2 A p r i l 2 0 0 7

SUPSALV SENDS

In This Issue

FACEPLATE is published by the Supervisor

of Salvage and Diving to make the latest and

most informative news available to the Navy

diving and salvage community. Discussions

or illustrations of commercial products do not

imply endorsement by the Supervisor of

Salvage and Diving or the U.S. Navy.

Articles, letters, queries and comments should

be directed to the Commander, Naval Sea

Systems Command, NAVSEA 00C, 1333

Isaac Hull Ave. SE Stop 1070, Washington

Navy Yard, DC 20376-1070. (Attn:

FACEPLATE). Visit our website at http://

www.supsalv.org. To view an electronic

version of Faceplate in PDF format go to our

website and click on the word “Faceplate”

located in the left hand column. This link will

direct you to our list of Faceplate issues.

Captain Richard Hooper, USN

Director of Ocean Engineering

Supervisor of Salvage and Diving

NAVSEA 00C

richard.hooper@navy.mil

Commander John Gray, USN

Supervisor of Diving

Editor-In-Chief

john.g.gray@navy.mil

LCDR Jim Bladh, USN (Ret.)

Managing Editor

jimbladhsr@aol.com

NDCM (MDV) Danny Boyd, USN

NDCM (MDV) Fred K. Orns, USN

NDCM (MDV) Brian Pratschner, USN

Fleet Liaison Editors

danny.boyd@navy.mil

frederick.orns@navy.mil

brian.pratschner@navy.mil

Zoya Gorbunova

Production Manager

zgorbunova@roh-inc.com

Greetings, Navy Divers, from the newleadership team at the Supervisor of

Salvage and Diving. Captain

Jim Wilkins and Captain

Mark Helmkamp have both

turned over the watch as

SUPSALV and SUPDIVE.

Please read the article from

the new SUPDIVE, Captain

(Select) John Gray on p. 20

of this issue. Captain Gray

reports after his tour on the

SECOND Fleet Staff and the

entire Navy diving community will be the

beneficiary of his operational perspective.

If you would like to learn more on our

backgrounds, our bios are available on the

SUPSALV website at www.supsalv.org.

First, a word about FACEPLATE.

This is your magazine. We are all professionals confronting the sole constant in our

professional career: change. Let’s use this

magazine as your forum to “get the word

out” to the entire Navy diving community.

Is your command confronting reorganization challenges that you can share lessons learned with the whole diving Navy?

Take the time to push those lessons to

FACEPLATE so we can gain from your

successes and don’t have to repeat the mistakes. Has your Dive Locker led a unique

diving operation? Share it with your fellow Divers via FACEPLATE so that other

Navy Divers and the Navy can benefit.

The NAVSEA 00C Master Divers listed

in the column to the left are your enablers

to get your Dive Locker’s innovations and

experiences into print. Share those experiences in a long email with a few pictures

attached to our Master Divers and it will

be in the next issue. A great example of

this type of community knowledge sharing appears in this issue from Pearl HarSUPSALV Sends ........................................... 2

Underwater Friction Stud Welding System .... 3

ESCAPEX 2006 ............................................. 4

Safety Center Update .................................... 5

Joe Stahovec Obituary ................................... 5

USS MONITOR Center Opening ................... 6

Navy Tug Fights Fire Aboard Freighter.......... 8

Navy Chief Sets Record ................................ 8

The Revolution in Navy Diver Training .......... 9

Is Certification Necessary? .......................... 10

Bits & Pieces ................................................ 11

NAVSEA UWSH Reference Website ........... 12

NDSTC Update ............................................ 13

Command in the Spotlight: PHNSY ............. 14

(“SUPSALV Sends” continued on p. 13 )

Otto C. Adams

Graphic Designer

oadams@roh-inc.com

bor Naval Shipyard and the story of ship

maintenance diving locker regionalization

courtesy of CWO MacDonald.

His story shows that every one

of us can use that sole constant

of CHANGE and use it to make

our lockers stronger. Whether

you are stationed at a maintenance center or at a “pointy end

of the spear” command, there are

lessons of leadership in CWO

MacDonald’s story that may apply to your diving organization.

What are my objectives as I take the

helm at SUPSALV?

The goal that trumps all others is to

enable the ongoing Navy diving safety

record for performing diving missions

without a diving accident or death.

SUPSALV’s role in this essential endeavor

is to provide procedures and policy to the

Diving Navy that enables our high success rate for safe diving. Since my arrival

in October 2006, SUPSALV has promulgated changes to the Diving Systems Certification Manual or “MAN-10.” Before

the next issue of FACEPLATE goes to

print, a significant revision to the Navy

Diving Manual with revised diving recompression tables to lower the risk of decompression incidents based on lessons

learned from Fleet diving experience. Of

course the most visible SUPSALV enabling technique for proactive diving

safety is the visits by our certification division to Navy Diving Lockers. These visits are an opportunity for diving commands

to take advantage of the experience of the

SUPSALV certification team which represents an extraordinary reservoir of diving knowledge including highly experienced engineers and “retired” Master

Divers who continue their service by transCaptain Rich Hooper

From The Managing Editor .......................... 16

Charity Golf Classic Update ........................ 16

American Salvage Association Membership 17

The Old Master ............................................ 18

37 Years Ago in Faceplate ........................... 19

The IRON MEN ............................................ 19

From SUPDIVE ............................................ 20

Cover photo: USNS Grapple (T-ARS 53). Illustration and design by Otto Adams, III.
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 3

On 21 September 2006, the U.S. NavyDiving community moved one step

closer to finalizing the procedure to use

the Underwater Friction Stud Welding System for Underwater Ship

Husbandry (UWSH) applications

around the fleet. The underwater

friction stud welding project began

in 2003 with the mission to develop

a reliable, cost effective, and userfriendly method of attaching

studs and bosses to the exterior

hull of Naval vessels. Numerous

underwater applications await the

approval of the friction stud welding

system to include sacrificial anode

and temporary padeye attachment,

installation of external cover plates,

and installation of cofferdams. Most, if

not all, of these applications currently

require legacy underwater welding

procedures and techniques, but the current

welding procedures can be replaced with

friction stud welding procedures once the

technology is approved for use.

