The Official Newsletter for the Divers and Salvors of the United States Navy

Volume 5, No. 2 / November 2000

In This Issue

SUPSALV Sends V Sends

(continued on page 2)

The main compartment of the

Engine Recovery System

(ERS) is an 80-ton bridge

structure that was lowered over

the MONITOR engine area.

A 350-ton lift crane lowered the

bridge structure over the

MONITOR. Cameras placed on

the bridge will be used to guide

the structure into place.

SUPSALV Sends ........................................... 1

Navy Experimental Diving Unit: Over Our

Heads in Hot Water! ....................................... 2

Search and Recovery of the Piper Saratoga

Aircraft Piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. ......... 3

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 .............................. 4

From Certification 00C4 ................................. 5

Command in the Spotlight .............................. 6

MONITOR 2000 .............................................. 8

EgyptAir Flight 990 ...................................... 10

From the Warrant ........................................ 15

Historical Notes: John C. Niederman and the

Salvage of S-51 and S-4 ............................ 16

MONITOR: Historical Background................ 18

Obituary: CAPT Bruce B. McCloskey USNR

(Ret) ............................................................. 20

Navy Experimental Diving Unit Testing Medical

Equipment to Improve Capabilites of US

Hyperbaric Chambers ................................. 21

Gulf Air Flight 72 .......................................... 22

The Old Master ............................................ 23

From The Supervisor of Diving ................... 24

Mixed Gas Decompression Table Revised . 12

PMS Corner .................................................. 12

Cleaning and Sanitizing Diving Gear ........... 13

USS MONITOR NAVY’S 1st Ironclad Warship (see page 8)

Unfortunately, I am

writing this while divers

are working on two major Navy salvage operations. Both are prime examples of Navy divers

supporting, not only our

fellow sailors on the USS

COLE and the USS LA

MOURE COUNTY, but

also again demonstrating extreme resolve in

times of tragedy. As

many of you know,

Change of Command at

Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two was postponed because of their

extensive involvement in

both of these operations.

These operations and

those addressed in this issue answer a question

you may hear that is,

“What have Navy divers

done for me lately?”

Well, simply point them

to this FACEPLATE and

remind them we serve

365/7/24 anywhere in

the world. As exemplified by JFK Jr., EGYPT
2 November 2000

FACEPLATE is published by the Supervisor of Salvage and Diving to bring 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, 2531 Jefferson Davis Highway,

Arlington, VA 22242-5160. (Attn:

FACEPLATE). Visit our website at

http://www.navsea.navy.mil/sea00c.

Captain Bert Marsh, USN

Director of Ocean Engineering

Supervisor of Salvage and Diving

NAVSEA 00C

marshb@navsea.navy.mil

Jim Bladh

Managing Editor

Head, Operations Branch, 00C22

bladhjc@navsea.navy.mil

HTCM (MDV) Chuck Young, USN

ENCM (MDV) Dave Davidson, USN

Fleet Liaison Editors

youngch@navsea.navy.mil

davidsondl@navsea.navy.mil

F. Scott Lassiter

Graphic Designer

slassiter@roh-inc.com

SUPSALV Sends V Sends (continued from page 1)

(Continued on page 3)

Breathing a MK 18 Escape Breathing Apparatus (EBA) during a 2-

hour saturation dive to develop emergency decompression

schedules.

Would you consider remaining completely submerged in a Jacuzzi for

four hours while riding a stationary bicycle? That is exactly what we are doing

at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit

(NEDU) in Panama City, FL.

NEDU is the

world’s premier research and development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) facility for diving equipment and procedures.

We test and evaluate

diving, hyperbaric

and other life support systems and

procedures, and conduct research and development in biomedical and environmental physiology.

Based upon this, we

provide technical recommendations to

NAVSEA in support

of operational requirements to help

keep America’s Navy #1 in the world.

Supporting Navy divers in the Arabian Gulf is a primary area of our current

focus. We are developing guidelines for

SEAL, EOD and ship husbandry divers

working in hot water (up to 99 deg F). To

support this, our divers must ride stationary bikes underwater (to simulate swimming at a moderate pace) while breathing

on a rebreather (to scrub out expired carbon dioxide and inject pure oxygen) for up

to four hours or until body core temperature rises above 104 deg F. Divers are instrumented with portable EKG heart monitors and temperature probes while being

continuously observed by our medical

Over Our Heads in Hot Water!

By: CDR Erik Christensen, CO NEDU

AIR Flight 990, ALASKA

AIR Flight 216, GULF AIR

flight 73, USS La MOURE

COUNTY and USS COLE,

Navy divers and salvors are

there when called.

On a different note, I had

the distinct honor of attending the Washington D.C.

premiere of “Men of

Honor”, which was announced in our December

1999 issue. The film tells the

story of a true Navy hero,

MDV Carl Brashear. I urge

you to go and see this inspiring film that depicts Carl’s indomitable spirit, a spirit I

have been privileged to witness on countless occasions as

modern day divers answer

their country’s call. In addition the movie reminds us

that neither skin color, race,

creed, nor sex determine a

diver’s worth, it’s what you

do on the bottom that

counts. Dive safe.
November 2000 3

(Continued from page 2)

Early in the morning of 17 July 1999, aprivate Piper Saratoga plane, piloted

by John F. Kennedy Jr. and carrying his

wife and sister-in-law, was reported missing enroute from New Jersey to the island

of Martha’s Vinyard, MA.

The National Search and Rescue Coordination Center initially supervised a

massive air and surface search and rescue

operation, subsequently turning it over to

the U.S. Coast Guard District One Headquarters in Boston, MA. A Command

Center, consisting of over 200 people from

many federal, state, and local agencies, was

established at Coast Guard Air Station

Cape Cod. Several dozen national and international television crews and countless

other media personnel flocked to the site

of the Command Center.

NAVSEA 00C (SUPSALV) dispatched

Search and Recovery of the Piper Saratoga Aircraft

Piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. By: LCDR Jeff Stettler

(Continued on page 7)

Preparing for an instrumented experimental

dive in 99o F water.

Search area

and crash

location.

staff. They typically will lose 5 to 10% of

body weight during each of these strenuous dives. We recently provided the fleet

with operational guidelines for diving in

hot water while wearing swim trunks (AIG

239 - Diving Advisory 00-08) and are currently evaluating safe operational limits

when diving in skin suits and dry suits (for

contaminated water diving). One thing is

for certain - this is much different than sitting in a Jacuzzi with a cool drink in your

hand!

We recently developed accelerated

decompression procedures for the evacuation of survivors from a disabled pressurized submarine. If the internal pressure of a

sunken submarine rises due to flooding,

rupture of compressed air lines or exhaust

from EBAs, survivors cannot be brought

directly to the surface due to the possibility of decompression sickness (the

“bends”). This three-year study involved

24 trials of eight divers each in which we

conducted experimental accelerated decompression procedures by breathing

pure oxygen following a 72-hour shallow

saturation dive. We were able to reduce

the decompression time by 67%. The

guidance that we developed will be used

on future Submarine Rescue Diving and

Recompression System (SRDRS) operations. When the Royal Navy recently

mobilized to support the Russian submarine KURSK tragedy, they requested our

accelerated decompression procedures in

case any survivors were encountered.

There are billets at NEDU for all

types of divers and at all paygrades. If

you want a challenging and rewarding job,

which offers the unique opportunity to

personally participate in shaping the future

of Navy and all DoD diving, this is the

command for you.

CDR Erik Christensen is currently serving

as the Commanding Officer of the NEDU in

Panama City, Florida.
4 November 2000

On Monday, January 31, 2000, at approximately 1615, Alaska Airlines

Flight 261 plunged into the Pacific Ocean

less than 10 miles from the Southern California coastline. The jet was enroute to

San Francisco from Puerto Vallarta with 88

people aboard when it fell into the ocean

from an altitude of 17,000 feet. Immediately the U. S. Navy was called to assist in

the search and rescue efforts. Among the

first to get the call was Deep Submergence

Unit, Unmanned Vehicles Detachment

(UMV) located at the end of the runway at

Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego. UMV Detachment operates two underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles

(ROV) called SUPER SCORPIO. Each is

equipped with high intensity lights and

high resolution cameras, two Conan model

manipulators with offset wrists able to do

just about anything a human can do, and

50 hp hydraulic thrusters for propulsion,

all of which are capable of working in

depths up to 5,000 feet. Even though

UMV’s primary role is submarine rescue,

their proximity to the crash site and expertise in underwater search and recovery

made them the Navy’s best asset for immediate response to the emergency.

COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER AND FLIGHT DATA RECORDER

“BLACK BOX” RECOVERY OPERATIONS

By: LCDR Jeff Beaty

Deep Submergence Unit received official tasking the morning of February 1.

The mission was to locate and recover the

cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, often referred to as the “Black

Boxes,” for the National Transportation

Safety Board’s (NTSB) mishap investigation into what caused the MD-80 aircraft

to suddenly fall from the sky.

UMV quickly loaded aboard their

support ship, Research Vessel KELLIE

CHOUEST, and got underway that afternoon to support the SAR efforts based

out of Port Hueneme, California, only 9

miles from the crash site. Twelve hours

later, the SCORPIO crew, led by CDR Kurt

Sadorf, Officer in Tactical Command, and

LCDR Jeff Beaty, Officer in Charge of DSU

DET UMV, arrived at

Port Hueneme to meet

with SAR Coordinator,

COMPHIBRON 3 and

representatives from

SUPSALV and the

NTSB. Shortly thereafter, R/V KELLIE

CHOUEST got underway for the crash site

with members of the

NTSB and Alaska Airlines onboard to assist

in the recovery. Two photographers from

Fleet Combat Camera Group San Diego,

PH1 Spike McCall and PH1 John

Juicehead, were onboard to provide documentation and media support.

 EOD Mobile Unit 3 had previously

completed side-scan operations and was

able to provide two possible search locations called Areas of Uncertainty (AOU)

on the ocean floor for the SCORPIO crew

to begin the search. UMV arrived at the

first AOU at 1400, Wednesday, February

2. The ROV launched at 1415 and sonar

almost immediately detected a 37 kHz

pinger that was attached to one of the

boxes. MM2 Robert Rodriguez, the ROV

pilot, began a 360-degree search and

found the wreckage almost immediately at

a depth of 635 feet. With guidance from

STS1 Dennis Baker, the ROV Watch Supervisor, Petty Officer Rodriguez flew the

ROV in the direction of the pinger. As the

Co-Pilot, MM2 Robert Duncan scanned

the ocean floor with his sonar, MM2

Rodriguez panned his pilot’s camera in the

ROV’s path and a small orange rectangular

box with white stripes came into view.

