National Maritime Salvage

Conference, November 1 through 3, in

New Orleans, (see above). The ASA

membership consists of all of the major

Salvage and Diving Companies in the

United States. You will note that the current

and all former Supervisors of Salvage are

Associate Members. If you want to meet

the key players in Salvage and Diving, this

conference is a must. I hope to see many

of you in New Orleans.

I am happy to report that your

contribution of articles has been superb.

At present, we have a backlog. Your article,

From the Managing Editor

In the August 2004 issue of Faceplate,

Jim Bladh challenged Divers out there to

provide an older Dive School certificate.

Here is one from Clyde Ernst from 1933!

Captain Mark Helmkamp, SUPDIVE

To the Managing Editor from

SUPDIVE

if selected, will be published in a future

edition of Faceplate. Again, thank you for

your support.

Jim Bladh

Associate Corporate Members:

BMT Salvage Limited (The SA)

PCCI, Inc

Marine Hazard Response

The American Salvage Association is

a trade association promoting professionalism and improving marine casualty

response in American coastal and inland

waters. For additional information contact

Dick Fredricks, ASA, (703) 373-2267 or

rfredricks@vesselalliance.com.
4 J u l y 2 0 0 5

I

 recently completed diving requalification at the Naval Diving and Salvage

Training Center (NDSTC) and felt that it

might be of value to others if I put down

my experience in writing. This article

summarizes my AT conducted at the Dive

School to regain my qualification which

had lapsed when I was honorably

discharged from active duty in 1994.

Diving requalification must be

performed in accordance with

MILPERSMAN 1220-260.

When the member’s diving qualification has lapsed for more than 3 years,

the diver must successfully complete the

physical screening test described in

MILPERSMAN 1220-170 and successfully retake the following portions of the

diving course that would bestow the diving

qualification desired. All classroom

portions relating to diving physics and/or

general diving procedures, and portions

relating to diving medicine, practical

portions relating to recompression

chamber operations, and practical portions

relating to diving equipment in which the

individual has not been previously trained.

For me this meant taking the

computer-based interactive course in

Diving Physics and Medicine, and

refresher courses in the MK 20 MOD 0,

MK 21 MOD 1, and Mixed-Gas Diving.

These and other courses are available in

the schoolhouse computer lab,

and they require at least an 80%

on the comprehensive final exam,

after which a certificate is

available to be printed. A copy

should be provided to the

NDSTC Training Department

Fleet Master Diver for entry into

your record.

The following are the Navy

Diver physical screening test

requirements. See the NDSTC

website or MILPERSMAN

1220-170 and MILPERSMAN

1220-100 Exhibit 1 for the details

of performing each exercise

properly as, while I found the

staff and instructors at NDSTC to

be very professional and accommodating,

exercises performed improperly will not

be counted.

1. Swim 500 yards non-stop utilizing the

side or breaststroke in 14 minutes followed

by a ten-minute rest period.

2. Perform 42 push-ups in 2 minutes

followed by a two-minute rest period.

3. Perform 50 sit-ups in 2 minutes followed

by a two-minute rest period.

4. Perform 6 pull-ups with no time limit

followed by a ten-minute rest period. (Note

that you cannot let go of the pull-up bar

once this exercise begins.)

5. Run 1.5 miles in 12 minutes 45 seconds.

To perform the test, I was placed with

two classes that started the day I checked

in on AT, these were a BDO (Basic Diving

Officer) class and a 2nd Class Diver class.

At 44 years old, the physical screening test

was the most challenging part of

requalification. Especially considering that

I was, by far, the oldest person performing

the test, and that most of the other

participants were less than half my age!

I offer a word or two of advice here,

if you are not already in peak physical

condition, start a “high volume” physical

fitness program at least 6 months prior to

going for requalification. I was three

pounds overweight by Navy standards in

late 2003 and I worked out nearly every

day for 6 months losing over 20 pounds

with a program that included cardiovascular training (NordicTrack and

swimming), running, calisthenics,

weightlifting, and proper nutrition. My

program paid off tremendously in many

ways, and I passed the test with no

problems.

Another critical area for requalification is that of the Diving Medical

Examination. I am not a DMO (Diving

Medical Officer) so I do not claim to know

all of the nuances of this specialty, but

based on my experience, I was required to

undergo a complete physical examination,

which had to be marked “for duties

involving diving”, and it then had to be

reviewed and approved by a DMO prior

to my arrival at NDSTC. This was by far

the most important requirement, as the last

thing you want to have happen is for you

to show up at the Dive School only to find

out that you are “NPQ” (not physically

qualified) due to medical reasons.

I recommend that you start the

medical process at least three months prior

to going for requalification, and work

closely with a DMO to identify the

requirements that must be met. I was

fortunate enough to be in close proximity

to the NAVSEA 00C DMO located at the

Washington Navy Yard. He reviewed my

medical exam, and even called the Dive

School DMO to verify that all of the

requirements were met.

This was an excellent way

to go, as I knew before

arriving in Panama City that

I was medically “PQ.”

Once I had successfully

completed all of the prerequisites, it was simply a

matter of reporting aboard

NDSTC and working with

the Training Department to

perform my four required

requalification dives.

Note that requalification

dives must be performed

in accordance with

MILPERSMAN 1220-100

MK20 Pier Side Diving. Exhibit 5, and the U.S.
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 5

Navy Diving Manual. I was fortunate in

that there were two 2nd Class Diver classes

in progress at various stages of their

training, so I was able to fulfill all of my

requalification dives in a few days. I should

give credit to 04-40-2C and 04-50-2C by

name, as both of these classes were

exceptionally professional and cohesive

diving units. We also received extensive

help and training from 04-20-1C, 04-50-

1C, and many others. It is nice to witness

first-hand that Navy Divers are still “a cut

above.” Bravo Zulu to all of you!

I started out with two MK 21 dives

in the open tanks, which allowed me to

regain familiarity with this equipment. I

then joined up with another “2 chuck”

class, diving for several days aboard one

of the two YDTs (Yard Diving Tenders)

that the Dive School maintains. I was able

to get several surface supplied air dives

in the MK 21, as well as a mixed-gas HEO2

dive in the MK21, including a Sur-D O2

dive, which gave me some time in the

YDT’s recompression chamber. Then I

moved back to the other “2 chuck” class

and was able to dive the MK 20 pier side.

My NDSTC-issued Performance

Information Memorandum is for requalification as a Mixed-Gas Diving Officer

certified to a depth of 190 fsw. The school

dives a variety of equipment almost every

day so you are sure to find the requalification level you are looking for. Per

MILPERSMAN 1220-260, diving

qualification

extends for a

period of 6

months,so

take this into

account for

your next requalification.

My time

spent at

NDSTC was

extremely

valuable as I

regained skills

that I had

not used in

many years,

rekindled

some old

friendships (some of the junior officer

and petty officers I knew back in the

late 80’s and early 90’s are now the CO,

Master Divers, and senior CPOs at the

Dive School), and I know that 10 years

from now I’ll look back on my diving

requalification with fond memories.

Requalification also allows me to fulfill a

billet with my reserve unit, NR NAVSEA

MK21 Open Tank FAM Dive.

MK21 with EGS Up and Over.

Det 1006, which is a Washington, DC

reserve diving detachment assigned to

NAVSEA 00C.

More information on NDSTC and

diving requalification can be found on

the NAVDIVSALVTRACEN website

at: http://wwwnt.cnet.navy.mil/ndstc/.

LCDR Mike Foster is the TO/PAO at NR

NAVSEA Det 1006.

The Historical Diving Society

USA is a non-profit educational

corporation formed in 1992. It has

members in 37 countries and

publishes the award-winning

quarterly magazine HISTORICAL

DIVER, which covers many aspects

of diving history, including the U.S.

Navy.

Among Society Advisory Board

members are distinguished Divers

such as Dr. Christian Lambertsen,

Bob Barth, Scott Carpenter, Surgeon

Vice Admiral Sir John Rawlins, Bev

Morgan, Phil Nuytten, and Andreas

Rechnitzer.

For more information on how to

join the Historical Diving Society,

please contact hds@hds.org.

P.S. NDSTC celebrated its 25th anniversary

in Summer 2005. If you haven’t been there

in the past few years, I recommend that

you pay them a visit. The school has added

several new wings and now hosts the

Center for EOD and Diving and the Marine

Combatant Diver (MCD) program. They

conduct more than 20 training courses

graduating over 1,300 divers a year, and

they welcome alumni with open arms.

Thanks and a hearty HOO-YAH to

the instructors, staff, and students at

NDSTC!
6 J u l y 2 0 0 5

A super-tanker is moored offshore at an offloading facility delivering fuel

to the thirsty automobiles of Southern

California. The facility is located in the

Pacific Ocean - a short distance off the

runways of Los Angeles International

Airport.

As the tanker is offloading fuel, a

commuter pulled over along a nearby

roadside observes several men unloading a

small motor boat from a trailer parked

illegally along the beach. He watches as

the boat speeds out to sea in the direction

of the tanker.

A short time later he sees an

explosion off shore, and notifies

the authorities using his cell phone.

Authorities determine that the tanker has

not been hit but there is some debris on the

surface of the water in the area pointed out

by the first witness, whose story is later

corroborated by the statements of other

witnesses. It is quickly determined that a

vessel has exploded but the circumstances

are unknown. All activity at the fueling

station is halted, as is incoming traffic at

the nearby Port of Los Angeles/Long

Beach. Air traffic at LAX is interrupted.

Authorities at large commercial ports all

around the country are notified and placed

on high alert.

A thorough and proper underwater

investigation needs to commence

immediately in order to re-open the

fueling station and return the ports and

airports to normal operating conditions.

Despite the significant resources and

attention that are focused on port security

today, the above

scenario – taken from a

training scenario based

on the USS THE

SULLIVANS and USS

COLE incidents in

Aden, Yemen - cannot

be overlooked. This

tactic has been tried

repeatedly and has

been proven effective,

suggesting it will likely

be tried again.

Should a similar

attack occur again, the

ensuing underwater

investigation will need

to quickly determine

several very important

things:

1. Was the explosion of the small boat an

innocent accident, or did it result from

explosive materials intentionally placed

onboard the vessel?

2. Did the operators of the vessel intend

to attack the super-tanker?