From 19-21 September 2006, ten U.S.

Navy Divers tested the Underwater Friction Stud Welding System at the Naval

Surface Warfare Center in Carderock, MD

(NSWC CD). The Office of the Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV)

and NAVSEA 05M oversaw the testing

and managed the test plan which was approved by the Navy Experimental Diving

Unit (NEDU). The Fusion Bonding System (FBS), manufactured by Fusematic

Incorporated, was the specific friction stud

welder evaluated during this testing phase.

Navy Divers conducted all testing in

the Explosives Test Pond Facility at

NSWC CD, and all Navy Divers received

hands-on training to setup and operate the

stud welding system for both topside and

underwater applications. The Explosives

Test Pond Facility is a 24-foot deep test

basin containing 3.5 million gallons of

water. The visibility in the controlled

environment was a crystal clear 100 feet, and the

water temperature was a

balmy 80 F. All Divers

donned the EXO 26

Diving Mask with umbilical communications and

a single 80 cu. ft. SCUBA

cylinder to conduct the tests.

The Navy Divers

worked for three

days to complete

the extensive test

plan to ensure all test plates were

completed with the utmost quality. The Fusematic Fusion Bonding System used for testing

weighed 40 pounds on the surface

which increased the complexity of

the welding process at depth. Navy Divers

used the Fusion Bonding System to weld

30 studs and 30 bosses to small test coupons in the vertical position at 20 FFW.

The small test coupons were made up of

Navy Divers working to position the Underwater Friction Welding

System to weld a stud in place.

three different types of base material

similar to those utilized in the Fleet,

DH-36, HY-80, and HY-100. Navy

Divers also welded 24 studs and 24

bosses to large test plates in

the vertical position which

were also made of DH-36,

HY-80, and HY-100. NAVSEA

05M and NSWC CD inspected all of the completed test

articles and relocated them

to a test facility at NSWC

CD where they were submerged in sea water to be

tested for the next three

months.

Although the official test

results remain to be fully

evaluated, each Diver confirmed that

the friction stud welding system and the

associated procedure were user-friendly

and will be a great asset to the Fleet.

The next step in the approval process

is to conduct an in-service test on one

of our U.S. Naval vessels. SUPSALV

is looking for any and all candidates

to exercise these tests, so keep an eye

out on the waterfront for possible field

applications. Do you want to be the

first Dive Locker to use the Underwater

Friction Stud Welding System for Fleet

application?

Navy Divers aligning the Friction Stud Welder.

Navy Divers preparing to conduct Friction Stud Welding Tests.

LT Jay Young is an Engineering Duty

Officer/Diver currently working as a Project

Manager at the Underwater Ship Husbandry

Division at NAVSEA 00C.
4 A p r i l 2 0 0 7

KETCHIKAN, Alaska (NNS) —Seven personnel practiced locking

out from the attack submarine USS

LOS ANGELES (SSN 688) and ascending to the surface wearing special suits

that are designed to enable a free ascent

from a stricken submarine during

ESCAPEX 2006 at the Navy’s Southeast

Alaska Acoustic Measurement Facility

(SEAFAC) in Ketchikan, AK. While several foreign Navies practice the

maneuver routinely, the U.S. Navy had

not conducted it in more than three

decades and never from a nuclearpowered submarine.

The Navy’s renewed interest in

submarine escape comes as U.S. submarines operate more frequently now in

shallow coastal waters, said Submarine

Development Squadron (CSDS) 5

Commander Captain Butch Howard, who

oversaw the exercise. “Today, submarines

spend a greater amount of time in the

littorals or shallow water, which supports

the overall concept of escaping from a

possible distressed submarine,” said

Howard. “It’s imperative that our sub

crews be familiar and comfortable with

this operating procedure no matter how

remote the potential for its use.”

The MK10 Submarine Escape

Immersion Equipment, or SEIE, allows

survivors to escape a disabled submarine at depths down to 600 feet, at a

rate of eight or more men per hour. It is

designed to enable a free ascent from

a stricken submarine and provides protection for the submariner on reaching

the surface until rescued. The assembly is comprised of a submarine escape

and immersion suit, an inner thermal

liner and a gas inflated single seat life

raft, all contained in an outer protective stowage compartment.

For the exercise, Los Angeles embarked six U.S. Navy Divers, as well

as a Diver from the Royal Navy. The

submarine submerged to 130 feet,

where each of the seven Divers donned

the SEIE suits, entered the escape

trunk, and ascended.

Chief Navy Diver (DSW/SW)

Sean Daoust, a submarine escape instructor at the Naval Submarine School

in Groton, CT, was the first to ascend.

Daoust said that he was honored to be the

first to escape from a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine and couldn’t wait to return to his students with his firsthand

knowledge. “I teach this procedure on a

daily basis,” said Daoust. “I have a lot of

confidence in the system and can show

the students the data and statistics.”

After Daoust, there were three tandem escapes. Los Angeles crew member

Fire Control Technician 2nd Class (SS)

Gary Halsey was one of the Sailors

given the chance to participate in a tandem escape. While thrilled at the experience, Halsey also said it was reassuring that the escape system works.

“Not many people get to do things like

this in their whole Navy career,” said

Halsey. “The SEIE worked great,

which instilled confidence, not to

mention being very comforting to all

that work on submarines.”

CDR Erik Burian, Commanding

Officer of Los Angeles, attributed the

exercise’s success to his crew’s tremendous skill and professionalism.