Rodriguez set the ROV on the bottom and

MM2 Duncan easily captured the box with

the ROV manipulators. The box was

quickly recovered onboard and identified

as the cockpit voice recorder, which was

transported to shore via small boat for

(Continued on page 5)

SCORPIO clutching the Flight Data

Recorder.

PETTY OFFICERS Duncan (L) as Co-Pilot and Rodriguez (R) as

ROV Pilot.

Flight Data Recorder.
November 2000 5

analysis.

The SCORPIO crew soon launched

the ROV to begin the search for the flight

data recorder. Sonar eventually picked up

a pinger but finding it proved more of a

challenge than the previous search. As

the second of two watch sections took

over, ROV Watch Supervisor, STS1 Rick

Wilmot led his watch team in a thorough

search of the aircraft wreckage for the data

recorder. The ROV Pilot at the helm for

this search was ET2 Steve Tompkins with

Co-Pilot STS2 Gabriel Marroquin. Unlike

the first recovery, the pinger had separated from the box and caused the ROV

crew to spend numerous hours searching

the wrong area. After many hours of

searching, the small cylinder shaped

pinger was found...the box was not attached. “It’s like looking for a needle in

the hay stack...except the hay stack is 635

feet under the sea,” said ICC Mike

Subarich, SCORPIO Operations Division

Officer. Petty Officer Wilmot’s watch team

was not able to locate the box during their

6 hour watch but his team did a great deal

to help create a detailed geographical plot

of the debris field which later became an

important part of the salvage operation.

By noon on Thursday, February 3,

less than 72 hours after Alaska Air Flight

261 fell into the ocean, the flight data recorder was located and recovered. R/V

KELLIE CHOUEST and UMV returned to

Port Hueneme for follow on tasking. A

few days later, SUPSALV requested UMV

get underway and conduct video surveys

of numerous side-scan contacts along the

flight path of Alaska Air Flight 261. Following analysis of both the voice and data

recorders, it was determined that a piece of

the aircraft may have broken away from

the fuselage just prior to the crash. After

several days of searching without locating

any aircraft debris, UMV was released to

return to San Diego in order to meet other

commitments.

Salvage operations continued for

several more months under the direction

of SUPSALV. SUPSALV’s ROV DEEP

DRONE operated by Oceaneering completed the bulk of the aircraft salvage. SCORPIO being lowered into water from

R/V KELLIE CHOUEST.

LCDR Jeff Beaty currently serves as the

Officer in Charge of the Unmanned Vehicles

Detachment which is part of the Deep

Submergence Group in San Diego, CA.

Based on Fleet input, we have madesome recent additions and modifications to the 00C4 website. As requested

by the Fleet Diving Community at the last

Working Divers Conference, we have developed a downloadable standard PreSurvey Outline Booklet (PSOB) for the

Transportable Recompression Chamber

System (TRCS). This standard PSOB has

the majority of the information prefilled.

The user needs only to go through the

PSOB, adding their specific VCM numbers, any command specific information,

and any information unique to their TRCS

(additional gas supplies & calculations,

chamber modifications, etc.). The TRCS

standard PSOB should dramatically reduce the time and effort required to prepare

a TRCS PSOB.

We have also, recently updated the

PSOBs for Recompression Chambers and

Surface Support Diving Systems. All commands should be using one of these new

PSOB formats when preparing for a re-certification visit.

New on the 00C4 website, is the Standard Diver Re-Entry Control Procedures

and Downloadable Re-Entry Control

forms that are in a Word format. The ReEntry Control qualification card is also

available in a downloadable format.

Future additions to the 00C4 website

will include the:

• System Safety Certification Manual

• Standard PSOB for the Light Weight

Diving System (LWDS)

• Standard PSOB for the Fly Away Diving System (FADS III).

00C4 website point of contact is Mr.

Paul McMurtrie (703) 607-1570

McMurtriepd@navsea.navy.mil.

By: Paul McMurtrie

BMCM/MDV(Ret) Paul McMurtrie is

currently working in the Certification

Division at 00C. Paul joined Cert after 22

years of active duty serving at various

commands including Special Project,

SPECWAR, USS EDENTON, NEDU, NRL,

and NMRI.

(Continued from page 4)

From Certification 00C4
6 November 2000

The sign at the frontgate to Naval Station

Roosevelt Roads, Puerto

Rico reads, “Welcome to

the Crossroads of the

Caribbean”. Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit

TWO (MDSU 2) Detachment Roosevelt Roads

stands on the shores of

these crossroads ready to

deploy its dive team

throughout the Caribbean

in support of diving operations at a moments notice. Established in October 1996, MDSU 2 Det

RR is an integral part of the Naval

Station’s mission of training, readiness,

and support to the fleet. Our mission is to

provide primary diving and light salvage

services to Naval Station Roosevelt and

rapid response support throughout the

Caribbean area of responsibility. We also

have a modernized double lock steel chamber and provide recompression response

for diving accidents (military and civilian)

and clinical HBO treatments.

Known as the “Pirates of the Caribbean”, our dive team takes on any challenge. You may find us replacing propellers on surface ships, anchors on submarines, responding to a hurricane disaster

on a neighboring island, or conducting hyperbaric treatments on a local diver. If it involves diving or hyperbarics in the Caribbean, we will be there.

 Recently we were called upon by Naval

Facilities Engineering Command to reinstall

one of their fleet mooring

buoys located off the

West Coast of St. Croix,

U.S.V.I. Hurricane

“Lenny” ripped the 4,000-

pound buoy from its

mooring and tossed it

ashore like a beach ball.

Our dive team recovered

the lost riser chain, inspected and reattached it

to the buoy, then reattached the buoy and riser

chain to its three leg

mooring arrangement.

Rigging the connecting

ring off the bottom at 110

FSW for reattachment to the buoy riser

chain was a diver’s dream! Chain hoists

and lift bags were used to bring 8,000

pounds of mooring leg to the riser chain.

Once connected the shackle nuts were

welded in place to prevent backing off.

“Mission Complete”. Thanks to the support of Special Boat Unit’s ASDV platform

(a converted LCU) we were able to perform

Sur “D” O2’s using their onboard double

lock aluminum recompression chamber.

In March 2000 we conducted a series

of clinical Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) treatments on a Navy Sailor who had a large

part of his ear amputated. The HBO treatments were designed to arrest the progression of infection and assist in the reattaching of the severed ear part. Treatment

table nine was effectively utilized. Although the severed ear part could not be

reattached, the healing process was enhanced and further infection was prevented. This treatment along with the

many other clinical treatments being conducted by other Navy Hyperbaric Facilities are a positive indication that the Navy

is growing with the times. Our dive team

enjoys diversity of work, the best of

weather (with the exception of an occasional hurricane), and the close-knit camaraderie of a smaller dive locker. Each day

brings on a new challenge, and we look

forward to each challenge!

I would like to thank the plank owners of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit

TWO Detachment Roosevelt Roads, especially CWO4 Clayton and Master Diver

Myers for their hard work and foresight in

establishing this command. I would also

like to mention the names of this hard

working Navy team that make each day

successful: BMCS(SW/MDV) Robarts,

HTC(SW/DV) Morin, ENC(SW/DV)

McCaulley, EN1(DV) Brodeur, BM1(DV)

Francis, HM2(DV) Roller, QM2(DV) Hay,

BM2(DV) Alley, HT2(DV) Lombardo,

LT(DMO) Altamar, LT(DMO) Rodriguez,

and HT2 Edwards. Hoo-Yah, Deep Sea!!!

CWO3 Nelson served as Master Diver SIMA

New York and SIMA Norfolk prior to

commissioning as a Chief Warrant Officer.

As a CWO he served as Diving Officer

NSSF Groton, CT and is currently Officer

in Charge MDSU 2 Det. RR.

HT2(DV) Lombardo welds a shackle nut in place.

4,000 lb. mooring buoy tossed ashore by Hurricane “Lenny”.

Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two

Detachment Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico

By: CWO3 Andy Nelson
November 2000 7

LCDR Jeff Stettler is Assistant for

Salvage for NAVSEA 00C.

a Salvage Officer to Cape Cod along with

a contractor side scan sonar expert to assist in the initial underwater search and recovery planning and to direct employment

of SUPSALV search and recovery equipment. Commander Combat Logistics

Squadron Two (COMLOGRON 2) dispatched his Salvage Officer to Cape Cod

to coordinate efforts for employment of

the salvage ship USS GRASP, which had

been directed to get underway from Little

Creek, VA to assist.

In addition to the Navy resources

employed, the National Oceanographic

and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

volunteered two of their oceanographic

survey ships equipped with side scan sonar. NOAA Ship RUDE was the first ship

on the scene and was conducting side

scan sonar operations by the afternoon of

18 July. NOAA Ship WHITING arrived on

19 July. The two NOAA ships, along with

the SUPSALV side scan system SWISS

employed aboard the Coast Guard Buoy

Tender USCGC WILLOW, were searching

for aircraft wreckage by the afternoon of

19 July.

 The search area was established

based upon limited radar information provided to SUPSALV by the Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA). Some uncertainties led to an expanded

initial search area of 20

square miles, centered

approximately 6 miles

west of Martha’s

Vinyard. A high probability sonar contact

was located on the

evening of 19 July, in a

water depth of 120 ft.

Following the arrival of

the USS GRASP,

SUPSALV Remotely

Operated Vehicle (ROV)

MR-2 investigated the

high probability contact. In the evening of

20 July, the ROV visually identified the aircraft wreckage and identified one victim

lying adjacent to the wreckage.

 In the morning of 21 July, additional investigation by the ROV and divers from

the GRASP confirmed the presence of

two additional victims lying underneath

the main section of fuselage. Divers from

the GRASP recovered all three of the victims in one dive. In the afternoon of 21

July, the main section of aircraft, consisting of engine, cockpit and fuselage, was

recovered to the deck of the GRASP in a

second dive. The remainder of the scattered wreckage was recovered by the

divers on multiple dives on 22 July. On 23

July, the GRASP moored at Naval Station

Newport, RI, and turned over the wreckage to the National Transportation Safety

Board (NTSB).

 The overall search

and recovery operation

was a straightforward

one. It consisted of two

days of search followed

by two days of recovery. Due to the intense

public, media, and political interest which surrounds the Kennedy

family, briefings and

press releases were issued by only the Commander, Coast Guard

District One and the

Chairman of the NTSB.