3. What type and quantity of explosives, if

any, were aboard the vessel?

4. What type of device was intended to

trigger the explosion at the tanker?

These and many other questions will

be asked in the aftermath of such an

incident, and their answers demanded

quickly.

Law enforcement dive teams must be

trained and equipped specifically for this

type of complex underwater crime scene

investigation. This was the idea behind a

first-of-its-kind course developed and

taught jointly by bomb technicians from

the Los Angeles Federal Bureau of

Investigation (FBI), Los Angeles Police

Department Bomb Squad, Los Angeles

Sheriff’s Department Arson Explosives

Detail, and the U.S. Navy Explosive

Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Unit at Point

Mugu, California.

Kelly Sandell (left) Los Angeles Police Department Dive Team

and Bob Scheerle (right), FBI Los Angeles Dive Team watch

as Instructor Greg Everett (center) of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s

Department Arson Explosives Detail offers insight into the

operation of the exploded IED using items located and

recovered by Sandell and Scheerle’s team of student Divers.

The first class to graduate The Underwater Post-Blast Investigation Course.

Terrifying Precedent

Preparting Dive Teams for Major

Investigations
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 7

The week-long course was piloted

October 4-8, 2004 at Castaic Lake,

California. During their course planning,

instructors recognized that, while many

public safety divers are well-trained in the

processing of routine underwater crime

scenes, most lack a robust training

curriculum or certification for the

specialized skills associated with

major underwater crime scenes

like those resulting from the use

of an explosive device.

The course would partner

public safety divers with diver/

bomb technicians so that

evidence collected or located by

divers could be quickly and

adequately analyzed by the

bomb techs – both in the water

and along shore – in order to

advance the work of the

investigators and resolve the

situation.

Attending the 40-hour

course were public safety and

military divers from agencies including the

Los Angeles Police Department, the Los

Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the FBI, the

Orange County Sheriff’s Department, and

the United States Coast Guard (USCG).

During the course divers were

introduced to concepts related to

underwater bomb

scenes through

both lecture

and practical

exercises. The

lectures provided an introduction to basic

underwater

explosives

theory, training

on the recognition and identification of

manufactured

limpet and sea

mines as well

as improvised

explosive

devices (IEDs),

an introduction to DC electronics

commonly employed in IEDs, and crime

scene management. Divers were also

introduced to an overview of skills used

in post-blast fragmentation analysis.

By Tuesday afternoon the divers were

in the water applying what they had learned

in the classroom. Divers from several

different agencies and departments were

purposely placed together in teams of

six to eight in order to foster inter-team

working relationships. Over the next three

days the divers were put through a series

of exercises of increasing complexity

leading to the final, all day scenario.

On Wednesday each of the four teams

was given an underwater area to search for

evidence of an exploded device. Course

instructors had detonated a series of IEDs

underwater in a controlled environment (a

large concrete tank) prior to the class. The

location and pattern of debris was recorded

for each device and items of evidence

(fragmentation) were placed into the lake

in the exact condition and pattern they had

taken when exploded in the controlled

environment.

Each team was then tasked with

locating the exploded device and its

components. The teams were required to

process the device components distributed

across the bottom as though they were

working a real crime scene. They used

video and still photographs where visibility

would permit, and documented debris

patterns through a sketch on an underwater

slate – a drawing that might later prove

crucial to bomb technicians conducting the

post-blast fragmentation analysis.

Finally, after the documentation and

recovery phase of the operation, the teams

then took the evidence into the classroom

lab, where they were required to develop

a reconstruction of the device from the

recovered components and to describe

the manner in which it had

functioned, causing the explosion.

During this phase of the course the

divers learned valuable lessons on

approaching such an underwater

crime scene, as well as what to

look for and how to handle,

recover, and analyze it. Not only

is each item important, but its

location and position relative to

the other items is also extremely

relevant to the reconstruction of

such devices.The teams presented

their findings to the instructors

and class, with their conclusions

supported by recovered items of

evidence as well as appropriate

and logical analysis.

On the final day, the divers arrived at

the site and were immediately confronted

with several witnesses who began to

outline the details of the scenario described

at the beginning of this article. With only

general prompting from the instruction

Students reassemble the components of an underwater exploded IED

in the hope of determining its mechanism of action, on the way to

identifying the perpetrator. Information is fed into a computer for a

later presentation to a prosecutor who assisted with the class.

The LASD ROV is deployed from the beach in search of items

of evidence lying on the lake-bed.

Classroom Training and Field Work

A Simulated Attack
8 J u l y 2 0 0 5

staff, the divers were required to

set up a multi-agency “Unified

Command” and begin the process

of assigning tasks and meeting

the requirements of the scenario

– as though it were a real crime

scene.

Since the divers did not

know the exact location or

condition of the sunken boat

described by witnesses, the team

leaders decided to organize an

underwater search operation

based on witness information.

During the search, teams

launched two ROVs operated by

the Los Angeles Sheriff’s

Department and the FBI

Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team. Divers eventually

located the sunken boat using a

Kongsberg-Simrad 650 sector scanning

sonar deployed aboard the FBI’s Deep

Ocean Engineering Phantom 2+2 ROV.

After locating the sunken boat, the

Phantom ROV was used to conduct a video

survey of the boat and the surrounding

area. By beaming the video image topside

to the team’s support vessel, the team was

able to determine that the vessel was laden

with additional, undetonated explosives,

and that there was at least one victim still

onboard.

After conferring with bomb technicians who were viewing the ROV’s video

topside, the team used the ROV’s manipulator arm to recover what appeared to be

one piece of explosive material that had

been thrown clear of the vessel during the

explosion.

The ROV then returned to the surface.

While the bomb technicians examined the

unexploded material, the divers reviewed

the ROV’s videotape and telemetry data

and formulated a dive plan to recover the

victim, process the scene, and recover the

explosive material and the boat.

The ROVs proved extremely valuable

in providing an accurate and detailed site

survey to the divers, as well as in serving

as a remote means of recovering potentially

hazardous materials and devices

– including two

unexploded

backpackborne IEDs that

presented an obstacle to dive

operations and

needed to be rendered safe prior

to divers entering the water.

During the

IED recovery

operation, the

ROV were used

to attach cables

to the devices.

Dive Teams raise the suspect’s boat utilizing lift bags. The boat

had been surveyed and videotaped by the ROVs prior to the

student divers processing it on the lake bottom. Once all

underwater crime scene processing was completed by Divers,

the boat was recovered for further examination.

The cables were used to drag each

backpack near shore, where

bomb technicians were able to retrieve the cable end, while the IED

was safely underwater at the opposite end of the cable. The IED

was then examined by a waiting

PAN disruptor; a device developed by bomb-disablement expert

Chris Cherry in the early 1990s

to help keep bomb technicians

safe and disable bombs nonexplosively so that valuable evidence can be retained.

The divers then executed a

dive plan to recover the victim, the

unexploded material, and the boat.

Still photographs and sketches

were used to further document the

scene and the locations of relevant items

of evidence.

Finally, the divers used lift bags to

raise the vessel and had it towed to shore,

where a more detailed examination of the

blast damage could be conducted.

Overall, both instructors and students

believe this pilot course was a success and

were very happy with the level of instruction that was provided. Instructors have

already begun with modifications to the

existing curriculum in order to take into

account the comments of students who

attended the first course.

If you have any questions about the

course or are interested in attending, please

contact FBI Los Angeles Special Agent

Bomb Technician Greg Rabinovitz

(grabinov@leo.gov), Special Agent Robert Chacon (robert.chacon@ic.fbi.gov,

310-996-4397), FBI USERT Team

Leader Special Agent George Carr

(geoccarr@earthlink.net, 818-779-3190),

or Los Angeles County Sheriff’s

Department Detective Bomb Technician

Greg Everett (562-946-7222).

FBI Dive Team members operate the Deep Ocean Engineering

Phantom 2+2. The ROV utilized its Kongsberg 650m sector

scanning sonar and video camera to locate the sunken boat

described by witnesses.

Special Agent Bobby Chacon is an

Assistant Team Leader for the FBI‘s

Underwater Search and Evidence

Response Team.

Improving the Curriculum

for Future Courses
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 9

One Sunday morning at theNaval Undersea Museum in

Keyport, Washington, a four-year-old

boy raced ahead of his father, turned

a corner, and let out a cry: “A monster!” He dashed back to the safety of

his father’s arms. Together they ventured around the corner where his Dad

found the museum’s display of a MK

V diving rig, complete from helmet to

canvas dress to heavy shoes. When

you are four years old, not too tall, and

all alone, a sudden encounter with

fully rigged Jake can make a big

impression.

Opened in 1993, the Naval

Undersea Museum collects, preserves,

and interprets all aspects of Navy undersea

heritage, science, and operations. Its

exhibit floors and storage areas hold more

than 15,000 undersea artifacts, and the

library has more than 6,000 books,

technical manuals, and photographs. It is

an official U.S. Navy museum and has

achieved accreditation by the American

Association of Museums.

Diving is one of the museum’s most

important interests, and visitors will find

diving exhibits everywhere inside and

outside. In the lobby, two larger than life

gleaming silver silhouettes depict a man

and woman swimming into the deep. They

point toward a grotto. One side of the grotto

displays the materials from animal skins

and wood to plastics and composites that

have improved diving technology. On the

opposite side, a timeline depicts more

than 2,000 years of diving and undersea

heritage.

The Ocean Environment room challenges visitors to think about characteristics of the ocean that divers know by

heart: buoyancy, pressure, oxygen, light,

and sound. The blue and green lights bathe

visitors in the colors of the upper ocean.

Interactive exhibits

challenge them to

experiment with the

physics of movement

in the sea.

On the main

exhibit floor is

a display of nine

significant diving

helmets, beginning

with a Snead from

1906 and continuing

chronologically to the

modern Superlite 17.

Surrounding the

helmets is an exhibition of 20 large

photographs, most in

color, of divers at

work. In a photo of a

diver working on the hull of USS

CHARLESTON in 1888, a helmet

prevents us from seeing the expression

on the diver’s face, but the Navy

SCUBA divers leaping into the sea in

Diego Garcia in 2004 are obviously

having a good time.

Appropriately, the largest single

artifact in the museum is a Submarine

Rescue Chamber. Two large cutaways

in its hull let visitors see the operating

mechanisms and cramped quarters that

permit the SRC to bring people to the

surface in times of distress.