He said he was grateful that the namesake

of the Los Angeles Class was the boat

selected to do the exercise. “I think it’s

absolutely fitting the “first and finest”

pulled this off,” said Burian. “It’s perfect.”

Submariners can have an added

degree of confidence in knowing that

the SEIE suits on U.S. submarines can

save them in the unlikely event of a

stranding, said Howard. “As a result of

ESCAPEX, we’ve confirmed the procedures and our SEIE suits work,” he said.

“The ship and the folks at SEAFAC

did a great job.”

In addition to the team from CSDS

5, Los Angeles and SEAFAC, the

ESCAPEX team was made up of members of numerous commands, including

Commander, Submarine Force Pacific

Fleet, NAVSEA, and Explosive Ordnance

Disposal Mobile Unit 11 (EODMU 11).

This was the first U.S. escape from

a submarine in 46 years. EODMU 11

Medical and Dive Locker were in charge

of escapee recovery, transport, and treatment, if needed. All seven escapees came

through without a scratch.

 Amazing stuff. When they lock these

guys down, they are traveling at

230 fpm and when they lock out they

are traveling at 660 fpm. A ten-second ride

to the surface. Amazingly no one suffered

barotraumas. There are no holds either,

when they go – they go, no halting descent

or ascent.

Fire Control Technician 2nd Class Gary Halsey

emerges from the Northern Pacific as the first Navy

Sailor to execute a tandem open-ocean escape from

a nuclear-powered submarine.

Fast attack submarine USS LOS ANGELES (SSN

688) is moored at the Southeast Alaska Acoustic

Measurement Facility Static Site in Ketchikan,

Alaska, as part of Escape Exercise 2006. “First and

Finest,” USS LOS ANGELES was the first nuclearpowered U.S. submarine to conduct an open-ocean

escape.

U.S. Navy photos by Mass Communication

Specialist 1st Class Cynthia Clark (RELEASED).
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 5

My name is MDV Mallet at the NavalSafety Center. You know, the place

where you are supposed to report dives

and diving mishaps, submit articles for

Diving Safety Lines, and oh yeah, we

perform your Diving Safety Surveys. I

wanted to get some information out to

those of you who only read FACEPLATE.

The following personnel are attached

to Diving Code, LCDR Crouch, CWO3

Annon, HMCS Stewart, NDC Barnett,

and NDC Hordinski. The new web-based

Dive/Jump Reporting System (DRS/JRS)

will be out on the street hopefully this

summer (believe me, it will be a lot friendlier then Mishap Reporting Program). We

will contact commands to test the program

prior to release and would appreciate your

assistance if contacted. More information

about the program will be found in the

Spring edition of Diving Safety Lines.

We have once again updated our

Diving Safety Survey Checksheets, which

you can download them from our website.

They make a great tool to see where your

locker stands and will get your people

more involved. Also, in FY07 we require

commands who are scheduled for Safety

Survey to have air systems, chambers, and

dive rigs (MK 25, MK 16) lined up with

completed OPs or completed pre-dives on

the day of our arrival. However, those with

multiple systems won’t be required to have

all of them lined up. For example,

multiple MK-16 rigs would require 2 rigs

(supporting checksheets) set up (without

CO2

 absorbent) just prior to installing

bottles. For Light Weight System set up

so air can be put to diver’s end of the

umbilical and for Recompression Chamber set up so chamber can be pressurized.

Get the idea?

Instead of just seeing the equipment

static, we want to see it just prior to

operation and we can check OPs and

pre-dive procedures and how they are conducted. Ever heard of ORM? It’s the new

way of doing business but we’ve always

done it. Dive the Plan and Plan the Dive!

Upcoming surveys prior to the quarterly

message release we will try and notify for

convenient dates of survey. Once the

message is on the street, commands are

required to notify us by e-mail or phone

to confirm the dates. This is a great

opportunity to ask questions about your

upcoming survey prior to team’s arrival.

In closing, I would like all who

are r eading this article go t o

www.safetyc enter.navy.mil, click

“Afloat”, then click “Diving”, and pull

up a copy of Fall Diving Safety Lines

2006. Check out this past years’ most

common survey hits. We updated all of

our Diving Safety Survey Checksheets

and thank those commands once again for

their past constructive input, training

labs for our team, and diving articles.

DIVE SAFE, REMEMBER ORM

J

oseph Stahovec, the Emergency Ship

Salvage Material Program Manager in

SUPSALV Salvage Operations Division,

passed away on February 25, 2007 at his

home in Alexandria, VA. He was 57.

Joe graduated from the Ohio State

University with a degree in Civil Engineering and attained his license as a Professional Engineer in 1976. After a period

with the Ohio state highway department,

Joe came to SUPSALV in April 1982.

Over the course of his 25 years of

service, he participated in salvage and

marine pollution responses too numerous

to list, but some of his most significant

contributions came during times of true

national crisis. In 1989, he provided leadership and oversight for the U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage during the Exxon

Valdez oil spill response in Prince William Sound, Alaska. In 1991 and again in

2003 he headed the planning for operational deployment of pollution abatement

equipment to the Persian Gulf in support

of Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi

Freedom. In the aftermath of Hurricanes

Joseph Stahovec

Katrina and Rita in 2005, Joe oversaw

deployment of hundreds of pieces of

equipment and dozens of personnel to

multiple locations

throughout the Gulf

Coast. Joe was also

a prime mover of

SUPSALV Underwater Ship Husbandry Program.

On a day-to-day basis, Joe quietly but

effectively worked to ensure that the personnel and wide array of equipment located

in Virginia, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Japan, Singapore, Bahrain, and Italy were

ready to respond when the nation called.