Since it became apparent that cellular telephone conversations

were being monitored by

the media, it was necessary to use secure hand-held VHF radios

of limited range. The different agencies involved lacked a common mode of secure

communication which, in a more complicated operation, could have significantly

affected the successful completion.

(Continued from page 3)

First set of divers enter the water

from USS GRASP.

First Dive pre-divers brief by MDV Stock

aboard USS GRASP.
8 November 2000

(Continued on page 9)

Tomorrow our precious time will runout and we will have to recover our

anchors and leave. We have been moored

240 feet above the USS Monitor off Cape

Hatteras for a month and are anxious to

get home—but not with this huge hunk of

steel still on deck. The most ambitious

part of our mission is the installation of

the massive 90-ton Engine Recovery

Structure (ERS) and despite our best efforts we’re not finished yet.

The ERS has three components that

work as a system. The 70-foot by 30-foot

Bridge Frame stands 35 feet high and

spans the Monitor to provide the support

to lift the historic steam engine without

crushing the wreck. Sitting atop and perpendicular to the Bridge Frame will be a

40-foot long movable frame called the

Trolley that will hold hydraulic rams to

raise and lower the third component, the

Engine Lifting Frame (ELF). The ultimate plan is to connect the steam engine

to the ELF and use hydraulics to lift it out

of the wreck, after which the entire ERS

with the engine will be lifted to the surface—but that is next year’s mission.

Two weeks ago we were blessed

with a calm day that permitted us to lower

the giant Bridge Frame to the bottom

and precisely position it straddling the

historic wreck. But the smaller Trolley

with the Engine Lifting Frame suspended

underneath is proving more stubborn.

Twice in the past few days we have attempted the cumbersome lift and twice the

crane’s huge main blocks (each weighing

15 tons) have swung crazily or become

hopelessly fouled in the heavy wire rigging—forcing us to abort. Now with the

wind and the seas dying down we have

one last chance.

The boom of the 350-ton crane

points skyward with the main hook two

hundred feet above us as the heavy wires

of the bridle take a strain. Gauging the

movement of the barge perfectly the expert crane operator plucks the 20-ton

load off the deck and swings it safely

away from the barge. Third time is the

charm we think and collectively breathe

a sigh of relief as the Trolley traverses all

the way around the barge and is pulled

gently alongside the lee of the barge.

Several divers scurry out onto the Trolley

and install the cameras that will guide

the assembly into position on the bottom.

Earlier in the day we had repositioned

the barge so the crane could reach the

right spot over the wreck, and now we

swing the load out to the beam and begin

to lower away.

The action shifts inside to the television monitors as the two hundred-foot descent begins and before long the bright

white targets we had painted on the

Bridge Frame loom into view on the

screens. “Heave in ten feet on anchors

#6 and #7 and pay out on #2 and

#3...Boom down two feet...Down six feet

on the load.” Darkness falls as a long

string of such orders slowly guides the

Trolley into position until it finally lands

on the Bridge Frame. At last the entire

ERS is in place, centered over the

Monitor’s engine room. We have

achieved our main objective and laid the

foundation for future recovery efforts. We

have overcome wind, wave and current in

the Graveyard of the Atlantic and now

we can afford to relax a little and look

Divers from MDSU 2 coming up and over the side of the Crane Barge.

A rough day on the platform, common

of the treacherous waters off Cape

Hatteras, NC or otherwise known as the

“Graveyard of the Atlantic”.

By: CAPT(sel) Phil Beierl

and LT Paul Ware

Gunport and bow pictures provided by NOAA
November 2000 9

(Continued from page 8)

back at how it all started...

Serious planning for Monitor Expedition 2000 began in February with an extensive effort spearheaded by Mobile Diving

and Salvage Unit TWO (MDSU 2) in partnership with the National Oceanographic

and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

NAVSEA Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), and Oceaneering International Incorporated (OII). The first objective in the plan was stabilization of the

wreck by placing grout filled bags under

the armor belt, which was unsupported except where it rested on the famous gun

turret. The second objective was to make

good progress toward recovering the unique steam engine. The Department of Defense Legacy Foundation had

agreed to provide $2 million to

the project to enhance realistic diving and salvage training

for Navy divers, but the

money was not made available until just two months before the expedition was set to

begin. In this time a suitable

vessel had to be hired and

outfitted, the ERS had to be

manufactured, a host of special tools and equipment needed to be procured, and a

team of over one hundred personnel organized and trained.

All this was somehow accomplished

and on 17 June the Weeks 526 derrick

barge arrived in Little Creek and mobilization began in earnest. For six days all

hands worked long hours converting the

289-foot by 80-foot barge into a small floating city with portable berthing, galley and

laundry modules, generators and power

distribution systems, sewage and potable

water systems all installed on deck. The

Flyaway Mixed Gas Diving System, a portable diving davit and a vast quantity of

mixed gas in portable racks took up still

more space. The grout mixing system with

its huge tanks for storing dry cement was

installed just forward of the dive side.

Portable winches, air compressors and hydraulic power units were tucked in every

conceivable location. Finally the 350-ton

derrick lifted the ERS from the parking lot

where it had been assembled and set it

down on the only empty spot left on deck.

Spirits were high despite the nearly

midnight hour as the Tug Katherine pulled

the barge away from the pier and out to

sea. Unfortunately it took a week of battling weather and a return to port to re-rig

the anchors for easier deployment before

we finally found ourselves on site with the

eight mooring anchors set and the barge

positioned over the Monitor. With no

navigation equipment on the barge, the

anchors were set and the barge positioned

using handheld GPS pluggers. It wasn’t

fancy but it worked as our first test dive

with camera mounted on the stage revealed the turret of the Monitor just 50 feet

away. Over the course of the next two

weeks of diving we carefully recorded the

position of the barge and the stage on the

bottom each day until we had determined

very accurately the GPS position and

heading of the wreck. This data proved

crucial in the precise installation of the

ERS.

The currents and constant swell

common off Cape Hatteras pose unique

challenges to deep surface supplied diving

and particular techniques have evolved

over the course of this and previous

Monitor expeditions. The current acting

on the umbilical can pull a diver off the

stage or make it impossible to pull down

slack to go to work once on the bottom. To

counteract this problem we married spinnaker shackles into the divers umbilicals,

with one a few feet from the diver (the

“short shackle”), another at 75 feet (the

“long shackle”) and then every 50 feet. On

descent the divers carried the first 75 feet

of working umbilical coiled up in front of

them with the “long shackle” secured to

the stage and taking the strain of the current. The remainder of the umbilical was

shackled into the stage wire to keep the

catenary to a minimum. On the bottom the

divers could work virtually unaffected by

current and wasted no time getting to

work. On ascent the divers connected the

“short shackle,” tripped out the long

shackle and the tenders took up the slack.

We had no line pull signals but with voice

communications and helmet mounted cameras we felt comfortable. The stage was

kept under control by using a very large

clump (1000 pounds) on a wire descent

line. The clump was kept well off the bottom and was mounted on a swivel to keep

rotation (caused by the current) from unlaying and parting the wire. We were able

to dive effectively in currents up to two

and a half knots with these procedures.

Even with these methods it sometimes

took four tenders to handle each hose and

stronger currents sometimes prevented

diving operations entirely.

The divers first task was to place

highly visible targets on the wreck that

would be used to guide the ERS into position at the first opportunity when the seas

were calm enough. With this quickly accomplished, the work of stabilizing the

Monitor began. One at a time, the wedge

shaped bags were carried to the bottom,

rolled up like pup tents, and then unrolled

and tied across an aluminum frame. Inserted under the wreck and staked to the

bottom the frame would hold the bag in

position until we were ready to begin

pumping grout. The eight custom designed bags ranged from 5x8 feet to 8x16

feet in size so it took several days to get

them all in place.

Filling the bags with grout was an

even slower process. Each bag had sand

pumped through a hose tethered to a second identical descent wire and clump (the

“grout” clump) forward of the dive side.

The divers had to insert the nozzle into a

fill tube to begin filling a bag, and then remove the nozzle and flush the hose when

(Continued on Page 17)

Crane getting ready to drop the bridge and ERS

(Engine Recovery System).
10 November 2000

On 31 October 1999 EgyptAir Flight 990crashed off the coast of New England. The USCG immediately launched a

SAR mission involving numerous air and

surface units to attempt to locate any possible survivors. Concurrently,

CINCLANTFLT and the Joint Staff, as well

as NAVSEA SUPSALV, commenced planning to mobilize USS GRAPPLE (ARS 53),

USNS MOHAWK (T-ATF 170) and

NAVSEA search and recovery systems to

assist in the search effort sure to come.

At the request of NTSB, SUPSALV

(SEA 00C) dispatched LCDR Jeff Stettler,

00C2O to the site to initiate development

of a search plan to locate the Cockpit Voice

Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder

(FDR). At the same time, 00C’s Undersea

Operations contractor, Oceaneering Intl.,

was directed to prepare to deploy the

SWISS side scan sonar and Towed Pinger

Locator systems, as well as the Remotely

Operated Vehicles (ROV) DEEP DRONE

and MR-2.

The initial information provided by

the SAR units and FAA radar indicated

that the plane crashed approximately 55

miles South of Nantucket Island in 40 fathoms of water. To expedite the search

LCDR Stettler arranged for a USCG C-130

to transport a search technician and handheld pinger locator from Andrews AFB to

Otis AFB, where the initial SAR effort was

being coordinated. The following morning, a USCG helo flew the technician out

to a Coast Guard cutter on-scene to commence the search. Working out of a rigid

hull inflatable, he very quickly detected a

37.5 kHz source, which is the frequency

used on the FDR and CVR. Upon further

investigation, he was able to determine

that there were actually two pingers very

close to each other, exactly where LCDR

Stettler and the search planners had estimated they would be.

With the location of the beacons

known, defining the search area was relatively simple. Based on the radar data and

location of floating debris, a six mile square

grid was laid out for MOHAWK with

SWISS, and NOAA Ship WHITING with

her side scan sonar to search. Upon arrival at the site, MOHAWK confirmed the

location of the pingers with the towed

pinger locator, and then launched SWISS.

Both MOHAWK and WHITING located

what appeared to be an aircraft debris field

on their initial passes over the pinger location. As the search expanded away from

the pinger location, it became apparent

that the debris was in a very concentrated

area not much larger than a football field.

Deteriorating weather forced both

MOHAWK and WHITING to return to

Newport, RI, where the SAR and Salvage

Command Post was established.