The museum is not all diving

exhibits, but it did win the Nautiek

Award from the Historical Diving

Society of England in 2000 for having

done the most to promote the public’s

knowledge of diving history. The museum

offers extensive exhibits about the ocean

environment, naval undersea weapons

such as torpedoes (ten are on display),

submarine technology, and mine warfare.

Outside the main building visitors can

see DSV I, DEEP QUEST, the sail from

USS STURGEON (SSN 637), and the end

bell from SEALAB II.

The museum is currently developing

a major new diving exhibit about the

people, work, and techniques of the USS

MONITOR salvage in 2000 and 2001. It

continually seeks items both old and new

connected with diving heritage, important

events, or everyday common use.

The museum is open from 1000 to

1600 seven days a week June through

September. From October through May it

is open 6 days a week and closed on

Tuesdays. Admission to the museum is

free. People wishing to make donations

or to get more information about the Naval

Undersea Museum may call the curator at

(360) 398-5517 or visit the website at

http://naval.undersea.museum.

The Ocean Environment exhibit helps visitors understand

pressure, buoyancy, temperature, salinity, and other

characteristics that divers routinely encounter under water.

Bill Galvani is the Director of the Naval

Undersea Museum in Keyport,

Washington. Photo credit - U.S. Navy

photo/Joyce Jensen.

Helmets representing more than 100 years of diving

heritage attract visitors to a photo exhibit of modern

Navy diving.
1 0 J u l y 2 0 0 5

For years U.S. Navy Divershave been performing critical

waterborne maintenance on

nuclear submarines. Their abilities

to accomplish these jobs have

saved the Navy millions of dollars

in avoiding drydock costs alone.

Great timesavings that directly

improve operational readiness are

also generated. Reduced budgets

and increased operational tempo

have forced Naval Sea Systems

Command (NAVSEA) to look at

all maintenance activities and

processes to ensure further

efficiencies and cost savings. One

process identified for such

improved efficiencies is that of

diving near active main and

auxiliary seawater suctions of SSN

688 Class nuclear submarines.

The U.S. Navy Diving Manual

specifies that diving within 50 feet of an

active sea suction greater than 50 gal/min

and located on the same side of the keel is

not authorized unless it is an emergency;

in such a case, the Commanding Officers

of both the repair activity and tended vessel

must authorize the dive. This restriction

was developed following numerous diving

accidents that had resulted in serious injury

or death. However, when this restriction

was developed, no consideration was given

to the size of openings or to flow rates.

Normal ship husbandry jobs and

security swims are non-emergent. Under

current guidance, waiting for equipment

lineups to be completed and red tags to be

placed and verified

costs many manhours for not only

divers, but also supporting personnel.

To become more efficient and to improve operational

readiness, naval engineers have looked

closely at this restriction against dives

near active main

seawater (MSW) and

auxiliary (ASW)

suctions of SSN 688

Class submarines.

Engineers, including

Navy Diver LCDR

Keith W. Lehnhardt

at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, calculated that diving

in the vicinity of active

MSW/ASW sea suctions,

even when these are greater

than 50 gal/min, does not

pose a safety threat to divers.

Although the flow rates of

these suctions far exceed 50

gal/min, their openings are so

large that the actual flow and

pressure differential across

the grate is low.

NAVSEA 00C tasked

the Navy Experimental

Diving Unit (NEDU) to

verify these calculations and

evaluate the feasibility of

diving around active MSW/

ASW sea suctions. Designated as Project Officers for this task,

CWO3 Rick Strynar and LCDR Neff

Anastasio drafted a protocol for unmanned

and manned diving. Once completed, it

was sent to various ship husbandry lockers

for review and support. With the help of

Diving Officer CWO3 Dan Mikulski of

the Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet

(COMSUBLANT), the Naval Submarine

Support Facility (NSSF) Groton Dive

Locker and the USS MIAMI (SSN 755)

were scheduled as platforms to execute the

protocol.

This protocol consisted of two unmanned and one manned phases. The first

phase entailed attaching a differential pressure gauge to the suction screen, starting

the MSW/ASW pump, and recording pressure readings. Recorded readings were

then compared to the engineering calculations. Results showed that actual readings were slightly less than the predicted

values. The second phase consisted of

placing NEDU’s manned weighted manikin — dressed in standard underwater ship

husbandry attire, including a MK 20 underwater breathing apparatus (UBA) —

over a sea suction, running the pump for 5

minutes, and checking the manikin for

Divers retrieving NEDU man-weighted manikin following

unmanned testing phase.

NSSF diver EN1 (DV) Andros prepares to leave surface to

approach active sea suction.
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 1 1

LCDR Neff Anastasio is currently the

NEDU Senior Projects Officer. CWO3

Rick Strynar is the currently the NEDU

Command Diving Officer and Fleet

Projects Officer.

signs of suction damage. This phase was

conducted three times,

with the manikin positioned differently

over the grates each

time to maximize

grate coverage. After

the three dives, this

manikin showed no

adverse effects from

being placed over the

grates.

Satisfactory

results from the first

two phases allowed

testing to continue to

the third phase, in

which one MK 20 and

two MK 21 divers slowly approached the

active suction screen and placed

themselves over it. CWO Strynar and

NSSF Master Diver ENC (MDV) Rodney

Atherton, with ETC (DV) Christopher

Weaver as dive supervisor, led this highrisk evolution. Divers for this task were

HT3 (DV) Michael Fuzy, HT1 (DV) Brian

Wurm, and EN1(DV) Timothy Andros.

PH2 (DV) Christopher Staten, HT3 (DV)

Adam Cook, OS3 (DV) John Seagraves,

QM2 (DV) Nikki Knoepfle, and TM3

(DV) Paul Melchert provided topside

support. The Commanding Officers of

NSSF Groton and USS MIAMI, as well

as LCDR Anastasio, acted as safety

observers for the evolution.

One at a time, each diver was directed

to approach the active suction. Once at the

screen, they were directed to place their

hands, arms, legs, and then torsos over the

screen — and then to remove them. Divers

reported that little to no water movement

was evident and little to no additional effort

was required to perform directed tasks.

Results were recorded and provided to

NAVSEA 00C for review and action.

In the near future NAVSEA 00C will

release an AIG outlining guidelines and

procedures to allow diving around

submarine active MSW and ASW suctions.

This evolution required outstanding

coordination between the Commander of

the Atlantic Fleet (COMLANTFLT),

COMSUBLANT, NSSF Groton, and

NEDU. The endeavor was well worth the

effort: the results of this testing will save

the Navy hundreds of man-hours and

millions of dollars in accomplishing

submarine maintenance and security

swims.

Recovering HT1 (DV) Wurm following dive

at active sea suction.

The SSN 688 suction dive team.

Mark V Monument at the

An Experimental Diving

Organization was established

at the New York Naval Shipyard in 1913 and formally

designated as the Navy

Experimental Diving Unit

(NEDU) in 1927 when

it was relocated to the

Washington Navy Yard

to centralize all Navy

Diving research.

The Navy Diving School was

established in 1926 in Building 146 at the

WNY and was renamed Deep Sea Diving

School (DSDS) in 1928. The Navy Salvage

School was moved to the WNY from

Bayonne, NJ in 1957.

NEDU relocated to Panama City, FL

in 1975 and the Diving School followed

in 1980. There is currently nothing at the

Washington Navy Yard that tells this

history. The Mark V Monument we plan

to erect there will change this.

Donation Request

This monument is dedicated to Divers

from 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. Their traditions will last

forever.

Please accept this opportunity to

support this project in remembrance of

the unsung heroes who labored in the

murky depths to save lives and improve

knowledge of the world underwater.

Please send your tax-deductible

contribution to:

Mark V Monument

17314 Panama City Beach Pkwy

Panama City Beach, FL 32413

 A certificate of appreciation will be

mailed to each donor. Please make

check payable to “Mark V Monument.”

C o n t a c t B o b B a r t h a t

bob.barth@mchsi.com or Doug Hough at

(850) 235-4101 or momits@bellsouth.net

if you have any questions.

Your support is greatly appreciated by

everyone in the Navy Diving community!

Washington Navy Yard

A Brief History


1 6 J u l y 2 0 0 5

Your EAOS is approaching. You havebeen wondering what you are going

to do for a second career after the Navy.

Whether you plan to leave with less than

six years or will be retiring with 20 or

more years, commercial diving may fit

into your plans. If you have graduated

from a Navy diving school as a Second

Class or First Class Diver, the commercial

diving industry may be your ticket for

continued employment in your chosen

field.

While commercial diving is a unique,

diverse, and independent industry known

to few outsiders, the industry itself comprises two distinct employment areas:

Inland Diving and Offshore Diving.

Inland Diving is performed in coastal

and inland waterways, lakes, bays, sounds,

harbors, and other shallow coastal areas.

Most of this work is done in less than 100

feet of water and uses air diving procedures. Bridge and dam inspections, municipal water towers, power plants, ship

hull repair and cleaning, and pipe and cable

inspections are but a few of the many

different types of work done by inland

divers.

Inland diving work is primarily

related to the construction trades. Work

is steady and the entry level diver

utilizes his or her own individual construction skill sets to support the contractor’s requirements. Nationally

based underwater contractors allow a

diver to work closer to home.

Entry level divers enjoy an earlier

“break-out” (less time spent as a tender).

Pay varies with geographical

locations and upward mobility may be

limited. Weather conditions in northern

climate may limit work on a year-round

basis. Work sites in remote areas have

limited logistical support.

Offshore Diving primarily supports

the oil and gas industry and is concentrated

in the waters off Louisiana and Texas.

These states provide over half the commercial diving opportunities in the United

States. Offshore diving is performed in

depths ranging from a few feet to over

1,000 feet. Deep diving requires substantial sophisticated surface support equipment operated by well-trained crews

consisting of topside support personnel

and technicians. The diving is performed

by divers, usually in their late twenties to

mid-thirties, using helium and oxygen

mixtures for deep diving. However, a

considerable account of offshore diving is

done in water less than 180 feet using

standard surface-supplied air diving

techniques.

Divers and Their Rides Index

Transition Into Commercial Diving...continued on page 17.