His constant interaction with the salvage

community including U.S. Navy Fleet

Divers, contractor representatives, and

many other salvage and ship repair professionals around the globe allowed him to

bring timely solutions to the challenges

continually faced in the dynamic work environment that defines the salvage and diving business. Joe was a true professional

who always went out of his

way to lend a hand when fellow shipmates needed his experience, advice, or his support to make things happen on

time.

From the seemingly mundane morning coffee in the

NAVSEA cafeteria to the extraordinary commitment

demonstrated by his steadfast

and unassuming leadership, Joe Stahovec

greatly contributed to the Navy and the

Nation. The SUPSALV family mourns

the loss of this highly respected salvage

professional and extends thoughts and

prayers to his wife Susanne and daughter Christina during this difficult time.

A memorial fund has been established for Christina’s education. Please

send donations to:

Joe Stahovec

The Stahovec Memorial Fund

PO Box 2552

Williamsburg, VA 23187-2552
6 A p r i l 2 0 0 7

I

t was a beautiful, sunny day off the

coast of North Carolina. Despite

previous high winds and seas, the early

morning started with lighter breezes. But

there was a real flurry of activity on the

barge, as is usual when preparing dive

station. Divers were hustling to and fro

to make sure everything was ready and

all possible contingencies were covered.

In addition to Divers, the barge crew was

carefully preparing their own tasks.

Overseeing all the precise preparations were the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

and the Mariners’ Museum members of

the team. It was the type of day that

salvage Divers live for and fortunately, it

was a hugely successful day. By early

evening the team had accomplished what

many thought they would never see. The

200-ton revolving gun turret, complete

with two XI-inch Dahlgren guns, were

recovered from 240 fsw after being

submerged in the depths of the Atlantic

Ocean for 140 years.

That was the summer of 2002 and

there are hundreds of Navy Divers (too

many to mention all of them here) who

were instrumental in making that a successful mission. Starting in 1996, when

USS EDENTON first dove on USS

MONITOR to MDSU TWO clean up

efforts in 2003, many of you emerged

yourselves in this amazing adventure.

But now it is

2007 and another

huge success is

about to be uncovered. The Mariners’ Museum in

Newport News, VA

is the official repository of USS

MONITOR artifacts and the Museum has certainly

taken this job seriously. Over the

past five years, the

Mariners’ Museum

has been on a mission of its own, one

equally as challenging and maybe

even more daunting. It has conducted a Capital Campaign

to raise the $30 million required to properly celebrate the history of the

mighty USS MONITOR

and to provide a fitting

home for all those artifacts that many of us

worked so diligently

to bring

back from

the depths.

Final

preparations on

the 63,500-

square

foot, stateof-the-art,

spectacular new home for the

MONITOR are underway

and I am sure it will not

disappoint.

The Monitor Center

walks us through the history of Naval Combat from the days of

wooden sailing ships through the historic

battle between the USS MONITOR and

CSS VIRGINIA in Hampton Roads on

March 9, 1862. Visitors will be able to

walk through a portion of a full scale

replica of the CSS Virginia’s casemate and

experience the battle in the 360-degree,

surround sound Battle Theatre. Visitors

will be able to walk through the MONITOR staterooms and wardroom and hear

the thoughts of many of the crew memAnna Halloway, the MONITOR Center curator, provides a preview tour

of the USS MONITOR Center to Capt Bobbie Scholley (Ret.) and CWO3

Rick Cavey (Ret.) while John Hightower, the Mariners’ Museum former

president and Andrea Bear, the Mariners’ Museum VP for Marketing

and Development, look on.

View of the proposed MONITOR Center and its full-scale sculptural replica of the USS MONITOR. Visitors may walk the entire

length of the replica’s 172-foot deck, giving them a sense of what it

would have been like on the original ship.

The USS MONITOR’s Revolving Gun Turret is driven into the

awaiting conservation tank after being delivered to the

Mariners’ Museum in August of 2002.
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 7

bers from before and after the

battle. The exhibit will continue on

to 1974, when the MONITOR was

finally rediscovered and then

relive the MONITOR Expeditions

that many of you participated in.

Visitors can even walk the deck of

a full scale replica of the USS

MONITOR that was constructed by

Northrop Grumman Newport News

Apprentice School. Concluding the

tour is an amazing video experience

of the MONITOR Expedition 2002,

hosted by Sam Waterson, in the

Recovery Theatre. Plus there is a

very special surprise, especially for

those of you that have actually dove

on MONITOR, that I am not going to

divulge here!

Now I am simply an old, retired

Salvage Diver, certainly not a writer. So

my descriptions could not possibly live

up to what you would actually experience.

Let me just sum it up in the words of

some of our younger Divers by saying

“It’s AWESOME.” And do not just take

my word for it, several other local

Divers have visited during the construction and provided invaluable knowledge

and advice. You can always contact

CWO3 Rick Cavey (Ret.), MDV Russ

Mallet, MDV Scott Heineman, or MDV

Jim Mariano to get their take on my

impressions.

CAPT Bobbie Scholley retired from the Navy

in 2005 after almost 25 years of service. She

was CO MDSU TWO during the MONITOR

Expedition 2001 and 2002 and made 19 dives

on MONITOR. She resides in Virginia Beach

where she is taking on the new and exciting

challenge of mom to her four year old twin

daughters (future Navy Divers)!

The Mariners’ Museum and NOAA

would love to see as many U.S. Navy

Divers and their families as possible visit

the MONITOR Center. This is real tribute to what Navy Divers are capable of

accomplishing and whether you actually

dove on MONITOR or not, each of you

were part of the team that help make this

happen. The opening weekend on March

9, 2007 included ceremonies, tours, lectures, reenactments, fun for the kids, and

lots of time to see old friends. Additional

information on visiting the Museum can

be found at www.marinersmuseum.org.