GRAPPLE arrived Newport on 2 November and immediately commenced loadout

of SUPSALV’s ROV DEEP DRONE and

the Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit TWO

(MDSU 2) Flyaway Mixed Gas Diving

system.

On 5 November, CTU 20.9.9 stood up

as the OTC for the salvage effort and USS

AUSTIN (LPD 4) arrived Newport to support the offshore effort, providing logistics, berthing, boat transfer and helo support. GRAPPLE, MOHAWK and WHITING departed for the

search area to complete the search and

commence the salvage effort. Because

of the poor weather

conditions encountered at the site and

the water depth, use

of the MDSU 2

divers was only considered as a last resort. Safety remained the highest priority throughout the

operation.

On 7 November, the SUPSALV MAGNUM ROV system was mobilized. MAGNUM was installed on SSV CAROLYN

CHOUEST, the submarine NR-1 support

ship based in New London, CT. This provided two salvage systems to work the

debris field, increasing probability of locating and recovering the recorders before

the batteries died on the pingers.

Poor weather continued to plague the

salvors, but ultimately, on 9 November,

GRAPPLE reported that DEEP DRONE

had successfully recovered the FDR.

NTSB and FBI agents immediately took

possession of the recorder and CTU 20.9.9

arranged for helo transport from AUSTIN

directly to Andrews AFB, for further transfer to the NTSB lab for analysis. That accomplished, the effort resumed to locate

and recover the CVR.

Between MAGNUM and DEEP

DRONE, the competition was fierce. Ultimately, on 13 November the race was over.

Wreckage from

EgyptAir Flight

990 aboard

SSV CAROLYN

CHOEST.

(Continued on page 11)
November 2000 11

Once again, DEEP DRONE, operated from

GRAPPLE, won the battle. The CVR was

located, recovered and turned over to the

accident investigators. Ironically, the

pingers, which are about the size of a

flashlight battery, had detached from both

recorders, and were never found. In both

cases, the DEEP DRONE just happened to

spot the recorders while searching the debris for the pingers. This explained why

the ROVs had so much difficulty locating

the recorders.

Next the task turned to salvage of the

aircraft wreckage. NTSB and FBI investigators analyzed the information provided

by the recorders and determined that they

needed more of the aircraft to support their

investigation. The salvage problem was

compounded by the amount of debris involved, and the extremely poor weather

conditions found during the winter in the

North Atlantic. Because of the hazardous

conditions, it was determined that there

would be no possibility to use the MDSU

2 divers, and it was concluded that use of

ROVs would not be cost effective. Instead, NAVSEA 00C developed a plan for

bulk recovery of the debris utilizing a large

offshore construction ship equipped with

a large crane and clamshell.

On 18 November, all fleet assets detached from the operation and CTU 20.9.9

turned the salvage effort over to NAVSEA

00C. 00C directed Oceaneering Intl. to

charter a support ship capable of quickly

recovering the bulk of the aircraft debris.

Oceaneering selected the SMIT PIONEER,

a dynamically positioned, 514 - foot ship

equipped with a 150-ton crane and 24,000

square feet of clear deck space. The plan

was to outfit SMIT PIONEER with opentopped containers that would hold the debris. The crane would pick debris from the

sea floor, deposit it in a bin on the stern

where FBI agents would hose it off to remove as much sand/mud as possible. The

debris would then be moved by front end

loader to sorting bins, where agents

would sort the debris and ultimately load it

into the containers. A total of 34 FBI

agents and 3 NTSB investigators would

perform the sorting evolution.

SMIT PIONEER arrived on 7 December, having fought extremely rough

weather crossing the Atlantic. Loadout of

the salvage equipment was completed on

9 December, and the operation resumed

when weather abated on the 12th. In spite

of some equipment problems, the salvage

effort went extremely well. Working

around the clock from 13 December

through 20 December fourteen containers

were filled with debris. At that point,

NTSB directed the ship to return to port for

offload and evaluation of the recovered

debris. When weighed during offload, it

was detrmined that approximately 67% of

the airplane had been recovered.

To determine whether to resume the

operation with SMIT PIONEER, the

Navy’s submarine NR-1 was deployed to

visually inspect the debris field. NR-1

completed the survey in less than 24

hours and provided extensive sonar, video

and photographic coverage of the area.

This showed that the remaining debris was

(EgyptAir continued from page 10)

Tom Salmon, while on active duty served as

a Salvage and Diving Officer in WESTPAC.

Tom has been in the Office of the Supervisor

of Salvage since 1975 and Head of the

Operations Division for the past 13 years.

very scattered and the bulk recovery technique for any additional recovery would

not be effective. Accordingly, on 27 December, Chairman Hall of the NTSB directed NAVSEA 00C to demobilize SMIT

PIOINEER and standby for further tasking,

should a requirement for additional recovery be identified.

On 18 February 2000, NTSB Chairman Hall directed SUPSALV to return to

the site and salvage an engine and other

components that the Safety Board needed

to complete the investigation. On 18

March, SUPSALV remobilized the ROV

MAGNUM onboard SSV CAROLYN

CHOUEST. Under the direction of LCDR

Stettler, the Oceaneering crew resumed the

salvage effort. Between 29 March and 2

April, between two severe winter storms,

the salvage team successfully recovered

one intact engine, part of the other engine,

and numerous other items that the investigators needed. On 2 April, the NTSB advised LCDR Stettler that all desired debris

had been successfully recovered and directed him to terminate the operation.

A symposium, co-sponsored by the Office

of Naval Research and the U.S. Naval

Academy will be held in Annapolis, Maryland during March 27-29, 2001 to address

and highlight the U.S. Navy’s significant

developments in science and technology

related to diving, Special Warfare and submarine rescue, and look at the Navy’s

plans for the future. A primary objective

NAVAL FORCES UNDER THE SEA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

27-29 March 2001, Alumni Hall, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD 21402

of this symposium, open to the general

public, is to capture and preserve the historical base of knowledge in this discipline

that in many cases resides only in the

minds of the primary contributors in this

area. The 3-day symposium will address

one of three primary topics each day in

historical order of occurrence. The primary activity for each day will be a series

of presentations and panel discussions on

the topic of the day. Secondary activities

will include live demonstrations, static displays, oral histories and group interviews.

For further information about the symposium activities check out the website:

http://www.usna.edu/NAOE/symposium.
12 November 2000

Our surface-supplied mixed gasdecompression tables are by far the

oldest decompression tables in the Diving

Manual. The Momson tables relied

heavily on the use of 100% oxygen during

decompression to clear body tissues of

helium. In those early days of diving, relatively little was known about the toxic effects of oxygen and the tables called for

oxygen breathing in water as deep as 60

feet. Experience soon showed that this

was excessive, and revisions in 1950 reduced the depth of oxygen breathing in

the water from 60 to 50 fsw. The 50 foot

oxygen shift persisted throughout ensuing decades, but not without incident. Every year, one or two cases of toxicity were

reported.

With the introduction of the FlyAway

Mixed Gas Diving System in 1997, the

Navy experienced a resurgence in heliumoxygen diving which had become dormant

in the early 90’s following the decommissioning of the deep diving ships. From

1995 to 1999, a total of 405 helium-oxygen

dives were conducted, many of which

were operational dives deeper than 200

fsw. With this increase in diving activity

came an unexpected surge in oxygen toxicity cases. Five of these cases ended in

convulsions.

In June 1999, a panel of medical experts was convened at the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory in

Groton CT to review these cases. The

panel could find no clear cause for the increased incidence of oxygen toxicity. It

concluded that 6 cases in 400 dives were

clearly excessive and that the tables

needed to be revised to eliminate oxygen

breathing in the water. SUPDIVE tasked

NEDU to revise the tables.

The principal problem faced by

NEDU was how to reduce the oxygen partial pressure during decompression without simultaneously increasing the decompression time or the risk of decompression

sickness. Working in conjunction with

Duke University, NEDU used two probabilistic models, one model describing the risk

of decompression sickness and one model

describing the risk of CNS oxygen toxicity,

to explore the various tradeoffs. The models predicted that if the diver began a 50%

oxygen, 50% helium mixture at 90 fsw and

continued to breathe this mixture until eligible for surface decompression, the risk

of oxygen toxicity could be greatly without substantially increasing the decompression time.

The engine recovery operation on

the USS Monitor provided the perfect opportunity to test these new procedures.

Divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage

Unit TWO, augmented by active duty and

reserve divers from several CONUS commands, dove the new tables under extremely arduous conditions. More than

150 dives were performed at an average

depth of 230 fsw. Bottom times ranged up

to 40 minutes. There were two cases of decompression sickness which was considered well within acceptable limits given the

conditions under which the dives were

conducted. More importantly, there were

no signs or symptoms of CNS oxygen toxicity in the water.

Following the Monitor Expedition,

Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit ONE had

the opportunity to dive the new tables in

preparation for Operation Pacific Reach.

Twenty-six dives were made to depths between 100 and 300 fsw without decompression sickness or oxygen toxicity in the

water.

The data from all these dives is now

under review at NEDU and a new Chapter

14 with the revised dive tables has been

prepared. These new procedures will appear in the next revision of the Diving

Manual.

Dr. Ed Flynn, Captain USN (Ret) is a

undersea medical officer currently

working at NEDU. While on active duty Ed

served as Senior Medical Officer at the

Naval School Diving and Salvage, Director

of Diving Medicine at NMRI and

C.O. at Naval Medical Research

Development Center.

By: Dr. Ed Flynn

PMS Corner

“Service to the Fleet”

Planned Maintenance is now

available for the following equipment.

Any commands having custody of

these Buoyancy Compensators may

download from CD-ROM Force Revision 2-00. Commands should followup with submission of a Feedback report requesting the addition of Buoyancy Compensator(BC) Maintenance

Index Page(MIP) to Work Center(W/

C) List of Effective Pages(LOEP).

• Buoyancy Compensator

Zeagle Ranger 5921/002

• Buoyancy Compensator

IDI Advantage 5921/011

• Buoyancy Compensator

ScubaPro Seahawk 5921/023

MIXED GAS DECOMPRESSION TABLE REVISED

(USS MONITOR 2000 EXPEDITION SERVED AS OPEVAL) (USS MONITOR 2000 EXPEDITION SERVED AS OPEVAL)
November 2000 13

(Continued on page 14)

Concern over the transmission of disease or illness among persons sharing diving equipment has been a sensitive

issue for military, commercial and recreational divers since the early 1970’s. Many

different groups have addressed this

problem on many levels over the years.