1. Mike Heiny’s I944 SNJ-5 (USN Trainer)

2. SUPDIVE’s 1973 BMW 2002

3. HT2/DV1 Mark Briggs’ 1962 Lincoln

4. Ret CWO4 Mike (Gunnr) Fennewald with

his 2003 100th Anniversary Edition FXSTD

Harley Davidson Softail Duce

5. Front (L-R): HMC Jerry Falls, Mark

 Tochterman , Ret MDV Don Curtis, EN2

Robert Grochowski. Middle: CDR Jim

Bredemeier, Eric Godbold, unknown, Ret

LCDR Jack O’Rourke, LCDR Trevor

Mathis, BMC Troy Jones. Back: CWO Lary

Butler, Dave Sullivan, CWO John Beckman,

Ret CWO Gunner Woody Woodward, Bill

Raimey, Ret MDV Mike Einhellig and his

grandson Billy, Martin Brickford

6. Ret MMC (MDV) Jack Schmitt 1967 Ford

Mustang

7. Ret HMC (DV) Larry Stokes on his 1935

frame off, ground up restored BMW

8. Ret HTCM/DV Charlie Moser’s Porsche

Boxster

9. Ret MDV Frank De La Oliva’s 1988

Silverado

10. Ret Capt David Engman’s 1956 Chevrolet

11. David Ball in front of his ‘vette

12. Ret HTCM/DV Charlie Moser’s with his

 2003 50th Anniversary Corvette

13. Ret MMC(MDV) Jack Schmitt’s 1932

 Ford Roadster 350

14. SUPDIVE’s newly restored 1990 Porsche

 Carrera 2

15. Ret Navy Diver Kellard Jansen on his

 1947 Indian Chief Replica

16. Jim Bladh’s 1970 MG Midget (for sale!)

17. MDV Bettua on his Harley

18. Dave and Judy Sullivan with 1997 Fatboy

19. Chris Gizzi on his 2002 Heritage

20-21. MMC/SS Micheal Hill’s kids (Anthony

 and Teresa) on 04’ Suzuki Volusia

22. Ret ENCS (DV) Tom Lenz’s 2004 cus-

 tom Harley Davidson

23. Ret Sat MDV Mike Nichol on his Harley

 (now stolen!)

24. Ret MDV Frank De La Oliva’s airbrushed

 murial on the bed cover of his 1988 S-15

25. LCDR J. Trevor Mathis’ son Keiran on a

 1967 Ural Sport (Russian, 650cc, top

 speed 45 mph, easily carries 3 men

 and a case of beer)

26. The Army training team 04-70-SC class

pics with five bikes in front of them. SSG

Valencia, Chris (Army) on a 2004 Big Dog

chopper, SSG Flack, Jason (Army) on a

2002 Triumph Dytona 995i, SSG Lopez,

Jose (Army) on a 2004 Suzuki GSXR 750,

SGT Walker, Ernest (Army) on a 2000

Yamaha R1, and CM1 Karr, Kenneth

(Navy) on 2000 Suzuki GSXR 1000

27. Bob Barth on his John Deere

28. GSEC (SW) F.K. Quarles’ 1999 Fatboy

29. Ret CWO Gunner Woodward’s ride

30. MMC/SS Micheal Hill’s ‘04 Suzuki

 Volusia

31. Bill King’s “ride”

32. LT Dan Tostevin riding in New Mexico

License Plates (L-R)

1.) SUPDIVE GMC K1500 2.) SUPDIVE 1999 BMW 528i 3.) Captain Dave Balk’s 3-series BMW 4.) Captain Dave Balk’s “CB DIVR” stand

for “Seabee Diver” - “as the senior UCT bubba” 5.) Gunner Woodward’s plates
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 1 7

Offshore work schedules range from

three-day jobs, up to three weeks to three

months or longer. Most large-scale diving

companies provide (free) berthing and

messing on boats, ships, or barges. Work

is normally divided into 12-hour shifts

seven days a week with time and a half for

overtime over 8 hours.

The pay is higher after a diver “breaks

out”, this includes depth pay. Divers have

a better chance of employment longevity

with an established diving contractor.

Upward mobility provides the diver a

chance to gain the experience to dive

mixed gas leading up to saturation diving.

Other positions available to divers are Life

and Saturation Support Technicians, while

supervisory and management positions are

more readily available. Most divers

working in the support of the oil and gas

industry usually relocate to the Gulf states.

The pay for entry level divers is

generally lower and the initial break-out

period is longer with offshore diving than

with inland diving. Work schedules are

arduous and can impact family life.

What are the training requirements to

qualify as a diver recognized by the U.S.

Coast Guard and the Occupational Safety

and Health Administration (OSHA)? In the

United States, there are two recognized

standards:

The American National Standards

Institute/American Commercial Diving

Educators (ANSI/ACDE) Standard 01-

1998 and

The Association of Diving Contractors

International (ADCI) Standard Consensus

Standard.

Both of these organizations issue

certification identification cards that are

acceptable proof of adequate training and

experience that meet OSHA’s Test of

Competency. For the most part, if you

intend to seek employment in the inland

diving industry within the United States,

these tickets will suffice as proof of your

diving experience and qualifications,

however, neither are recognized by the

international diving community.

The majority of global oil companies

and international diving contractors

employ divers with International Marine

Contractors Association (IMCA) and/or

John Paul Johnson is a retired Navy

Diver.

Health Safety Executive (HSE) certification for work done outside of the

United States. IMCA, in general, only

recognizes divers that have successfully

completed commercial diving courses that

comply with British Health Safety

Executive (HSE), Canadian Standards

Association (CSA), or the equivalent.

Unfortunately, because the United States

does not have standards that comply with

international standards nor is there a U.S.

Government organization to audit the

standards (school house inspections), U.S.

commercial and military trained divers do

not qualify.

Okay...Now what? The big question

is, how do you convert your military dive

training and experience into qualifications

that you can use to earn either an American

Standard or an international certificate.

The Association of Diving Contractors International offers a NavyTrained Divers Commercial Certification

Card program (see April 2004 Faceplate

article, page 8) that can provide many

Navy-trained divers with ACDI certification.

The only method of obtaining an

unrestricted international diving certificate

is by successfully completing a commercial diving course by an accredited

commercial diving school that provides

international certification.

Presently, there are only three schools

in North America (two in Canada and one

in the United States) that offer this type of

international recognition. Divers Institute

of Technology – the only American school

that offers international certification – is

the only school in North America that can

provide the international ticket as well as

the U.S. certification (ACDE).

Each of these three outstanding

schools provides an in-depth Prior

Learning Assessment that is fully

recognized by the Divers Certification

Board of Canada (DCBC). Upon

successful completion of the assessment

process, the DCBC will issue the diver a

certificate that complies with the Canadian

Standards and is recognized by IMCA and

HSE as an international diving certificate.

The assessment process is an

evaluation that determines your military

dive training and experience equivalency

for credit to international competencies,

and saves you time in the transition to your

commercial diving career while eliminating repetitive training.

The assessment process uses a valid

and reliable assessment of the knowledge

and skills you learned through non-formal

education, training or experience such as:

Work experience

On-the-job training

Training courses from the Navy and

 private organizations

Seminars and workshops

Independent study

Volunteer work

Community activities

While many of the subject areas can

be satisfied with your previous dive

training and operational experiences, some

competency areas may have to be either

“tested out” or satisfied with the completion of a course of instruction for that

particular area. In the event that the diver

does not have sufficient deep dive

experience, DIT also offers supplemental

deep dive courses that will satisfy the

international standards.

U.S. Navy Divers are among the best

trained in the world. Before leaving the

service, why not see if your hard-earned

Navy training can help you establish a

commercial diving career.
1 8 J u l y 2 0 0 5

On 3 September 2004, Mid-AtlanticRegional Maintenance Center

(MARMC) Dive Locker was tasked by

NAVSEA propeller group (05H) to

perform a Visual Technical Inspection

(VTI) of USS HARRY S TRUMAN

(CVN 75) starboard outboard (#1) and

port outboard (#4) propellers. Several

weeks earlier, Seaward Marine Services,

Inc discovered a condition known as

cavitation erosion during routine hull

cleaning and inspection on #1 and #4

propellers. This data raised concerns

within the maintenance community and

required further inspection and evaluation.

VTI results were immediately sent

electronically to COMNAVAIRLANT,

NAVSEA 05H, and 00C. On 4 September,

the recommendation was made to replace

both propellers immediately. The situation

was exacerbated by the fact that TRUMAN

was scheduled to deploy the following

month.

NAVAIRLANT requested 00C formulate a plan to replace both propellers and

be completed by 30 September. 00C assembled a team comprised of MARMC

divers, Phoenix International, Inc. (Phoenix) divers, and GPC/ESSM mechanics.

Additionally, Southwest Regional Maintenance Center (SWRMC) Dive Locker provided their NAVSEA certified welding

team to wet-weld

rope guards.

Since both dive

teams would be working the job concurrently on 12-hour

shifts, two complete

sets of aircraft carrier

(CV) propeller equipment were assembled

and sent by truck

to Naval Station

Norfolk from ESSM

Williamsburg, VA and

ESSM Port Hueneme,

CA. All equipment

arrived on 15 and 16

September and was

loaded on a contractor barge and a U.S.

Navy YC provided by Naval Station Norfolk Port Operations (Port OPS).

MARMC and Phoenix divers spent two

days assembling the jigsaw puzzle of

equipment on their respective barges.

Major components included the CV Ballast Tank, I-Beam, 50 metric ton hydraulic

chain-hoists, boss and pilgrim nut handling

fixtures as well as a myriad of wire ropes,

shackles, tools, and the hydraulic power

units to drive them.

Both barges were placed alongside

TRUMAN by Port OPS tugs on 17

September and

the crews went to

work replacing the

61,500 lb propellers. The new propellers had arrived

the day before and

MARMC VTI’s

went to work performing the receipt inspection

and making the

propellers ready

for installation. AFrame assemblies

that were placed on

each barge were

used to send and

retrieve all equipment using air powered tugger winches.

The winches used were 10,000 lb capacity with 3⁄4 inch wire rope. The tuggers allowed divers to install equipment weighing as much as 3,500 lbs each. Needless to

say, working smarter, not harder, was the

order of the day.

As with any job of this scope, Murphy

was there on dive station and running

amok. #4 boss nut would not come off.