For those of you who did not make it

for the celebrations in March, please take

the time to go visit the MONITOR Center

and do not forget to

take your family. It is

an amazing chance

to relive history and

show what the Navy

Diving community

can accomplish. Do

not forget to let the

museum folks know

that you are one of the

Divers. They love to

meet all of you!

If you want to do

more for this part of

the USS MONITOR,

you can also help contribute to the Capital

Campaign. In addition to making a donation, you can also

buy an engraved paver that will

be placed in either the USS

MONITOR drydock or the CSS

VIRGINIA coutyard. If there is

enough interest by Navy Divers,

we are discussing having our

own Diver Paver area where we

would place our pavers together.

You can engrave whatever you

want, but if you were on one of

the expeditions and want to put the

year (or years) that you were

involved, we can arrange the

expedition folks together. Although

the pavers are $200 each for

the general public, they are only

$150 each for Navy Divers (and

it is tax deductible for all you rich

Master Divers). You can find the order

forms on the website or you can contact

the Mariners’ Museum campaign office

at (757) 591-7746 or (800) 581-7245

ext.746.

Also, if you were involved in any of

the MONITOR Expeditions and have any

pictures, diaries that you are willing to

make public, or stories that you would

like to provide to become part of the

Monitor Center archives, please contact

Anna Holloway, the curator of the

exhibition, at (757) 591-7740 or by email

at aholloway@marinersmuseum.org.

As you can tell, I am really excited

about the MONITOR Center, not only

because MONITOR was such a big part

of my Naval career, but also because I

think that it highlights the courage,

ingenuity, and dedication of Sailors

from those in 1862 up to today’s modern

day Navy Diver. I love the way it shows

what our Navy Divers are all about. I

hope you do too! Keep up all the good

work out there and remember that those

of us that are retired are proud of you.

Concept sketch of the large artifact gallery of the USS

MONITOR Center where the crucial but sometimes enigmatic

conservation process is brought to life.

For almost 140 years the 30-ton side lever steam engine that propelled

the historic ironclad USS MONITOR has been resting in its watery

grave 240 feet below sea-level, 16 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras.

The engine is now undergoing restoration and visitors can watch conservators slowly remove over a century of corrosion from this historic

propulsion system.
8 A p r i l 2 0 0 7

USNS APACHE (T-ATF 172)responded to a shipboard fire aboard

a commercial freighter while repairing the

commercial pier in port of Monrovia,

Liberia and surveying the city’s harbor on

August 10, 2006.

The engine room of Tahoma Reefer,

an Estonian commercial freighter also

paying a call on Monrovia’s port, burst

into flames in the early hours of the day.

Later that morning, just as smoke from

the burning vessel was spotted from

APACHE’s bridge, the U.S. Embassy in

Liberia phoned the ship and asked the

crew to respond.

Using the ship’s rigid hull inflatable

(RHIB) boat, APACHE Chief Mate Troy

Bruemmer and Chief Warrant Officer

Pete Sharpe, Officer-in-Charge of the

12 member embarked Mobile Diving

and Salvage Unit 2, and three other

crewmembers, rushed to the scene.

“When we arrived, we witnessed the deck

house of the ship engulfed in flames,” said

Sharpe. “All the crew and the harbor pilot

were on the bow, some without life

jackets. We returned to our ship to get

more life jackets and additional Divers to

assist.”

While the crew aboard APACHE’s

RHIB rescued the nine men aboard the

freighter, the tug’s civilian master, CAPT

Charles Rodriguez, put his ship into

action. “As the Chief Mate, Warrant

Officer, and Divers removed TAHOMA’s

crew from the starboard side, APACHE

approached the ship’s port side and

commenced fighting the fire,” said

Rodriguez.

Using the tug’s starboard fire stations,

APACHE worked to put out the flames.

More than four hours later, TAHOMA’s

fire was under control.“Actions under

unusual and hazardous situations is

what makes life at sea so rewarding and

different every day,” said CAPT Nick

Holman, Commander, Sealift Logistics

Command Europe. “The cool heads

and fast hands of APACHE’s crew

and embarked Navy Divers during

this emergency situation represent

seamanship at its best.”

No crewmembers were injured

during the operation. APACHE is a

non-combatant ship operated by 16

U.S. merchant mariners employed by the

U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command.

AT SEA ABOARD M/V KELLIECHOUEST — A Navy Diver, submerged at 2,000 feet, set the record using

the new Atmospheric Diving System

(ADS) suit off the coast of La Jolla,

CA, August 1, 2006.

Chief Navy Diver (DSW/SS) Daniel

P. Jackson of Navy Reserve Deep

Submergence Unit (DSU) was randomly

selected to certify the ADS suit for use by

the Navy.

“I feel like the luckiest guy in the

world,” said Jackson. “I am honored and

privileged to be the first Diver to go down

that depth.”

The certification was the culmination

of 11 years of planning, designing, and

testing by multiple agencies to develop the

ADS suit, also known as the Hardsuit

2000.

“This is the biggest piece of teamwork

that I have ever seen in the Navy,” said

CDR Keith W. Lehnhardt, the Officer-inCharge of the project.

Lehnhardt said that the project was a

collaboration of so many different

organizations such as DSU, Submarine

Squadron 5 and Diving Systems Support

Detachment.

Jackson said, “I was just a guy tied

to a rope. It was the ADS team that made

it all possible. They were incredible.”

Developed by OceanWorks International from Vancouver, British Columbia,

the Hardsuit 2000 was designed to withstand underwater pressure at 2,000 feet.

Current models have only been able to go

down as far as 1,200 feet.

“The suit worked incredible,” said

Jackson. “It did everything it was intended

to do. I always heard that around 1,300

feet, the joints of the Hardsuit 2000 would

work even better, and it worked exactly

the way they said it would.”