With the rise of many new organisms in

the past few years this has again become

a priority issue. The Military has used

Wescodyne (Iodine based cleaning and

sanitizing solution) and water as a cleaning

and sanitizing agent for over 15 years.

This solution has worked with satisfactory

results, but there have been several complaints about Wescodyne from the operating forces. Most often citing confusion

and difficulty with mixing the concentrate

and that the iodine solution caused many

of the rubber components of the dive gear

to become gummy and breakdown. The

rubber break down was most often caused

by the solution being far too strong.

Navy Experimental Diving Unit has

received information from diving commands on the West Coast. These reports

identified several concerns regarding the

use of Wescodyne cleaning solution. The

most pressing problem for units of the Pacific Fleet is the lapse of Wescodyne’s

California Environmental Protection

Agency registration in 1998. In response

to this situation NEDU is identifying replacement sanitizing agents and cleaning

procedures for use on U.S. Navy diving

equipment.

A search of the market and contact

with several manufacturers of cleaning,

disinfecting, and sanitizing solutions; respiratory therapy departments, both in and

outside the Navy; DAN; and other groups

has resulted in the identification and recommendation the four following agents

1. SaniZide Plus

2. Advance TBE

3. Bi-Arrest 2

4. Confidence Plus

SaniZide Plus

SaniZide Plus is a germicidal solution

that is effective against a broad range of

bacteria, viruses, and many fungi. The solution is provided in several sizes ranging

from 1-gallon bottles to 16 oz. trigger

sprayers. SaniZide is delivered ready for

use and requires no mixing. The quaternary ammonium compound is non-corrosive and will not damage lens, plastics, rubber, or metal surfaces.

Manufactured by Safetec (telephone

number 1-800-456-7077), the cost is approximately $1.60 per 2 oz. spray bottle or

$6.00 per 32 oz. spray bottle. Safetec is a

GSA contract company.

30 second contact time kills:

• HIV

• Influenza A2/HK

• Herpes simplex II

3 minute contact time kills:

• Polio I virus

• Rhinovirus

5 minute contact time kills:

• Staphylococcus aureus

• Salmonella choleraesuis

• Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

• Klebsiella Pneumoniae

• Candida Albicans

10 minute contact time kills:

• Mycobacterium Bovis BCG (Tuberculosis)

Advance TBE

Advance TBE is a germicidal compound, containing the same quaternary

ammonium compound found in SaniZide

Plus. The solution has the same

disinfective characteristics and requires

the same contact time. The Advance TBE

is provided ready to use in 16-oz. spray

bottle or 1 gallon bottles.

Manufactured by Infection Control

Technology (telephone number 1-800-551-

0735), the cost is approximately $7.00 per

16 oz. bottle or $12.00 per gallon.

Specific germicidal activity:

• HIV-1

• Hepatitis A, B

• Escherichia coli

• Herpes Simplex

• Influenza

• Mycobacterium tuberculosis

• Pseudomonas aeruginosa

• Salmonella choleraesuis

• Staphylococcus aureus

• Trichophyton mentagrophytes

• Aspergillus niger

Bi-Arrest 2

Bi-Arrest 2 is a non-alkaline germicidal cleaner that offers a broad spectrum

of effectiveness against many bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Its germicidal activity is

not diminished by hard water and is noncorrosive. The solution is provided in a

4oz. concentrate bottle with a pump attached. Mixing directions are: Mix 2

pumps of the concentrate in a 16-oz spray

bottle of water. Spray bottle is provided

with the concentrate.

Manufactured by Infection Control

Technology, (telephone number 1-800-551-

0735), the cost is approximately $3.00 per

gallon.

Specific germicidal activity:

10 minute contact time

• Mycobacterium tuberculosis

• Pseudomonas aeruginosa

• Staphylococcus aureus

• Herpes simplex

• Salmonella choleraesuis

• Streptococcus hemolyticus

• Diplococcus pneumoniae

• Salmonella typhosa

• Escherichia coli

• Proteus vulgaris

• Trichophyton interdigitale

• Aspergillus

• Influenza

Confidence Plus

Confidence Plus is a germicidal solution that is effective against a broad range

of bacteria, viruses, and many fungi. The

active chemical compounds are closely related to those found in Advance TBE, and

SaniZide Plus. It requires the same contact

time, and has similar disinfecting actions.

The solution is provided in a 32-oz. bottle

of concentrate with a graduated measuring

cup built into the top of the container.

Mixing directions are 1 oz. per gallon of

water.

Manufactured by Mine Safety AppliBy: Daryl Stanga
14 November 2000

(Continued from page 13)

ances Company (MSA), (telephone number 1-800-672-2222), the cost is $12.97 per

32-oz. bottle of concentrate. MSA is a

GSA contract company.

Specific germicidal activity:

10 minute contact time

• Salmonella choleraesuis

• Staphylococcus aureus

• Streptococcus pyogenes

• Escherichia coli

• Enterobacter aerogenes

• Shigella sonnei

• Candida albicans

• HIV-1

A review of the literature and discussion with experts in the field determined

these agents possessed greater sanitizing

abilities and were much easier to use in

field conditions. The agents were used to

clean and sanitize various pieces of diving

gear following the manufacturer’s directions and recommendations. The equipment was then placed in a small pressure

vessel and pressurized to 100 psig. (225

feet of seawater), heated to 100 degrees

Fahrenheit and held for 4 hours. A sample

of the gas was drawn off and analyzed by

the Navy Underwater Equipment Lab using gas chromatograph and mass spectrometry. The samples were analyzed and

found to be safe for hyperbaric use. A

recommended procedure for sanitizing

diving equipment with these agents has

been developed as an interim procedure

until changes can be made in the Navy

Dive Manual, PMS system, and Maintenance manuals.

Cleaning procedures:

1. SCUBA regulators

• With scrub brush and a non-ionic detergent solution, remove any gross

contamination from the regulator.

• Rinse thoroughly with fresh water.

• Spray a liberal coat of solution on and

into the mouthpiece and all second

stage parts until all surfaces are wet.

• Let stand for 10 minutes. If solution

appears to be drying, apply more solution to keep it wet for the full 10 minutes.

• After 10 minutes, rinse the entire second stage in a container of clean fresh

water, or rinse under running potable

water.

2. BIBS masks

• Remove BIBS mask from hose.

• Spray a liberal coat of solution to all

surfaces including straps.

• Let stand for 10 minutes. If the solution appears to be drying, apply more

solution to keep it wet for the full 10

minutes.

• After 10 minutes, rinse the entire mask

in a container of clean fresh water, or

rinse under running potable water.

• Allow to air dry before placing back in

the chamber.

3. MK 20

• With scrub brush and a non-ionic detergent solution, remove any gross

contamination from the mask.

• Rinse thoroughly with fresh water.

• Spray entire oral-nasal mask interior

and nose-clearing device with solution until all surfaces are wet.

• Let stand for 10 minutes. If the solution appears to be drying, apply more

solution to keep it wet for the full 10

minutes.

• After 10 minutes, rinse the entire mask

in a container of clean fresh water, or

rinse under running potable water.

4. MK 21

• With scrub brush, and a non-ionic

detergent solution, remove any gross

contamination from the mask and helmet.

• Rinse thoroughly with fresh water.

• Remove nose-clearing device and oralnasal mask from helmet.

• Spray entire oral-nasal mask and noseclearing device with solution until all

surfaces are wet.

• Let stand for 10 minutes. If the solution appears to be drying, apply more

solution to keep it wet for the full 10

minutes.

• After 10 minutes, rinse the entire mask

in a container of clean fresh water, or

rinse under running potable water.

• Reinstall mask and nose-clearing device in helmet.

5. MK 16 breathing hose and mouthpiece

• With scrub brush, and a non-ionic

detergent solution, remove any gross

 contamination from breathing hose assembly.

• Rinse thoroughly with fresh water.

• Remove hoses from backpack.

• Rinse with fresh water.

• Spray a liberal coat of solution on and

into the mouthpiece and into hoses.

• Let stand for 10 minutes. If solution

appears to be drying, apply more solution to keep it wet for the full 10 minutes.

• After 10 minutes, rinse the entire assembly in a container of clean fresh

water, or rinse under running potable

water.

Note: For MK 24 facemask, follow procedures for MK 21.

6. Chamber oxygen hood

• Spray entire inside surface of hood

and neck dam with solution.

• Let stand for 10 minutes. If the solution appears to be drying, apply more

solution to keep it wet for the full 10

minutes.

• After 10 minutes, rinse the entire hood

in a container of clean fresh water, or

rinse under running potable water.

• Allow to air dry before placing back in

the chamber.

7. Recompression chamber interior.

• Clean interior surfaces of chamber with

non-ionic detergent solution to remove any gross contamination.

• Rinse with fresh water.

• Spray solution directly on chamber

bulkheads, deck-plates or benches, or

pour solution onto a lint-free cloth and

use it to wipe down surfaces. Do not

apply to bedding.

• Allow standing for 10 minutes, then

wiping down with fresh water.

NEDU will continue to query the market and the groups mentioned above to insure these agents and procedures are the

most current, effective and safe agents

available.

HM1 / SCW / IDC / DV Daryl F. Stanga is

currently stationed at Navy Experimental

Diving Unit Medical Department,

evaluating new medical equipment and

procedures for use in hyperbaric chamber.
November 2000 15

I

t is hotter than hell,

you’re jocked up in full

rubber, crouched in the

hangar waiting for the

hangar flood valve of Dry

Deck Shelter (DDS) 02P to

open and cool you off with

that nice 49 degree water.

You’re off the coast of a

foreign country, the hangar is crowded with U.S.

Navy Divers, U.S. Navy

SEALS, foreign counterparts, rubber boats and

equipment. Tonight’s mission is classified SECRET,

however it will call for the

launch of Combat Rubber

Raiding Craft (CRRC) and

the rapid deployment of a

combined force for a full

mission profile (FMP).

 You’re a proud member

of SDVT-1’s Diving Department, DDS Element I

or Element II. SDVT-1 is a

key Naval Special Warfare (NSW) unit, the

only one of its kind on the West Coast, located in beautiful Pearl Harbor Hawaii.

 The DDS is fastened to either a SSN 640

or SSN 688 class host submarine and is

comprised of three spheres. The forward

sphere is the re-compression chamber, the

middle sphere is the transfer trunk and the

after sphere is the hangar. Both the transfer trunk and the hangar are flooded with

seawater and compressed using divers air.

The divers are responsible for all maintenance, PMS, and REC (it’s all scope of certification QA).