Phoenix divers had to rig the 50 metric ton

chain hoist to take a pull on the boss nut

wrench. It finally broke loose and moved

one half inch with a pull of 31,000 lbs.

Needless to say, this was way more than

was expected. Keep in mind these

propellers were original equipment,

installed on the ship in 1994 and the

propellers were manufactured/refurbished

in 1993. That refurbishment in 1993

proved to be a game breaker.

Once both dunce caps and boss nuts

were removed, divers discovered that each

propeller only had two, 41⁄2” withdrawal

stud holes instead of the required eight, 3

1⁄4” holes. This meant that we could only

pressurize the pilgrim nut to 8,100-psi vice

the required 16,200-psi. How much of a

difference is that? Well, 8,100-psi would

provide 545 long tons of force. We needed

735 long tons to break the propellers off

the taper. Not even close. Both dive teams

MCPO Hunt briefing the team. applied the 8,100-psi force with no luck.

#4 propeller.
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 1 9

We even left one of the pilgrim nuts

pressurized overnight; hoping a long

“soak” would do the trick. Murphy wasn’t

having any of it. Once we found that

the propellers were not

configured correctly, Mike

Dean (00C5) dusted off

the procedure for using

explosives to help unseat

the propeller. Keep in mind

that this procedure is

only authorized with 00C

approval. The procedure

is quite simple; getting

authorization to use explosives underneath a

nuclear powered aircraft

carrier in port is a whole

other ballgame.

We assembled another team to accomplish

this task. EODGRU 2

provided salvage demolition divers from MDSU 2

and explosive safety observers from

EODMU 2. The detonating cord was

obtained from TRUMAN’s Ordnance

Handling Officer (OHO). An Explosive

Event Waiver was generated by

TRUMAN’s OHO with assistance from

00C, NAVSEA 08, AIRLANT, MDSU 2,

Port OPS, and Naval Station Safety and

sent to Commander Fleet Forces

Command (CFFC) for approval.

Approval was granted and the

procedure was underway. After both shafts

were covered with 3 inches of manila line,

MDSU 2 divers applied three concentric

wraps of 42-grain/ft detonating cord,

which was held in place by the leftover

tallow from the dunce caps. #1 was

pressurized to 8,100 psi and the electric

shot was initiated. High order detonation

was achieved, but the propeller didn’t

budge. At the same time, 00C engineers

were doing the math to figure out how high

we could pressurize the pilgrim nut. The

word was given to pressurize to 10,000 psi.

Three minutes after we applied 10,000 psi,

#1 was unseated. Soon after, #4 was

pressurized to 10,000 psi and the primer

cord detonated in the same fashion. #4

unseated as well.

 The procedure

for rigging the

propellers from

the shaft, to the

barge beam and

then to the

floating crane

(YD) is a sight to

see. Once the

propeller is ready

to be yard and

stayed to the

beam, the ballast

tank is filled

with water,

approximately

50,000 lbs of

water is pumped in to help maintain list of

the barge. Once the transfer is complete,

the barge is moved by tug to the YD. The

YD takes the weight of the 50 metric ton

chain hoist from the beam and

away it goes. Once the propeller

is out of the water, the propeller

is rotated so the forward end of

the hub is facing down so it can

be placed on the pier.

Throughout this evolution, we had to keep our eyes

on the many hurricanes brewing

off the coast of Florida. Yes, we

had to have a storm evasion

plan, including moving the ship

and our two barges to safe

haven. One by-product of this

weather was bad visibility,

which was reduced to six

inches. At 2400 on 29 September, the NAVSEA Project

Manager and five Phoenix

personnel had to assist Port

OPS in moving the barge from its mooring

outboard TRUMAN to safe haven three

piers away. Pier 14 was experiencing three

to five foot seas with 30-knot winds. The

barge was returned to TRUMAN eight

hours later. All in a day’s work, a 20-hour

day that is.

Both teams were in automatic now, all

the bugs had been worked out of the

systems, and each diver knew his job. The

weather was a nuisance at times, but didn’t

keep us from progressing. By 4 October,

the new propellers were on, the ship had

four new rope guards welded on (#2 and

#3 were deteriorated as well), and the

teams were demobilizing from pier 14.

In all, both teams completed 177

accident free dives accounting for 343.9

hours of bottom time. TRUMAN sailed on

time to play a major role in the Global War

on Terrorism. This repair event proved

once again that active Navy and NAVSEA

contractor dive teams can work together

seamlessly and provide the fleet with

unmatched expertise and service.

Scott Heineman is currently the

Underwater Ship Husbandry Operations

Specialist.

Overhead shot of the SIMA Barge.

CWO3 Zagursky blasting #1.
2 0 J u l y 2 0 0 5

Five mariners onboard the offshoresupply vessel Lee III died after their

ship capsized following a collision with

the container ship Zim Mexico III in the

Mississippi River. The 178-foot, 183-ton

Lee III, used to deliver people and supplies

to offshore oil rigs, was heading to Port

Fourchon, a major oil and gas port in south

Louisiana, when it collided with the 534-

foot long Container ship Zim Mexico III

inbound for New Orleans. The incident

took place at about 5:20 AM on February

21, 2004 in near zero visibility due to thick

fog. The site was 50 miles south of New

Orleans, Louisiana on the Southwest Pass

of the Mississippi River. The Lee III turned

over instantly and partly sank showing

only its bow, and blocking the only

entrance to the river for large oceangoing

vessels.

The Supervisor of Salvage was asked

to assist USCG MSO New Orleans to

ensure that the Heavy Lift and removal of

MV LEE III, which was blocking the

shipping channel into New Orleans, was

conducted properly and with engineering

analysis. NAVSEA 00C responded to the

Mississippi River marine disaster by

sending an engineering team of SUPSALV

Engineers, Mr. Rick Thiel (Team Lead),

CDR Brian Murphy, LCDR Nef Anastasio

and LT Judd Southworth to model the

vessel and analyze the varying conditions

from its current capsized position through

heavy lift. Expertise from MDSU 2 was

added when CWO4 Rick Armstrong and

MDV Mike Babin joined the team.

NAVSEA 00C Engineers used the Program

of Ship Salvage Engineering (POSSE) to

model conditions and assess hull strength

as a decision making aid to the Salvage

Crew.

It was unusual to model the vessel

completely upside down and with a ground

point or “pinnacle” where the

transom was touching the

bottom. The damaged (red) areas

were modeled based on reports

from the divers and updated once

the Lee III was pulled to the side

of the channel and more detailed

damage estimates could be

made.

The first response was

USCG search and rescue and

environmental cleanup. No

survivors were found, but

environmental response workers

recovered 630 gallons of diesel

fuel using skimmers and absorbent boom.

About 30,000 gallons of fuel were aboard

the Lee III.

The sunken vessel’s owner, Houston

based Ocean Runner

Inc., hired a salvage

crew and divers from

Bisso Marine to look

for bodies aboard the

partly submerged vessel and to remove the

ship from the channel.

Immediately, the

BISSO MARINE salvage, logistical, and

contractual teams constructed a salvage

plan, coordinated logistics and worked out

the contractual details of the operation.

BISSO MARINE crews mobilized to the

site where they used the 700-ton and 600

ton A-frames D/B CAPPY BISSO and D/

B LILI BISSO as well as the 250-ton offshore derrick D/B BOAZ to salvage the

vessel.

Divers recovered 3 of 5 crewmen

from within the Lee III. A fourth crewmen

was located downstream of the accident.

Crews on scene encountered five-knot

river currents, high winds, rain and fog as

they prepared the Lee III to be moved from

the middle of the channel.

U.S. Coast Guard hearings revealed

that Zim Mexico III was traversing upriver

at 11.5 knots.

Lee III did

not show up

on the radar

screen of Zim

Mexico III until it was less

than a mile

away from the

bigger ship.

Both the master and the pilot aboard the

Zim Mexico

Lee III in the middle of the Southwest Pass.

POSSE model of this condition.

Diver from Bisso Marine prepares to

search the wreckage of the Lee III.

Two A-frame cranes lift the Lee III.
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 2 1

The Force of the collision is evident to onlookers

surveying the hull damage as MV LEE III is lifted.

III said that Lee III was quite

near to an oil terminal on the

eastern portion of the bank

river. The proximity to the

shore might indicate why the

supply vessel did not show up

on radar until it changed course

and started heading toward Zim

Mexico III. The master said the

radar was set to pick up images

2.5 miles away. The two vessels established radio contact

only 37 seconds before the collision. The bow lookout testified that he didn’t see anything

hit the ship. The first indication

of the collision came when the

ship shook from the impact.

The salvage plan included a 4-point

lift from the two A-frame cranes (700-ton

and 600 ton) and landing the Lee III as-is,

on an outfitted barge for removal from the

area. The barge was set to receive the

vessel upside down. A wooden cradle was

built to account for the relatively weak

deckhouse structure that would be bearing

some of the weight to provide stability

during transport. Once landed and lashed

down, the Lee III was transported to

Amelia, La., for accident analysis and then

disposal.

This lift was modeled in POSSE

using 8 “pinnacles” as the lifting points to

evaluate the midsection strength as a

decision making aid to the salvage crew

leader. The hull strength was sufficient

for the lift provided that the cranes

maintained even tension and lifted slowly

enough for the water to drain out.

The lift was successful yet solemn. As

the vessel was raised the details of the

damage were revealed. Onlookers can only

imagine what the force of the collision must

have felt like when hit by a vessel with 100

times your momentum.

Gary LaGrange, Executive Director/

CEO of the Port of New Orleans said the

river closure impacted both cargo and

cruise ship operations for vessels calling

the Port of New Orleans and the entire

Mississippi River system. The affected

cargo includes consumer goods,

raw materials used in manufacturing, petroleum products, and

grain exports. “A closure, such as

the one we have today, impacts

the nation’s economy. Sixty-two

percent of America’s commerce

is shipped on the Mississippi

River. This alternate route to the

Gulf of Mexico must be maintained,” said LaGrange. The MV

Lee III incident cost approximately $3 million for each day

that the local Port of New Orleans

was disrupted. There were 51 vessels waiting to transit northbound

and 52 waiting to transit southbound through the pass, according to the

Coast Guard, primarily bulk and container

ships. The majority of cruise ships affected

by the closure have been able to arrange

alternate port calls at Gulfport, Mississippi

and Mobile, Alabama.