Meeting the Navy’s high safety requirements, the ADS suit was designed

and acquired by the Navy to support submarine rescue. “Its specific purpose is to

be part of the advance assessment system

during a submarine rescue operation,” said

Lehnhardt. “The Diver in the suit will see

what the damage to the sub is and find out

where the survivor might be.”

Jackson said, “At 2,000 feet, I had

topside turn off all the lights, and it was

like a star show. The phosphorescence that

was naturally in the water and in most of

the sea life down there started to glow.

When I started to travel back up, all the

lights looked like a shower of stars going

down as I was coming up. It was the best

ride in the world.”

Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class

Mark G. Logico, Fleet Public Affairs Center,

Pacific.

Submitted by Sealift Logistics Command

Europe.
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 9

The U.S. Navy’s “Revolution inTraining” and implementation of the

NAVY DIVER (ND) rating required an

extensive review of Diver training to

validate and align training with Navy

mission requirements. The result was a

blended solution of formal training, online

computer based training, personnel

qualification standards and on-the-job

training forming an independent training

pipeline that delivers trained Divers to

the Fleet in increasing numbers.

One of the largest concerns, and a

continuing challenge, is the high attrition

associated with the training pipeline. In

the fall of 2006, a new preparatory course

of instruction was implemented to address

high attrition areas. Located at Great

Lakes, IL, the new NAVY DIVER PREPARATORY (A-433-0101) course of

instruction is designed to reduce attrition

and increase student graduation success

rates during traditionally difficult phases

of training. The 32 day course combines

pieces of the Basic Engineering Common

Core (BECC) course, intense physical

training, and in-water instruction. The

course includes computer based instruction in basic engineering principles, systems, procedures, and hands-on laboratory training, as well as CPR, basic diving physics, basic diving physiology and

medicine, and demanding physical training.

Upon successful completion of the

preparatory course, diving candidates

report to the Navy Diving and Salvage

Training Center, Panama City, FL to begin the Second Class Diver training. The

Second Class Diver course has been extensively revised to better meet Fleet requirements, reduce student attrition, and

better prepare apprentice Divers for their

first tour in the Fleet. Classroom and

practical training phases have been added

in basic demolition operations, MK-16

mixed gas diving, and MK-25 rebreather

diving. Traditional areas of physics, medicine, salvage, underwater cutting and

welding remain in the course. One of the

major changes in the construct of the

course is the movement of SCUBA training from the 2nd week of training to the

10th. This change enables candidates to

be more familiar with the diving environment and more confident when conducting traditional SCUBA problem solving

in the pool.

Upon graduation, new Second Class

Divers are sent to the fleet to ply their trade

and earn their warfare qualifications.

Upon DSWS qualification at their first

command, personnel are awarded and can

begin wearing the traditional breast insignia as their warfare device. Second Class

Divers must complete two tours in the

Fleet before becoming eligible to attend

First Class Dive School (A-433-0025),

including a tour at a ship repair command

or a salvage command. Other prerequisites

for attending First Class Dive School

include paygrade E-5 or above, Diver

Salvage Warfare Specialist (DSWS)

qualified, and additional MILPERSMAN

requirements.

The First Class Diver course of

instruction is 65 days in length and is

designed to train qualified Second Class

Divers to become Diving Supervisors in

the Fleet. The course includes advanced

training in diving physics and calculations,

diving medicine, recompression chamber

supervision, supervision of demolition

operations, surface supplied mixed gas

diving, and supervisory casualty control

procedures for all diving rigs.

After graduation, new First Class

Divers are ordered to their first Fleet

assignment and expected to qualify and

perform as a Diving Supervisor. Gaining

experience along the way, First Class

Divers should strive to prepare themselves

for attending Master Diver evaluations

(A-433-0019). The requirements to

attend MDV evaluations are outlined in

MILPERSMAN 1220 and include a

minimum of 2 tours of duty as a First Class

Diver, DSWS qualifications, Diving

Supervisor qualifications, and completion

of the on-line Navy Diver Salvage Course

via Navy E-learning.

Both Second and First Class Divers

are required to qualify DSWS. Second

Class Divers have 24 months from arrival

at their first command with required

requalification within 18 months of arrival

at subsequent commands. First Class

Divers have 18 months for their initial and

all subsequent qualifications. DSWS

qualifications for First Class Divers now

require that they qualify diving supervisor at their command. Failure to complete

these requirements (or requalification)

could result in loss of NEC, rating, and

promotion.

When a Diver becomes physically

(medically) disqualified to perform his/her

duties as a Navy Diver, they will appear

before a board. They may become eligible

for reclassification to another source rating, or in some cases, depending on his

rank (E-7 and above), may be placed in a

supervisory position for his/her tenure.

Candidates eligible to attend the

Master Diver Course are notified of

eligibility by PERS-401 DC and must

submit an application to attend the

Master Diver Evaluation Course. This 25

day course has been extensively revised

and includes advanced instruction in the

planning and management of diving,

salvage, underwater ship repair operations, systems certifications & quality assurance, and extensive performance testing supervising at sea diving operations.

Captain Gary Windhorst is Commanding Officer of

the Center of Explosive Ordinance Disposal and

Diving (CEODD). NDCM (MDV) Dryden is

currently an MDV at CEODD.
1 0 A p r i l 2 0 0 7

System certification is a systematic,independent review of the documentation verifying that the dive system has

been designed and constructed of proper

material, has been cleaned, assembled and

performance-tested in accordance with

engineering practices, and ensures that

the maintenance manuals and operating

and emergency procedures provide

sufficient information to allow diving

systems and recompression chambers to

operate safely. Do you know where the

requirements for DLSS certification come from?