Divers man the following stations in the

DDS and out on deck:

• Chamber Operator

• Trunk Operator – floods, drains, and

compresses the trunk

• Hangar Operator – floods, drains, and

compresses the hangar and passes orders from the Diving Supervisor

• Deck Captain – responsible for launch

and recovery of CRRCs, SDVs, and all

rigging

• Deck Crewman – works directly for

the Deck Captain

• Hangar Supervisor – ensures that all

wet operations run smoothly and that

safety precautions are followed

In the host ship, divers man the following

stations:

• Air Station Operator – ensures that air

is continually flowing to the DDS

SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE (SDVT-1): Dry Dock Shelter Operations

• Standby Diver – ready to lock into the

DDS, if needed

• Tender – records the position of valve

line ups and charts all dives using STD

Air, No “D”, CSMD, or the Navy Dive

Planner

• DMO – uses the Navy Dive Planner

and tracks de-compression obligation

• DMT – works on deck or in the chamber

• Diving Supervisor – runs the whole

dive, manages the sphere, divers working on deck, SEALs de-compression

(MK 16 or MK 25), and proper valve

line ups

• Shelter Officer – interfaces with the

ship and the SEALs and backs up the

Diving Supervisor

Seal Delivery Vehicle on Transport Cradle.

By: CW02 F.A. Strynar

(Continued on page 20)
16 November 2000

On the night of 25 September 1925,the submarine S-51 was hit by the

Ocean Steamship Company’s CITY OF

ROME 14 miles east of Block Island, NY

and sank in 132 feet of water. Of the six officers and thirty-one men aboard only

three survived. The entire boat was

flooded. Initial salvage efforts by MerrittChapman and Scott and Navy divers failed

and further attempts were abandoned.

When the Navy subsequently determined

to salvage the submarine, although

Merritt-Chapman was the Navy’s salvage

contractor it had no expertise in submarine

salvage, so the task was assigned to the

Third Naval District, Rear Admiral Charles

P. Plunkett, Commandant.

John Niederman, 1918 graduate of

the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture,

was employed in the scientific section of

John C. Niedermair and the Salvage of S-51 and S-4

By: Capt. Richards T. Miller, USN (RET)

the district’s Brooklyn Navy Yard. He was

working on a study of the intact and damaged stability of merchant ships for a Stability Committee that had been established

to develop standards for U.S. merchant

ships. The Brooklyn yard became the base

for salvage operations, and John was detailed to the position of on-site technical

advisor to the salvage officer, Lieutenant

Commander (later Rear Admiral) Edward

Ellsburg. Captain (later Fleet Admiral)

Ernest J. King, Commanding Officer of the

Submarine Base at New London, was officer-in-charge. John departed the Brooklyn yard on 19 October with LCDR

Ellsburg aboard VESTAL, which was to

serve as a supply vessel and mother ship

to the diving ship FALCON, four tugs and

S-51’s sister ship S-50 on-site.

Work had commenced on 15 October

and continued until 7 December when

winter weather and water temperature

forced the salvage operation to be

stopped. During that time, John helped

develop successful techniques for controlled sinkage of the 60-ton and 80-ton lift

capacity pontoons used, and made buoyancy calculations for compartments that

could be sealed off and de-watered. During the period back in the Brooklyn yard

in the winter of 1925-1926 the salvage plan

was refined, salvage tools such as the underwater cutting tool and lights were improved and a nonreactive nozzle for tunneling was developed. John was back onsite with the salvage crew when operations were resumed in April 1926. The first

attempt to raise S-51 was made 22 June

1926, but deteriorating weather caused a

loss of control of the pontoons, so they

(Continued on page 22)

F.S. Lassiter

John C Neidermair and the salvage

of the S-51 with the USS FALCON

(AM28) in rear.
November 2000 17

finished to prevent the grout from setting

up in the hose. With many layers requiring more than 30 minutes to fill there just

wasn’t enough bottom time available. By

using the National Geographic mini ROV

(tethered to the “grout” clump) to monitor

the initial fill operation, pumping could begin without divers in the water and they

could descend just in time to remove the

nozzle, flush the hose and reinsert in the

next layer. This process was repeated dozens of times in the ensuing days, sometimes using a pan and tilt camera planted

on the bottom in place of the out

of commission ROV. It took two

full weeks, broken by a few days

of 10-12 foot seas and a calm spell

that allowed us to shift to installing

the Bridge Frame, before we could

call the stabilization phase complete and focus our attention on

the engine recovery.

In between efforts to complete the ERS installation the

divers severed the remaining ten

feet of wrought iron propeller shaft

using the same type hydraulic

“guillotine” saw that was used in

1998 when the propeller was recovered. The shaft and supporting frame were then lifted to the

surface, opening access to the rear of the

engine room and freeing the engine from a

large off center weight. Generally the

NOAA archeologists responsible for the

Monitor were meticulous

in requiring that we exercise great care in working

on or near the wreck so it

came as a shock when we

were permitted to go to

work with hydraulic chipping hammers and grinders

in an attempt to remove

some engine room hull

plating. Divers gleefully

pounded and poked and

pulled until a small plate reluctantly broke loose. The

exercise was important in

that it proved the hull plating in many places was in good condition

and may not have to be removed when the

engine is ultimately recovered. On the final dive of the operation

the 28-foot long skeg that

supported the Monitor’s

propeller and rudder was

hauled from the deep and

hoisted aboard—a fitting

end to the expedition.

Over one hundred people rotated in

and out of the team on the Weeks 526

barge during the course of this operation,

including 76 Navy divers from MDSU 2,

SUPSALV, USS GRAPPLE, EODTEU TWO

and Combat Camera Atlantic. Fifteen percent of those divers were Naval Reservists

CAPT (sel) Phil Beierl is the Commanding

Officer of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit

TWO and was the On-Scene Commander for

the MONITOR 2000 expedition.

LT Paul Ware is the Diving Medical Officer

and Public Affairs Officer at Mobile Diving

and Salvage Unit TWO. He spent five weeks

on the Monitor project this summer, and

made three dives on the wreck.

(Monitor continued from page 9)

from MDSU 2 NR Detachments 101, 507

and 413 who jumped in without missing a

beat. The effort at sea was supported by

an indispensable logistics effort including

an advance base at Coast Guard Station

Hatteras Inlet. Fundamental to the success of the operation was the unprecedented four-way partnership between

NOAA, SUPSALV, OII and MDSU 2,

which proved up to the task of executing

this complex and risky project on a tight

budget and schedule.

One hundred and sixty deep mixed

gas dives and countless days of heavy

rigging after we began, we arrived safely

home—proud of our achievement yet

humbled by the privilege of working on the

historic wreck of our Navy’s first ironclad

warship.

View of the Gunport, courtesy of NOAA.

View of Monitors’ bow, courtesy of NOAA.

USS Monitor December 1862
18 November 2000

Historical Background Prepared by John Broadwater, Dina Hill, and Jeffrey Johnston

History:

For more than a century after it was

lost at sea, the USS Monitor lay undiscovered off the coast of North Carolina. It was

not until August 1973 that scientists

aboard Duke University’s research vessel

Eastward located the wreck in 235 feet of

water, 16 miles south-southeast of Cape

Hatteras. The wreck lies upside down

and has suffered considerable deterioration and structural damage. In addition to

natural deterioration caused by the elements, the wreck may have been damaged

by unauthorized human activities.

On January 30, 1975, the Secretary of

Commerce designated the wreck of the

USS Monitor as the nation’s first marine

sanctuary, to be managed by the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA). Monitor National Marine Sanctuary regulations prohibit anchoring, stopping, trawling, or drifting without power;

salvage or recovery operations; using diving, dredging, wrecking devices, underwater detonation, drilling, and laying cable

without a permit from NOAA. Private research activities in the Sanctuary are carried out under permit.

The Monitor was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975

and was designated a National Historic

Landmark on March 9, 1987, the 125th anniversary of the Monitor-Virginia battle.

The Ship

The USS Monitor was undeniably

one of the most significant ships in U. S.

history. The hull of the USS Monitor was

completely unique in construction and appearance. The ship was built in two sections, the upper and lower hulls. The upper hull, with its armored deck and sides,

protruded only 13 inches above the water

and provided a platform for the armored

gun turret and small pilot house. The

smaller lower hull was well below the waterline, thus was protected from enemy fire.

The Monitor was very similar to a

submarine in that the hull was almost com-

(Continued on page 19 )

MONITOR MONITOR

MONITOR and its crew.
November 2000 19

pletely under water and, unlike any previous naval vessel, all living spaces were

below the waterline. Officers and crew

lived forward of the midships bulkhead,

their only view of the outside world gained

through tiny deck lights, small glass ports

in the armored deck above their heads.

The Monitor’s famous revolving gun

turret was nearly 22 feet in diameter, 9 feet

high, its sides consisting of 8 inches of

iron armor. Inside were two 11-inch

Dahlgren smoothbore cannons, the ship’s

only armament.

The Wreck

The Monitor lies upside down on a

relatively flat sandy bottom at a depth of

235 feet with her bow oriented almost directly east-west. The Gulf Stream is the

prevailing current in the Sanctuary, generally passing over the wreck in a northeasterly direction. In the vicinity of the Sanctuary, an area often referred to as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, the warm waters of the

Gulf Stream interact dynamically with cold

water intrusions associated with the

southerly flowing Labrador Current, creating unpredictable currents and eddies. As

a result, environmental factors such as

weather, surface sea condition, current,

water temperature and bottom visibility

change rapidly and without warning.

The inverted hull rests on the displaced and inverted gun turret. The port

side is just over a foot above the bottom at

the bow, but rises to almost nine feet at

the stern. Most of the starboard armor

belt is buried in the bottom sediment, providing some support to the hull. The hull

has deteriorated to a considerable degree.

Virtually none of the lower hull forward of

the midships bulkhead remains standing.

The only relatively intact portion of the

lower hull is the area over the galley and

engineering spaces aft of the midships

bulkhead. All of the associated framing

and side plating on the port side lower

hull is missing, exposing the area to the

strong currents that often sweep through

the sanctuary.

Significant changes have been noted

at the site in recent years by NOAA and

NOAA-permitted expeditions. The majority of the changes have occurred from the

midships bulkhead aft. In 1991, an anchoring incident by a private fishing vessel

caused drastic and accelerated changes to

the wreck. The vessel’s anchor snagged

the rudder/propeller shaft support skeg

and pulled it to starboard. The result was

the plating at the stern ripped open, exposing the aft areas of the engine room and

initiating a chain reaction of structural collapse that continues.