Diver from Bisso Marine prepares to search the wreckage

of the Lee III.

At one point, about 40 ships were

backed up; including at least three

large cruise ships carrying some

7,900 passengers. But the Grandeur

of the Seas, with 2,600 passengers,

was too big to leave its New Orleans

dock by any other route. The

Grandeur had been scheduled to

leave Sunday. The delay was fine for

passengers who wanted to see

parades during the weekend leading

up to Mardi Gras, but not for those

who booked the cruise to escape

Mardi Gras frenzy. The cruise ships

were full because of the Mardi Gras

celebration: “It couldn’t have

happened on a worse weekend,” said

Gary LaGrange, chief of the Port of New

Orleans.

I n c o n c l u s i o n , NAV S E A 0 0 C

provided technical analysis to support

decision making by the BISSO Marine

Salvage Team and to provide assurance of

proper salvage oversight to the USCG

Marine Safety Office New Orleans. All

parties involved communicated in an open

and professional atmosphere with BISSO

Marine showing their expertise and

professionalism by mobilizing to the site,

recovering 3 crewmen and completing the

salvage in 6 1/2 days, despite heavy fog,

48-degree water and 5 knot currents. Their

success allowed one of the world’s busiest

waterways and the United States’ main

arteries for trade to return to normal

operations.

POSSE model of the 8 lifting points.

CDR Brian Murphy is currently

Submarine Program Manager and

Atlantic Fleet Diving and Salvage Officer

at Fleet Forces Command Maintentance

Directorate, N43.
2 2 J u l y 2 0 0 5

One January evening during chow,USS SAN FRANCISCO (SSN 711)

collided with a sea mount approximately

350 miles south of Guam. The initial report indicated a speed reduction on the

order of flank to less than 4 knots in just a

few seconds. By early Saturday

morning, 8 January, the Naval

Sea Systems Command had been

notified and the command center

manned. Shortly after, NAVSEA

00C was notified to assemble a

diving contingent and coordinate

diving assets in support of any

possible combination of damage

control and stabilization techniques. At this point the damage

sustained was unclear; however,

USS SAN FRANCISCO was

under her own power and being

escorted to Apra Harbor, Guam.

The Supervisor of Salvage

and Diving, Underwater Ship

Husbandry Director selected LT

William Hagan and Mr. Tom McCue to

act as on-site technical representatives.

SUPSALV immediately commenced

mobilizing equipment to support any

possible combination of damage control

and stabilization techniques. NAVSEA

00C engineers, Hagan and McCue, from

Washington, D.C., and divers from Bayou

Vista, Louisiana, immediately departed for

their journey to the other side of the world.

Equipment, including twelve lift bags, an

assortment of rigging gear, and four 8’ x

10’ boxes containing the diving and

welding systems were shipped from the

Emergency Ship Salvage Materials

(ESSM) bases in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and

Cheatham Annex, VA.

NAVSEA 00C on-site representatives

provided coordination with the Naval

Supervising Activity (NSA), which in this

case was a Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard

response team lead by Captain Chuck Doty.

Understandably, the NSA’s

initial concerns were for safety

of the reactor compartment,

which was found to be completely intact with no apparent

damage. After this determination, NAVSEA 00C was

permitted to initiate diving

operations with the two dive

teams consisting of 00C contract

and USS FRANK CABLE

divers. NAVSEA contract divers

supplied a well-trained team of

fully qualified underwater

welders led by Mr. Lance Shupe,

while Master Diver Tom

Stogdale lead a highly motivated and

equally competent dive team from USS

FRANK CABLE.

Wednesday morning, LT Hagan and

EN2 Langley were the first divers to enter

the water under close supervision from IT2

Stover and Tom McCue. Diving

was authorized only after a

majority of the ship’s potentially

affected systems had been tagged

out for precautionary measures to

ensure diver safety due to the

condition of the ship. The divers

shared the underwater video

camera, recording over 2.5 hours

of video on the initial dive and

recover a large piece of a porous

coral rock lodged in one of the port

side torpedo doors. Throughout the

initial survey dives, USS FRANK

CABLE divers were able to record

more than 15 hours of video

directly to DVD and take more than

50 still pictures.

The initial inspection revealed more

damage than expected. The damaged area

extended from the port side torpedo doors

to the keel area of the most forward

elliptical bulkhead; most of the sonar dome

was missing. The sonar sphere, a critical

concern within the submarine intelligence

community, although unrecognizable,

remained firmly attached to the ship, but

shifted several feet to starboard. Divers

also discovered the ship’s mooring lines

protruding from the sonar sphere access

trunk. Divers finally found a point of

reference when they traced out the sonar

dome mating ring, which led aft at a 70

degree angle and ended near the vertical

bulkhead inside main ballast tank 1B.

Upon further inspection, large holes giving

visual access to main ballast tank 2B were

identified as well as a small hole in the

upper portion of 2A. At this point the

NAVSEA 00C technical representatives

began to consider options for underwater

repairs.

Divers removing the sonar dome.

USS FRANK CABLE divers hard at work installing

lift bags.

USS FRANK CABLE Divers Shine In

USS SAN FRANCISCO Emergency Response

By: LT Will Hagan
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 2 3

Further inspection and many long

hours studying video provided several

possible solutions to the problems at hand,

all of which were proposed to the NSA.

The NSA decided to first address the ship’s

stability with the aid of diver resources and

concurrence of NAVSEA 00C salvage

engineers and Pearl Harbor naval

architects. The second goal was to remove

the weapons from the torpedo room

including two weapons in the tubes. In

conjunction with the first two goals, the

divers were charged with restoring as much

buoyancy as possible without adding

weight and to remove obstructions hanging

from the hull to make the ship as stable as

possible for transit to the drydock.

In order to gain buoyancy for

the weapons off loading, NAVSEA

00C reps proposed a plan to install

twelve 10-ton lift bags on the

forward end of the boat to gain

approximately two feet of

freeboard. The first two lift bags

were installed by attaching rigging

to selected ballast tank flood grate

openings. Rigging for the after

bags was secured to the submarine’s sail with wire slings and

were rigged under the submarine

to anchor the lift bag on the

opposite side of the boat. Pearl

Harbor naval architects and

NAVSEA structural engineers

advised USS FRANK CABLE hull technician on the placement of eight topside pad 

eyes in order to secure the rigging for

the remaining eight lift bags.

Additionally, divers installed

numerous flat patches to the hull with

welded screw dogs. This method was

employed on MBT 2A and 3B.

Concurrently, divers prepared the interior

surfaces of the hull and twenty-five gallons

of underwater epoxy putty was applied to

the more obscure hull forms where flat

patches would not be effective. With

twelve lift bags, most of MBT 2A restored,

and approximately half of MBT 3B

restored, the dive teams obtained three feet

of freeboard and significant ship

stability.

One of the largest operations

the divers conducted was removal

of the sonar dome. Through

unequalled prowess with underwater hydraulics and sheer

determination, USS FRANK

CABLE divers were able to drill

4-inch diameter holes through

4 inches of sonar dome rubber and

fiberglass in a matter of hours.

Accompanied by the underwater

cutting team, who cut away the

connecting point between the submarine

and the sonar dome, the damaged dome

was removed and laid on the pier with

the help of a floating crane.

On Saturday, 22 January, the carefully orchestrated off-load of all weapons

from the torpedo room aboard USS SAN

FRANCISCO became one of many

completed milestones. Divers went back

to work to remove the lift bags in

preparation for transit to the drydock at

Guam Shipyard.

Early Wednesday morning, USS SAN

FRANCISCO left the pier under tug power

and headed to Guam Shipyard’s drydock,

“Big Blue.” A difficult docking experience

ensued due to unexplained currents surging

through the drydock. The docking team

finally cradled the ship by the bow and

gently set her down on the blocks. Navy

divers quickly swam the blocks to ensure

contact with all blocks while a local dive

team inserted the two after most keel

blocks. The dock was then raised

to make the submarine “hard on

the blocks” and divers again swam

the blocks to pull block tags,

ensuring for a second time that all

blocks had solid contact.

 Overall, the three dive

teams working as one cohesive

unit, were responsible for

removing eight damaged ballast

tank flood grates, installing twelve

lift bags, twenty-five gallons

of underwater epoxy both on

the inside and outside of the ballast

tanks, eight patches welded to

the hull, removal of the remaining

portion of the sonar dome, and

expertly laying the USS San

Francisco to rest on the blocks in the

drydock.

Starboard side lift bags in place.

USS FRANK CABLE Dive Locker posing on the dome.

LT Will Hagan was until recently

Underwater Ship Husbandry Project

Engineer at NAVSEA OOC5.

Remains of the sonar dome.
2 4 J u l y 2 0 0 5

Bob Kutzleb, a retired U.S. NavyOfficer and a pioneer in the field of

underwater search and recovery

operations, recently passed away after a

two year battle with cancer.

Bob began his Navy career as a

seaman recruit at the onset of World War

II, and spent the war years serving on

submarines in the Pacific theater.

Following the war, he remained with the

submarine force, receiving his commission

as a Limited Duty Officer and serving as

Missile Officer. He attended the U.S. Navy

School of Diving and Salvage in 1959,

where he was certified as a Mixed-Gas

Diving Officer. He served as Commanding

Officer of two submarine rescue vessels,

USS PENGUIN and USS KITTIWAKE,

prior to his retirement as a Lieutenant

Commander in 1964.

After a two-year stint as project

coordinator for submarine construction at

Robert (Bob) Kutzleb

Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock

Company, Bob joined Ocean Systems, Inc.

as Operations Manager in 1966. Ocean

4-4-4... OBITUARIES ...4-4-4

Systems was the first of a series of firms

contracted to provide commercial search

and recovery expertise to the U.S. Navy’s

Office of the Supervisor of Salvage and

Diving (SUPSALV).

For the next 20 years, Bob continued

to support the SUPSALV office, personally

directing over 200 search and recovery

projects worldwide. These projects

included a number of high visibility

operations, including the search for KAL

Flight 007, the search and recovery of the

submersible Alvin, the search and recovery

of the Space Shuttle Challenger, the

search for an Air India 747, and the search

and inspection of the ore carrier

M/V EDMUND FITZGERALD in Lake

Superior.