A Little History

Early accidents in the 1960s of

the USS THRESHER, USS

SCORPION, and fatal fire at

NEDU (located at WNY at the

time) forced the Navy’s management to take a hard look at the need

for an independent assessment of

quality assurance, design, material,

fabrication, testing, and operating

and emergency procedures for

deep submergence and diving systems. In order to achieve the desired level of quality assurance it

was decided that it would be best

to have a third party review, independent from the design team, program manger, and Fleet operator.

The premise would be that independent reviewers would follow a

strict process to review all of the

design, fabrication, and test documentation, ensuring designers and

builders met all requirements.

The second part of this process

is the witnessing of actual system operations to ensure that the system operates

in accordance with the design requirements and verify that operators can safely

operate the system in accordance with approved operating and emergency procedures.

Upon a successful documentation

review, a thorough material condition

inspection would verify the as-built configuration of the system to the drawings

and a successful dive. Then and only then,

Is Certification Necessary?

would the DLSS become a certified

system with specific operating parameters.

On February 11, 1969, the CNO

assigned the Chief of Naval Material

(NAVMAT) to run the deep submergence

and diving system certification program.

NAVMAT assigned Naval Ship Systems

Command (now NAVSEA) the responsibility for certification of submersibles,

habitats, dive systems, shipboard recompression/decompression chambers, and

Diver equipment. Other accidents such as

safety may take a back seat to getting the

job done on time. How do I know this? I

am Steve Smith and I work for NAVSEA

00C4 (SCA) visiting 15-20 commands

every year to inspect the diving systems,

observe dives, review operating and maintenance procedures, and grant system

certification.

I started this job in 2005 after a 25-

year career in the Navy, 23 of which were

as a Deep Sea Diver. Like some of you, I

originally thought of Certification as a

“pain in the A_ _” and a hindrance

to getting the job done.

After all, the command had me and

other well trained Divers. A third

party audit of our business was disrupting. Besides, just how many

inspections can a sailor endure?

What a horrible attitude! Fortunately, I had some excellent mentors who showed me the folly of

such thinking. Many of the

requirements set forth today were

signed in blood. Five Divers dead

on USS GRAYBACK, one Diver

dead on SEALAB, a civilian dead

on SEALINK, one sailor died

doing maintenance on a filter

housing at the dive school.

Unfortunately, I still see this

attitude today at some commands.

This attitude is often reflected in a

command not being prepared for

a certification survey. I will share

some of the safety deficiencies I

have found during the past year.

Common Safety Deficiencies

By: Steve Smith

Do you know what dive system this is? Lets hope it’s not yours!

(“Certification” continued on p. 11)

SEALAB, SEALINK, and the USS

GRAYBACK reinforced the need to protect sailors and equipment by increasing

the rigor of the certification process to

ensure that work is formally documented.

Fast Forward to the Present

Our diving systems are well-designed,

solidly built, and usually sailor proof. The

systems are well-maintained and Divers are

trained and drilled smartly. But mistakes

happen, requirements get overlooked, and

- A diesel compressor suction hose

was hooked up to a filter housing body

instead of the compressor suction. The

compressor suction was less than a foot

away from the diesel exhaust.

- A severely creased pipe that supplied

emergency air to BIBS in the TRCS. The

damage had been caused by the chamber

door, but had not been noticed.

- MK-21 hat with broken dial-a-breath

(gas would not stop flowing).

- Rusted out cotter key on safety

shackle for diving stage.
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 1 1

Using ESSM Diving Depot

Because this is a NAVSEA 00C contract, all direction to perform work at

the ESSM facility must come from designated 00C personnel. The textbook way to

use the ESSM Diving Depot is to contact

NDCM (MDV) Fred Orns with a clearly defined description of the work to be performed. E-mail has worked very well for this

purpose. He works with ESSM Diving Depot personnel to develop a cost estimate that

is then provided to the requesting command,

usually within a day or two. The command

must then provide the necessary funds in the

form of a NAVCOMPT Form 2276, Request

for Contractual Procurement. If that is not

feasible, alternate funding documents can

be discussed. Please direct document to:

Naval Sea Systems Command

Attn: NDCM (MDV) Fred Orns, SEA 00C34

1333 Isaac Hull Avenue, S.E., Stop 1073

Washington Navy Yard, DC 20376-1073

UIC: N00024

Navy Diving MIPs

Mr. Kerry Duffy is the In Service Engineering Agent (ISEA) for Navy Diving

MIPs. He works with Fleet units,

NAVSEA, all branches of U.S. Military

Divers, and commercial industry to manage our maintenance. He put together a

list of websites:

To assist your Work Center Supervisor, here are some informative websites.

· To check DOT details and status of

most common high pressure cylinders:

· DOT Exemptions for E10915,

E11194, E10945, and E10970 can be

found at www.msanet.com/prism/

exemptions.htm. They should be checked

periodically to ensure that most current

version is available.

There is an ongoing process which

does not call out MILPSPECS. These are

being replaced. Please see the website below to verify you have the most current

materials:

· Cost increases and manpower reductions have lead to numerous changes in

our Planned Maintenance technical documentation. Documents are being converted to Performance Factors (PRF) and

(QPL), Qualified product lists. Example:

What used be to called Grease, Aircraft

MIL-G-27617 TY II is now MIL-PRF27617 TY III. Not all of these changes

make it to the PMS deck. DODSSP

website (http://dodssp.daps.dla.mil/) is a

very valuable tool, especially in Spotcheck situations. Go to site, click assist,

click assist quick search, then enter document number.

To view the current 3M manual:

· In PMS viewer, click the “View” button on the toolbar. This drops down the

OPNAVINST, which is not the most current version of the manual. Go to “My

Computer”, access the drive where the

disks are located, click on documents

folder, then 3M instruction. The only approved version is NAVSEAINST 4790.8B

of 13 Nov 03.

· Tasking has been received for the development of the RCF 6500 system. A

waiver has been submitted to NAVSEA

04M1 for approval. It is anticipated that a

draft version of MIP/MRCs be available

for review and comment at the WDC.