NOAAs Actions to Preserve the Monitor

By 1995, NOAA had accumulated

enough data to determine that the

Monitor’s hull was deteriorating rapidly

and that the famous warship could virtually disintegrate within a few years unless

action was taken to preserve her. As a result, NOAA’s Marine Sanctuary Division

developed a comprehensive preservation

plan entitled, “Charting a New Course for

the Monitor.” The plan outlined a variety

of possible options and recommended a

combined strategy of hull stabilization and

selective recovery of key hull components

for long-term conservation, curation and

exhibition.

Following acceptance of the comprehensive plan, NOAA initiated an ambitious series of site investigations designed to collect the engineering and archaeological data necessary for the development of a detailed engineering and archaeological proposal. In 1998, and again

in 1999, NOAA, with assistance from the

U.S. Navy, the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North

Carolina at Wilmington, the Cambrian

Foundation, The Mariners’ Museum, and

(Continued from page 18)

others, conducted engineering and archaeological surveys, recording data on

the condition of the Monitor’s hull, with

emphasis on the stern areas that are the

most unstable. During the 1998 mission,

divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage

Unit Two (MDSU Two) partially stabilized

the Monitor’s hull by removing her propeller and an eleven-foot section of her

driveshaft. In 1999 divers from USS Grasp

and MDSU Two conducted an extensive

survey of the wreck in order to plan for

continued stabilization and the recovery

of major components, including the engine, a segment of armor belt and, ultimately, Monitor’s famous gun turret.

John D. Broadwater, NOAA

Mission Chief Scientist

John Broadwater has been the Sanctuary

Manager for the Monitor National Marine

Sanctuary since 1992, during which time he

has directed numerous NOAA scientific

expeditions to the Sanctuary. He will serve

as Chief Scientist for Monitor 2000.

Dina B. Hill

NOAA Shore Support Coordinator

Dina Hill is the Education Coordinator for

the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.

Responsibilities include development and

implementation of an education plan for the

sanctuary. Dina attended Old Dominion

University and the University of North

Carolina Wilmington with majors in history

and archaeology.

Jeff Johnston

NOAA Project Historian

Jeff Johnston has been a contract research

assistant with the Monitor Sanctuary since

1995. During the 1998 Monitor Expedition

he provided topside support for

recordkeeping, historical background

information and detailed information on the

design and construction of the Monitor, as

well as the details of the wreck site. He will

serve the same role in 2000.
20 November 2000

This is the most complex diving a Navy

Diver will encounter and runs like no other

dive station in the Navy.

If you’re ready for the challenge of a

NSW front line combat unit where the

command fosters high morale, a great command climate and a chance to work with

the finest Master Divers (HTCM Ervin and

BMC Balesi), the finest Chief Petty Officers (HTC Branham and HTC Bear) and absolutely the finest Divers the U.S. Navy

has to offer, contact your detailer. For

more information about SDVT-1 contact

us at (808) 472-2400. Hoo Yah DeepSea!!!!!!

CW02 Strynar is the Command Diving and

DDS Officer at SDV Team ONE.

The story of a three-year old whoeluded his parents during a family

outing and was found on the dock at the

foot of C Street in Eureka came full circle

eighty-five years later. On what would

have been his eighty-eighth birthday his

wife, three children, and eight grandchildren, together with a group of close

friends and relatives, boarded the

Madaket shortly after 3 P.M. from that

location for Bruce’s last boat ride.

With flags at half-mast Madaket, on

which Bruce in his youth had commuted to work, headed for sea. No one

could remember having seen Humboldt

Bay more beautiful with its calm waters

sparkling in the bright sunshine. A

flight of pelicans flew low over the water as if they, too, were participating in

the farewell.

The tide was ebbing strongly when

we reached the entrance where Captain

Leroy Zerlang spoke a few appropriate

words after which Denis scattered

Bruce’s ashes, while Jenner (Jennifer) as

oldest grandchild, read Tennyson’s

poem “Crossing the Bar”, after which

Timothy proposed a toast to his father to

which we all raised our champagne

glasses.

A lovely wreath followed the ashes,

trailed by all the beautiful individual blossoms with which friends had come laden,

and Madaket solemnly circled the site

sounding the traditional farewell whistle

blasts.

A message of condolence was received from the Coast Guard Station as we

passed on our return trip. And, to round

out a proper salvor’s voyage, Madaket

took in tow a disabled boat. We felt that

everything had conspired for an exact fulfillment of Bruce’s last wishes.

Editors Note: Bruce was always a close

supporter of the Supervisor of Salvage

dating back to the days of Bill Searle. All

of us, particularly in the Diving and Salvage community have lost a close friend.

Obituary

Captain Bruce B. McCloskey USNR (Ret)

7/3/1912 – 3/12/2000

Madaket, owned by the Humboldt Bay Maritime

Museum is, at 90, the oldest passenger-carrying

vessel in continuous service in the United

States.

(Continued from page 15)

Seal Delivery Vehicle Team One ready for action!
November 2000 21

CDR Robert Lowe had been an Undersea

Medical Officer for NEDU since July 1999.

He is also a Board Certified Emergency

Physician who joined the Navy in September

of 1990.

Navy Experimental Diving Unit Testing Medical Equipment

to Improve Capabilities of US Hyperbaric Chambers By: CDR Robert Lowe

Propac Cardiac Monitor.

A US Navy diver develops equipment problems, runs out of air, panics, and

rushes to the surface. Inadequate exhalation results in a severe case of Cerebral

Arterial Gas Embolus (CAGE). Shortly after surfacing, he collapses, unconscious

and barely breathing. An ambulance meets

him at the dock, and paramedics administer oxygen, insert an endotracheal tube,

and place him on a cardiac monitor. Vital

signs, oxygen saturation and cardiac

rhythm are continuously monitored during

the twenty-minute ride to the hyperbaric

chamber. A simple mechanical ventilator

provides assisted breathing while the

single paramedic administers intravenous

medications to stabilize his precarious cardiac rhythm.

Upon arrival at the hyperbaric chamber for lifesaving recompression treatment,

the Chamber Supervisor informs them that

the monitors must be removed, and they

can only ventilate the patient using a

hand-held Ambu-bag, because none of

the critical care devices being utilized are

approved for chamber use. The attendants

and Dive Medical Officers (DMO)

struggle for the next few hours to care for

the patient with the crudest of equipment.

They can not verify adequacy of ventilation, and manual Ambu-Bag ventilation

ties up one attendant almost full time. Unable to monitor any continuing irregular

heart beats, they are severely limited in the

drugs they can administer, due to the inability to accurate control an intravenous

administration rate. Even listening to the

lungs and measuring blood pressure are

difficult in the noisy, crowded chamber.

The preceding tale is not entirely fictitious. Though uncommon in the operational diving Navy, this, or a similar scenario, occurs several times a year to either

divers or non-divers undergoing life saving hyperbaric medical treatment. Fortunately, historically safe Navy diving procedures preclude many of us from seeing this

problem. Any operational unit, especially if

associated with a DMO, may be referred

such a critical patient. The general and

even aerospace medical communities possess extensive capabilities to treat such

severely ill patients. The Navy’s diving

medical community is sorely lacking in a

similar ability There are extensive lists of

valuable medical equipment that are routinely used in hospitals, ground and air

ambulances, and other emergency care

settings that currently can not be used in

US Navy hyperbaric chambers. Minimal

research has been accomplished in the

past to formally evaluate medical equipment for hyperbaric safety and clinically

appropriate function. Cardiac monitors,

suction apparatus, pulse oximeters, ventilators, intravenous infusion pumps, digital

thermometers and patient warming devices

are but a few of the potential life saving

tools that could augment hyperbaric medical care. A group of Diving Medical Officers and Corpsmen at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit in Panama City, Florida has

been evaluating such equipment for ultimate approval for hyperbaric use and

placement on the Authorized Navy Use

(ANU) list. The goal is to be able to provide state of the art critical care medical

support to patients in hyperbaric chambers if the need arises.

CDR Robert Lowe, MC, USNR, and

LCDR Gary Latson, MC, USNR, and HM1

Daryl Stanga and other technical experts

at NEDU have already tested several devices and found them to be hyperbaricly

safe and clinically accurate. A cardiac

monitor, several models of pulse oximeters

and a carbon dioxide detector have been

found ready for submission for ANU listing. Testing is in progress on several promising ventilators. All equipment is evaluated for electrical safety and absence of

harmful off-gassing before pressure testing to 165 fsw. If the device successfully

clears these hurdles, it is evaluated in either the manned or un-manned chamber

for clinical function and accuracy at depth.

If all results are favorable, a recommendation is made to NAVSEA, the certifying authority for diving and hyperbaric

equipment, and the equipment is placed on

the ANU list of equipment. This effort is in

an early stage, but with approval of additional funding, should accelerate the process in the coming year. With ANU approval, appropriate hyperbaric units can,

with the input from their DMOs, decide

what critical care equipment would be most

useful in their diving setting. For information, contact the authors: DSN: 436-3100 or

Commercial: (850) 230-3100. We welcome

suggestions from the fleet regarding any

suggested equipment testing.

Ventilator

undergoing tests.
22 November 2000

were flooded and the wreck was placed

back on the bottom. A further modification

in the placement of the pontoons was

made, and the wreck was finally raised on

5 July and delivered to the Brooklyn Navy

Yard on 7 July 1926.

While John made many technical innovations and calculations in support of

the operation, the salvage depended on

diving. More than 500 dives were made in

a depth – 132 feet – considered quite deep

for the time. Much of the work required

divers to enter the sunken submarine.

These tasks were practiced in full diving

dress in the S-50. As a result of his experience, John prepared a detailed report on

preparations that would be needed, if another submarine went down on the high

seas.

Just over two years later, 17 December 1927, the S-4 sank off Provincetown,

MA in 102 feet of water on a soft mud bottom after collision with USCGC

PAULDING (DD 22). A special tragedy

was that six survivors were trapped in the

sunken hull, but could not be recovered

before they died from carbon dioxide poisoning. By that time, John Niedermair was

supervisor of scientific section for the

Brooklyn Navy Yard. Although the first

Naval District’s Boston Navy Yard was

the base for this new salvage effort,

RADM Plunkett, recalling John’s work on

the S-51, called him in to commence planning the new operation, then ordered him

to the site to serve as technical advisor to

the salvage officer, Commander (later Captain) Harold Saunders, detailed from the

Portsmouth Navy Yard. CAPT Ernest King

again was officer-in-charge of the operation. As one might expect, John experienced some resistance from the Boston

folk when he showed up to “assist” them.