During this time, Bob co-founded

Seaward, Inc. and founded Steadfast

Marine, Inc., two well respected firms in

the marine services industry.

The deepest depth ever reached in theopen sea by U.S. Navy men . . . . On

22 April 1970, M.T. Bell (DCC), D.C. Risk

(BM1), F.L. Reanda (MR1), and L.K.

Goacher (BMC) dove and worked at 650

feet for two hours, using the Mark I Deep

Dive System. LCDR McDermott, PCO of

ASR 21, was in charge; OPCON was

under COMSERVGRU ONE, San Diego.

Submarine/Diving Medical Personnel

from EDU and SUBDEVGRU ONE were

in attendance.

The dive was performed from the

deck of the USNS GEAR (ARS 34),

moored in the lee of Anacapa Island off

Port Hueneme, California. The divers,

working at 650 feet, had no difficulty

whatsoever. They were kept warm by hot

water supplied from the surface to opencircuit hot water suits. Communications

from divers to the Personnel Transfer

Capsule (PTC) and to topside were

excellent. The two working divers (one

man tended from inside the PTC) wore

newly developed life support equipment

— one wore the Kirby-Morgan Band

Mask; another wore the Mk 1 Mod 0

mixed-gas SCUBA. The divers were

saturated at 60 feet before descending in

the PTC. After the working dive, they were

brought back up in the PTC and transferred

into the Deck Decompression Chamber

(DDC). At the time of this writing, they

continue saturated in the DDC, under

careful observation of medical personnel

— awaiting more and possibly deeper

dives.

A significant aspect of this dive is the

total success of a deep working dive of this

duration, but surface based and without the

expense associated with bottom habitation.
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 2 5

I

 leaned against a bulkhead as our small

boat set out of the harbor and went

North along the coastline. A light wind

from the West drifted in and ripples

formed here and there on the smooth

water. The morning sun was low on the

cloudless horizon promising a warm day

for our diving operation. Frank Donohue

and Ramsey Parks were dressing into their

wetsuits as Ramsey explained the job.

“The pipe is about 2,000 feet long by

10 feet in diameter. The engineers think

that part of the pipe has sand in it and our

job is to find out how much sand is in

there.”

I glanced at the breathing equipment

they were going to use. Twin seventies

with a single hose regulator and pressure

gauge, and piggy-back, a single seventy

with a one hose regulator mounted on it.

Ramsey continued, “There won’t be

any current in the pipe so we’ll have to

swim the full distance. Usually, they have

a little current to help push the diver

through the pipe but not on this job. When

we start, we’ll be heavy, so that at the end

of the dive we’ll be neutral when the air is

used up from our bottles.”

Each of the full seventies weighed

about six pounds more when full so they

were starting the dive with about 17 or 18

pounds more weight from the air in their

bottles than at the end of their air supply.

In a single seventy, this is not so noticeable, but it becomes an important factor when

the diver is wearing 200 plus cubic

feet.

“The pipe

joints are 20 feet

apart, so every five

joints I will stop

and fill one of

my sample bottles

with the sand

there, and continue

on. This will give

the engineers a

look at the type

of sand that is in

the pipe,” said

Ramsey.

The boat slowed as the operator eased

back on the throttle and we came alongside

the buoy that marked the offshore end of the pipeline. The

sight of the buoy brought back

memories of other dives I had

made in pipelines. I have never

been completely comfortable in

freeswimming gear in a pipeline.

The specter of equipment

malfunction, though remote,

always seemed to hang over my

head just prior to an inside

pipeline swim, especially if it was

alone, one like the one Ramsey

and Frank were going to do. I

knew what was on the other end

of that buoy chain. The pipeline

terminates its offshore run and

abruptly turns up to an elevation

of about 15 or 20 feet off the

sandy bottom, ending with a rooflike structure having horizontal

intakes around the pipe under the

roof. I had always entered one of

these structures cautiously and

had always given a thought or two as to

who was standing over the pump controls

to make sure they were not turned on at

the wrong time or in the wrong direction.

I helped Ramsey and Frank into their

triple bottle set-ups and handed Ramsey

his bag of sample bottles.

They sat on the gunnel a

few moments, nodded to

each other and rolled

over backwards into the

water with their heavy

bottles. They kicked a

few feet to the buoy and

started down the chain. I

watched as they rapidly

disappeared from sight

into the murky water.

Visibility was six to

eight feet, and with

his excessive weight,

Ramsey effortlessly

drifted down the anchor

chain. The pressure of

the water compressed

his suit causing an acceleration in his speed

along the chain. He kicked his fins slightly

causing his body to go horizontal and resist the downward acceleration slightly. He

glanced over his shoulder to see Frank

swimming down behind him. Frank looks

light, he thought to himself, noticing Frank

had to swim to stay with him on the descent. Well, it’s not important, he thought,

we’re here and we’ll get the job done.

Ramsey noticed the change in angle on the

chain and soon the lower end appeared in

front of him. He waited for a moment, for

Frank to catch up, then eased into one of

the big intake holes. He flipped on his light

and dropped to the bottom of the tower.

Frank was there next to him and Ramsey

noticed that his buoyancy seemed to be

okay now. They glanced at each other’s

equipment, running their flashlights over

the spare regulators, weight belts and harnesses. Everything was in order, so they

started their long swim down the pipe toward the beach. Ramsey counted five

joints in the pipeline indicating they had

traveled about 100 feet. He stopped to inFrank Donahue. spect the bottom of the pipe which had

Bob Meistrell tends Frank Donahue.
2 6 J u l y 2 0 0 5

about two feet of sand in it. He filled his

sample bottle as Frank inspected the area.

Then, they moved on. It was absolutely

black now except for their hand lights.

Ramsey looked behind him and could not

see even the faintest trace of light coming

from the tower. This is the moment when

the cave diver and the pipeline swimmer

realize they are truly on their own and this

is the moment when the planning and the

equipment must do the job. But there is no

time to dwell on equipment and planning.

It was important not to hesitate. They only

had a certain amount of air, and they must

do their job and make the end of the pipe

with plenty of air in reserve.

The bag that Ramsey carried the

sample bottles in actually had two

compartments. The empties were all in one

and as he filled them he would place the

full bottle into the other compartment. He

had twenty bottles and the sampling was

every five joints of pipe or every 100 feet.

He could reach down into his sample bag

and count the bottles as he swam from one

sampling station to the next. When all 20

were filled he would be at the end of the

pipe. Actually, the job was boring with

seemingly endless length of pipe, which

was gray and drab, with a fine silty sand

on the bottom. The only life to be seen was

an occasional crab who would scurry along

the sand to the pipe wall and disappear into

the darkness along the edge of the sand.

Ramsey counted ten full bottles in his

sampling bag and realized they were about

half-way through the pipe. He pulled his

pressure gauge into view and read 1400

pounds. Good, he thought to himself. He

started with 2400, was halfway through

and had 1400 left. He was home free, or

so he thought. On his way to the next

sampling station, he noticed that Frank was

getting extremely light and was swimming

more than he should have been able to stay

near the bottom for his inspections.

Ramsey, being weighted heavy, was

having an easy swim along the bottom,

using his hands to walk with from station

to station. He actually could pull himself

along with his arms and travel very

economically with this system.

After the next sampling station, or

perhaps the one after, he felt Frank hanging

onto his piggy-back tank in an effort to stay

near the bottom on the pipe. He swung

around and looked at Frank and asked with

his hands, if everything was okay. Yes,

Frank nodded, go ahead, he indicated with

his hands. As Ramsey swam on to the next

inspection site, he kept being lifted off the

bottom by Frank’s excessive buoyancy.

That, being combined with an increased

swimming effort, made Ramsey a little bit

more than slightly apprehensive. After a

couple of more inspection sites, Frank’s

hanging onto Ramsey with his buoyant

condition became intolerable, and he

decided to tell Frank to swim on along the

top of the pipe and that he would finish

the inspection along the bottom. About this

time, Frank let go of Ramsey, and floated

toward the top of the pipe. Ramsey turned

around and saw that Frank had dropped

his light and it was dangling by the wrist

cord from his arm while he was busily

fumbling about his neck and shoulders.

Ramsey shined the light toward Frank and

realized that he was very low on air from

his main two bottles and was attempting

to find the single hose regulator from his

piggy-back bottle which had somehow

come off the neck cord and was behind

him. Ramsey quickly swam up and handed

him his spare regulator which Frank

promptly shoved into his mouth and took

a couple of relief breaths. With all the

excessive swimming with Frank holding

on and now this latest commotion, Ramsey

decided he had better check his own air

pressure. His gauge was down to 500 psi

but that at least put him 500 psi in two

seventies, ahead of Frank at his point. He

quickly looked at Frank, who had become

organized, and indicated to Ramsey that

he was through inspecting and was going

to swim the remaining way along the

pipeline since he was on his reserve air.

Ramsey shook his head in agreement and

set about to follow him.

Frank, being light, had turned upside

down and was swimming and walking with

his hands along the top of the pipe. Frank

is a big man with long legs and he was

making the most of it toward the end of

the pipe. Ramsey was heavy and was

following Frank along the bottom of the

pipe. The water inside the pipe, since there

was no motion from waves, was slightly

improved in visibility and Ramsey could

see Frank’s light, perhaps twelve to fifteen

feet away. Ramsey reached down and

counted his full sampling bottles, he had

16. This meant they were closer than 400

feet to the end of the pipe and could make

it quite easily on the air they had. Once

out, they could get more air and come back

in for the remaining four samples that were

needed. Ramsey felt relieved and glad that

their problems were no more serious than

a scuffle to find Frank’s reserve air

regulator. Ramsey settled into keeping up

with Frank and started counting the pipe

joints that came up every 20 feet. He

noticed he was breathing heavily to keep

pace with Frank. He had counted 10 joints

of pipe when his regulator started drawing

hard. He didn’t know if it was due to his

increased breathing efforts or if he was out

of air on his doubles. He tried to swim up

and grab Frank’s fins to have Frank help

him with the change-over to his emergency

regulator in the event that he could not find

it. But there was no catching Frank. The

extra effort to try to grab his fins only

caused Ramsey to draw harder on the

regulator and make it seem harder to get

any air out of it. He decided to stop and

make the change-over while he still had

some air left in his doubles.

(To be continued in the next issue.)

Ramsey Parks.
 J u l y 2 0 0 5 2 7

I

 noticed long ago that many Navy DeepSea Divers are at their core, gear-heads.

Probably one of the worst cases of nitromethane insanity is found in our own ENCM

Vern Geyman who devastated all burnout

competition challengers at the NDSTC

sanctioned event a few years ago. His canaryyellow ’34 Ford three-window coupe, with

exposed big-block blower motor “smoked the

hides” from the flag pole directly in front of

the school until alongside the salvage

ground tackle display. A well-prepared

small block Z-28 Camaro and a GTO – well

actually, a LeMans conversion – were

formidable, but lacked the huffer and were

well short on torque by comparison. Many

students, instructors and me (the CO at the

time) were brought to tears of pure,

unadulterated joy at the sight of that

fearsome display of raw, uncorked

horsepower.

But there’s more: Jerry Pelton, a.k.a.

“Mr. Corvette”, has been known to shred

asphalt back by the non-mag area in Panama

City – but shhhh, don’t tell anyone. And

Sandy Bacia still spends every weekend at

the drag strip. Of course, there are divers at

the other end of the spectrum, too, like road

warrior BMC P.T. Moore’s van, a veritable

mobile Super Fund site. And while Harley

Davidsons can be found in any Navy Dive

Locker parking lot, more and more young

divers are opting for hot sport bikes and nitrous

fed “tuner” cars instead of push-rod V8

motivated Detroit iron. Still, divers’ taste for

quick metal remains constant; it’s just the

recipe to satisfy that hunger that has changed.

Enjoy our four-page spread on “Divers and

Their Rides” on pages 12 through 15.

Topside; Red Diver...

From the Supervisor of Diving

 Captain Mark Helmkamp, USN

American Thunder – and more...

Next Generation Diving System Update

Navy Experimental Diving Unit

(NEDU) continues to progress in its

development of components for the Next

Generation Dive System (NGDS) for

surface-supplied air diving.

The Oxygen Regulating and Control

Assembly (ORCA), a central component of the

NGDS hardware, was successfully man-tested

in Apra Harbor, Guam, on 7 – 17 October 2004,

hosted by the Commander of Naval Forces

Marianas (COMNAVMAR), and supported

by the COMNAVMAR Dive Locker. (See

Faceplate, February 2005, page 3).

TDM with “ruggedized” components:Panasonic

Toughbook computer, new pressure transducer,

underwater electrical connector, and power cord in

lid of container for connection to ship/shore power.

If no power exists, there are two 12V batteries (lead

acid) in bottom of container.

Volunteer divers from six commands

completed 84 dives to depths from 80 to 190

fsw and with bottom times from 11 to 49 min

using MK 21 MOD 1 breathing rigs with air

or oxygen supplied from a MK III lightweight

dive system via the ORCA and 3/8-inch, 300–

foot umbilical. To support these dives,

NAVSEA provided the procedures and tables

for decompressing divers in the water on

oxygen. These tables were calculated with the

Thalmann VVal-18 Algorithm. The ORCA was

easily able to support both the air and in-water

oxygen requirements of up to three divers (two

working and one standby divers) using these

procedures with little discernable breathing

resistance. Draft ORCA operating and

emergency procedures were also exercised

with divers providing valuable feedback for

modification and simplification of several of

the procedures, as well as of certain ORCA

hardware features.

The ORCA was accompanied by a proofof-concept version of the Topside Decompression Monitor (POC-TDM), which will

eventually provide real-time decompression

prescriptions for all supported divers based on

the actual depth-time profiles experienced by

the divers. Pressure sensor and communications failures prevented the POC-TDM

from providing these prescriptions in the

Guam dives, but divers were able to use the

accompanying Thalmann Algorithm Windows

Dive Planner to analyze dive data from the

Dive Charts. The divers were readily able to

gain appreciation for the advantages of realtime calculation of decompression obligations

as they compared Planner and Table

decompression prescriptions for given dives.

Overall, the VVal-18 tables prescribed a

total of 896 minutes of decompression for the

84 man-dives completed in this series. When

the actual dive depths and bottom times were

entered into the Dive Planner, the Planner

prescribed a total of 550 minutes of

decompression, a 39% savings of 346 manminutes.

 In more recent work, the Planner has

been modified to support U.S. Navy diving

missions other than those using surfacesupplied air, and forwarded to PMS-NSW

for completion of the formal Verification,

Validation, and Accreditation (VV&A)

process required for approval for Navy use,

and trial distribution to selected fleet

users under NAVSEA waiver.

 Development of a prototype TDM is

on track for open-water testing late this

calendar year. This updated TDM will sport

a graphical user interface (GUI) that was

presented in a preliminary form to a

working committee of operational divers at

the 2005 Working Divers Conference in

Keyport, WA. Again, participants provided

valuable feedback about the content and format

of the information that they want displayed in

this GUI; feedback that is being incorporated

into the prototype. The prototype also

addresses failure modes that were encountered

in the Guam dives: A new pressure transducer

and underwater electrical connector for each

Close-up of the transducer connection.
2 8 J u l y 2 0 0 5

Marathon Man: Is it safe?

“The Pipe”

A special “Thank You” to

Bev Morgan who allowed me to

re-print his 1967 short story The Pipe.

You will all have to skip-breath until

next issue to learn the fate of divers

Frank Donahue and Ramsey Parks –

sorry, get over it.

Topside; Red Diver... (continued)

supported diver are considerably more rugged

than those that failed in these dives. Finally,

channels have been opened with the Navy

Safety Center to interface the TDM input

requirements and recording capabilities with

the pending internet-based Dive Reporting

System to reduce current logging and

paperwork requirements on the dive side.

These are all vital first steps to the ultimate

objective of safe and efficient tableless

and paperless diving by computer in the U.S.

Navy.

I

t has been over ten years now since a 36

year-old EOD officer died after a standard,

no decompression requalification dive in

Guam. The officer had arrived at the dive

locker early in the morning of the dive after

flying five hours from his duty station. He had

only four hours sleep in the previous 30 hours.

The dive team assembled, equipment was

issued, and pre-dive checks completed. The

Dive Supervisor conducted the mandatory

brief. The Supervisor asked the officer if he

was uneasy about diving to 120 feet after eight

months without diving. The officer responded

that he was ready to dive.

The dive team arrived at the dive site in

the early afternoon and moored to a buoy

marking a wreck. The officer and another diver

dressed out and were inspected by the

Supervisor. The divers entered the water and

swam to the descent line, descended to the

wreck, and then began their ascent after a fourminute bottom time. Both divers surfaced and

reported “OK” and swam to the boat.

The officer had a little trouble getting into

the boat and upon squaring himself away once

aboard, the Supervisor asked him, “Are you

OK?” The officer replied that he was OK and

then promptly slipped to one knee. The

Supervisor, sensing trouble, had the officer sit

on the side of the boat and even while the

officer still insisted that he was OK, his chin

sank to his chest. His blank stare and apparent

weakness confirmed to the Supervisor and the

officer’s dive partner that the officer was

not OK. The Supervisor’s immediate diagnosis

Even as professional Navy

Divers, with our extensive

procedures, maintenance, and the

high quality of our gear, diving

remains a high-risk activity. Diving

Supervisors daily live “Eternal vigilance is the

price of safety” but even with the greatest

attention to detail problems still occur. Think

about other accident-causing factors beyond

procedures and equipment and consider the

personalities of your crew and then re-read LT

Paul O’Connor’s article regarding nontechnical causal factors (See Faceplate,

February 2005, page 7).

Think about this tragedy and consider the

following:

Don’t dive without adequate rest

Dive Supervisors must be acutely aware

of their divers’ condition and experience

Plan the dive and dive the plan,

including a thorough check of all gear. In this

case, a simple (final) radio check just before

splashing the divers could have saved valuable

time before pressing the diver for treatment.

If divers come to your command TAD

to requalification, verify that their dive physical

is up-to-date and was completed by a DMO.

Ensure their dive qualifications are current in

accordance with MILPERSMAN 1220-260.

“No ticket; no laundry.”

Divers that have not made regular, recent

dives should make shallow, work-up dives to

reacquaint themselves with equipment and

procedures. Review the U.S. Navy Diving

Manual, Chapter 6-11.1.

Conduct a periodic review of your

command’s Diving Bill and standard and

emergency procedures. Emergency drills will

quicken your team’s response to a real life

emergency.

Finally, govern the “Hoo-Yah” –

overly confident divers are a real menace to

themselves and their dive partner.

was arterial gas embolism (AGE) and he

had the officer lay on the deck and administered

O2

. The Supervisor made preparations to

get underway and while doing so, was

unsuccessful in his attempts to raise the

dive locker by radio to alert and make the

recompression chamber team ready.

Within a few minutes the team had

returned to the pier – and still had not

been able to make radio contact with the

dive locker. The Supervisor had a crewmember run ahead to notify the chamber crew

and get transportation. Eighteen minutes

after surfacing from the dive, the officer was

sealed in the chamber and was being compressed to treatment depth.

Initially, the treatment went well.

However, after about 30 minutes in the

chamber, the inside tender reported the officer

had tingling and decreased sensation in

his lower extremities. After several hours,

the tingling and decreased sensation worsened

and the officer’s strength diminished. His

pulse and respiration rates were dropping

and medical authorities sensed the onset

of cardiac arrest. After more than 49 hours

in the chamber, the chamber crew brought

the chamber to the surface. The officer had a

rapid heart rate and no measurable blood

pressure.

The officer was transported to a

hospital by ambulance where his blood

pressure stabilized. Upon reaching the

hospital, his temperature was 106.9, pulse

was 158, and BP was 98/25. He was

immediately admitted into the Intensive

Care Unit where further treatment was

administered. His condition did not improve

and ten days after the officer made this

dive, he died. The diagnosis: arterial gas

embolism with hypothermia and multiple

organ failure.

Plan your dive, dive your plan. This was

a routine Navy dive so what went wrong?

Nobody knows for sure. The young officer

was properly trained for the dive and was

in excellent physical condition. A proper ascent

rate of no more than 30 feet per minute was

executed and the team arrived on the surface

on time. What is known however is that the

officer suffered an AGE.

The 2005 Salvage Executive Steering Committee meeting is scheduled for

26-27 of July, 2005 at the Washington Navy Yard. Please visit

www.supsalv.org for more information.