But CAPT King knew him well from the S51, and he soon earned the respect of CDR

Saunders for his intuition in the basic naval architecture problems of buoyancy

and stability associated with submarine

salvage operations. The lessons of the S51 had been learned well. Careful attention

to detail in the planning and use of techniques and procedures proven on S-51

ensured a smooth operation. The ship

was raised and towed to Boston just three

months after her sinking.

John was transferred from Brooklyn

to the Bureau of Construction and Repair

(subsequently the Bureau of Ships) in

Washington DC in 1928. He served as the

U.S. Navy’s technical expert in London for

the 1929 International Safety of Life at Sea

Convention. In 1938 he was appointed civilian chief and Technical Director of the

Bureau’s Preliminary Design Branch, in effect chief naval architect of the Navy, and

served in that capacity for the next twenty

years. He was responsible for the basic

design of all types of naval ships, battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers,

submarines, patrol and mine craft, auxiliaries, landing ships and craft, and other

special types during that critical period. In

a 1975 personal letter to John, RADM Edward Ellsburg wrote, “In my life time (I am

now eighty three) in many fields in war

and peace, three men stand out in my

memory from the thousands with whom it

has been my good fortune to have fate

throw me into contact – a strange three

perhaps – Captain Henry T. Wright, Fleet

Admiral Ernest J. King, and John C.

Niedermair.”

Sources:

• “The Reminiscences of John C.

Niedermair” Oral History Department,

U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD

January 1978.

• “Mud Muscle, and Miracles – Marine Salvage in the United States

Navy” CAPT C.A. Bartholomew, USN

• Naval Historical Center and Naval

Sea Systems Commmand, Department

of the Navy, Washington, DC 1990

CAPT Miller was commissioned in 1940 as a

Naval Constructor on his graduation from the

Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, and

became an Engineering Duty Officer. He

earned the Degree of Naval Engineer at MIT

after World War II. His naval career included

tours as Head of the Preliminary Design

Branch, Bureau of Ships; Commanding

Officer and Director of the U.S. Navy Mine

Defense Laboratory, Panama City, FL at the

time Sea Lab I was designed and built and the

Navy’s experimental diving activities were

being transferred to that location; and Director

of Ship Design, Naval Ship Engineering

Center, Washington, DC. He retired in 1968.

At about 1930 on Wednesday, Au- gust 23 2000, Gulf Air Flight 72

crashed in the water while attempting to

land at Bahrain International Airport.

The crash site was about six miles

away from where the USS George

Washington (CVN 73) was anchored.

Based on initial reports of a “controlled

ditch” the personnel of the George

Washington Battle Group EOD Detachment proceeded toward the site expecting to assist in the rescue of passengers. It soon became obvious that this

was not a SAR effort but a recovery

one. The EOD techs assumed leadership roles in prioritizing recovery efforts, instructed inexperienced coxswains and boat officers in nighttime

navigation in reef and sand bar filled

waters, and provided a calming influence to other on-scene personnel. The

EOD divers used the AN/PQS 2A sonar to locate one of the flight’s data recorders and assisted in the recovery of

bodies and personal effects, classified

material, and parts of the airplane.

Their outstanding performance was

noted at all levels of command and

once again demonstrated the readiness

and “can do” spirit of our Navy’s Sailors.

Gulf Air Flight 72 Gulf Air Flight 72 Gulf Air Flight 72

(Continued from page 16)
November 2000 23

(Continued on page 24)

Although the Monitor 2000 missionwas responsible for recovering numerous artifacts, successfully testing the

new HEO2 procedures, and certifying the

EXO band mask, I am going to focus this

article on the sailors that I had the pleasure

of working for and with during the past 37

days. Throughout this article I’ll be mentioning some names, so please take note.

You will probably hear about them again if

you are around long enough.

Let me start with the officers. At no

time have I ever seen so many eagles on a

dive side, all working together for a common goal. From an enlisted point of view it

was refreshing to observe the high level

of professionalism, experience, and common sense approach to various tasks during the operation. The officers on Monitor 2000 readily filled positions on our

dive side from Tending Green Diver to Diving Officer as well as performing as Red

Diver. Our day to day Diving Officer and

OIC of Detachment Bravo, CWO3

Hulsizer, worked hand-in-hand with the

Master Divers. His involvement greatly

enhanced the training and qualification of

the sailors who were U/I at various positions.

Never before have I had the opportunity to work during a diving operation with

multiple Master Divers. New Masters are

highly encouraged to sit down with or call

BMCS (DSW/MDV) Brown, who was the

lead MDV. You will be impressed and will

be a better diver for it. The fellowship,

wealth of experience, and “can do” spirit

displayed was not only of benefit to the

Commanding Officer, but was an example I

hope, for the rest of the troops to emulate.

At the onset of the operation, I observed an empty barge with no habitability. Within days it was transformed into a

craft not only capable of conducting diving operations, concrete mixing, and salvage rigging, but also able to

provide living and eating quarters for all involved. Working in

extreme heat and long hours,

BM2 Blanchard and other

boatswain’s mates ran PVC lines

under living quarters for the

CHT system. HT1 Turner, BM2

Lana, HT2 Cowan and other

HTs cut and welded, removing

rails, installing tuggers and other

equipment. MMC Riendeau,

HMC Allison, EN1 Hordinski

and other ENs and MMs rigged

machinery and tested everything to ensure a successful operation. EMC St. Peter and EM2

Stewart stayed busy wiring electricity

throughout this man made city. MDSU 2

support personnel SK1 Pack, ET2 Hardie,

BM3 Thompson and YN Jet volunteered

to take on the responsibility for making

water. Oh yeah, so we could get into an

eight point moor all the anchors and wire

had to be rigged. BM1 Annon did a fine

job supervising this evolution. When

they had stopped work for the night they

might have looked like whooped puppies,

but not once did I hear any complaints.

Seeing how well these sailors performed

even before getting underway assured me

that the Monitor Mission could only get

better. Once in the moor and after the bugs

were worked out on dive station, the side

operated as a team, each knowing the others job or trying to qualify at that position.

Imagine that. Just what we all dream of.

Each time a new crew of replacement

divers arrived, there was only enough time

for a quick turnover, a thanks, goodbye

and they were either put right in on station

or utilized for a particular phase of the

bridge frame rigging. Most of you know

how dive station goes. When the window

is open you must utilize whatever time you

have. Long days and nights, wet soggy

feet, hot blistering sun or long idle periods

between dives did not waver the spirit or

crack the morale of these divers. Each time

a problem arose or something broke, I

never heard why we couldn’t go on, but

rather it was always what will it take to fix

the problem. One example is a problem

with our stage wire getting pinched on the

spool. When we went to bed that night

HTC Baker and HT2 Mabry put their

heads together and manufactured a piece

underneath the spool to prevent the wire

from whipping and getting pinched. By the

next morning new wire was installed and

the divers winch was operable. I could

easily give more examples of the creativity

displayed out there, but you seniors, being

divers yourselves, already know what I am

By: MMCM(MDV/SW) Russell W. Mallet

MDV Mallett.
From the Supervisor of Diving

Captain Chris Murray Captain Chris Murray

Revised Surface Supplied HEO2 Diving

Procedures and Tables

 The revised procedures are currently in

use by Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit

ONE in Pearl Harbor and Mobile Diving

and Salvage Unit TWO in Little Creek. Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center

will start using the new procedures with

their next dive class and next Master Diver

Evals. Chapter 14 in the dive manual has

been revised and is awaiting final approval. The new Chapter 14 will be issued

with change A to the dive manual during

the first quarter of FY01.

What do the new tables and procedures

consist of?

 Dr. Ed Flynn’s article addresses the why

and how we got to the new procedures. I

will give an abridged version of what the

main changes consist of:

• The decompression mix has changed

from 60/40 HE/O2

 to 50/50.

• Shift to 50/50 at 90 feet vice 100 feet

for in water decompression.

• The 50 and 40 foot in water stops are

on 50/50.

• First chamber stop is 15 min at 50

feet on 100% O2 and then 15 min at 40

feet.

The rest of the chamber stops remain the

same.

You will find that the decompression

times are very few increases in decompression times until you get to exceptional

exposure. The exceptional exposure O2 periods increase significantly in some cases.

You find other procedural changed that

should make mixed gas diving easier.

I would like to thank Dr. Ed Flynn,

MDV Davidson, MDV Young, and NEDU

for their support in bringing these revised

tables and procedures to reality and assisting in getting approval to take these tables

directly to sea for validation. Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit TWO did the initial

at sea testing on the USS MONITOR. It

was one heck of an operational evaluation

diving under the arduous conditions off

Hatteras, North Carolina in up to 240 feet

of water. Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit

ONE also supported the at sea evaluation

by filling in some additional dives from

depths of from 100 to 300 feet.

Navy Standard Chamber

 The first new Navy standard chamber is

on its way in FY01. The chamber is to replace the 60-inch aluminum double lock.

The chamber will have four bibs in the inner lock and four in the outer lock, air, O2

and mixed gas in the inner, and air and gas

in the outer. It is intended to support two

patients and two tenders. It will be outfitted with a CO2 scrubber, heater/chiller and

CO2 and O2 monitors. The container box

will be 8’x8’x20' and will have lighting, A/C

and heating.

 For more details you can contact Mr.

Stuart Yee at (703) 607-2766 x 274 or e-mail

yeesm@navsea.navy.mil.

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

SEA 00C

NAVAL SEA SYSTEMS COMMAND

2531 JEFFERSON DAVIS HIGHWAY

ARLINGTON VA 22242-5160

Official Business

MMCM(MDV/SW) Russell W. Mallet is

currently assigned as Command Master

Chief at Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit

TWO.

(Continued from page 23)

trying to point out. For the divers who are

Chiefs out in the fleet who haven’t qualified as dive supervisor or haven’t put a

package in to go to Master Diver evaluations, look out! I saw some first class

divers take the watches and run some

good HEO2 WORKING DIVES in 230 fsw

utilizing the new procedures. BM1

Annon, EN1 Hordinski , HT1 Coffelt and

HT2 Mabry to name a few. If they make

Chief, they not only want your job, but

mine as well. I hope it’s an indicator of

what is coming up in the ranks within our

community and if so, HOO YAH.

In closing, I know this article does

not do true justice to all of those personnel who contributed to the success of

Monitor 2000 Expedition. The intent on my

part was purely selfish. It was an opportunity for me to express the pride I have, not

only for MDSU TWO divers but the community as a whole.