For PMS issues, contact Mr. Duffy at

kerry.duffy@navy.mil or (850) 230-3100.

- Missing filter in compressor suction.

- A severe crimp and crease on the

bent tube assembly of MK-21.

- Missing torque specifications on

NATO Flange ring.

- All CO2 Analyzers broken/

uncalibrated.

- Steady flow valve broken on MK21.

- Bent supply valve of CAOS rack.

- Broken diffuser on TRCS.

- O2 gage for chamber held in place

with electricians tape in the control

panel.

- CO wafer on Securus filter system

indicating CO contamination (Compressor used to jam TRCS flasks and

SCUBA bottles).

- TRC and TL had tie-ties keeping

relief valve stop valve open instead of

frangible wire.

- Gage is missing backing nut that

holds it in place.

- Heater/Chiller ECS not bolted to

frame, held in place with cargo straps.

- Filter housing installed backwards.

- O2

 clean documentation for oxygen

system components cannot be located.

- Rubber hoses exceeding 12 year

life.

- Umbilicals missing hydros and pull

tests.

I have written exactly 20 cards since

starting this job. Some of these findings

were unavoidable but the majority of my

findings could have been avoided by

proper preparation.

Certification is necessary to help

keep our sailors safe while performing

an inherently dangerous job. Without it,

some of the items listed above could

have gone unnoticed until another wakeup call like the USS GRAYBACK jerks

us out of our complacency.

Have a safe day of diving – I’ve got

your back, shipmate.

(“Certification” continued from p. 10)

Steve Smith is currently a System

Certificaton Manager at NAVSEA 00C

Diving Systems Certification Division and

a former Master Diver.

Two ways to get Form 2276 to

NAVSEA are by email or fax. Email a

scanned copy of the document to

deneen.monroe-stewart@navy.mil and

frederick.orns@navy.mil or fax to (202)

781-4588 addressed to Deneen MonroeStewart (NAVSEA 00C11A). Once funding

is received, it is placed on the contract and

work is begun. It is expected that the

command requesting the work provide the

proper re-entry control forms for the work

to be performed.

For questions regarding ESSM Diving

Depot should be directed to NDCM (MDV)

Fred Orns at (202) 781-2349, for funding

document questions, call Deneen MonroeStewart at (202) 781-0757, for anticipated

work call Paul Schadow at (757) 637-9000.

 U.S. Navy Certification Manual, Rev 2

Nov. 2006 Revision 2 of the U.S. Navy

Diving and Manned Hyperbaric Systems

Safety Certification Manual was formally

issued on 23 Jan 2007 and immediately cancels Revision 2 of May 2004. If implementation impairs contracts or agreements currently in effect, any changes require the direction of the Government Contracting

Officer. The promulgation letter, message,

and revised manual are available on

www.supsalv.org. For more information

review AIG 239 R 230636Z JAN 07.
1 2 A p r i l 2 0 0 7

LT Jay Young is an Engineering Duty

Officer/Diver currently working as a Project

Manager at the Underwater Ship Husbandry

Division at NAVSEA 00C.

NAVSEA 00C has completed thedevelopment and testing of the

new Underwater Ship Husbandry

(UWSH) Reference Website which

will provide working Divers with

vital information and support

material to complete underwater

repairs in the most efficient manner.

The website also provides Divers

with an information repository and

exchange forum for waterfront

production.

The UWSH Reference Website

is located on the secure SUPSALV

website at https://secure.supsalv.org.

Since the reference site is contained within

the secure SUPSALV site, each Diver

must use a U.S. Government issued Common Access Card (CAC) to gain access to

this site.

Once a user has successfully gained

access to the website, select the “00C5”

button and “UWSH Reference” from the

drop-down menu on the right-hand side

of the screen, which will transport the user

to the UWSH Reference Website.

After the user reaches the UWSH

Reference Website, one of two steps must

be accomplished. A user who has already

obtained a username/password can login

to the site in the upper left-hand corner.

If a username/password has not been previously established, the user must first

select the “Get Account” button and complete the application process to gain

website access. The account application

will be sent to the website administrator

who will in turn activate your account.

Account activation may take up to 48

hours to process.

After the user has completed the application process and successfully logged

on to the UWSH Reference Website, the

user will have access to a wealth of information that will continue to grow. The

website is separated into four major sections described below:

The “Ships” section contains class

docking plans with profile and plan views

along with the list of openings corresponding to each class docking plan. The user

can access each docking plan by clicking

on the profile of the ship within a specific

ship class. The applicable UWSH Manual

chapters for each class of ship are also provided. Due to the age of some class drawings, the resolution is better on some

classes than others. The newer classes

have digital docking plans which have

much better resolution. Some of the older

ships do not have electronic docking

plans, so some docking plans are not

contained in the site.

The “Procedures” section contains a database of Formal Work Procedures (FWP) and work packages

that can be used to streamline underwater maintenance on the waterfront.

Currently, the database contains only

a small number of viewable FWPs,

all of which are under NAVSEA review. The goal of the database is to

provide a repository for all diving

commands to submit underwater

work procedures to be shared with other

diving commands and to be reviewed and

approved by the NAVSEA Technical Authority for Underwater Maintenance. The

procedures section contains two subsections: View/Manage and Add New.

The “View/Manage” subsection allows a user to search for a specific diving

related FWP by ship class and/or keyword.

The database will list all procedures with

the following information: Submitting Activity, Work Package Number, Security

Classification, Description and Ship

Class. The database will also classify each

procedure as Submitted, Under NAVSEA

Review or NAVSEA Approved.

The “Add New” subsection allows

each command to add procedures to

the database to be shared with other

dive lockers and be approved by

NAVSEA. When the “Add New”

button is selected, the user will be

asked to complete a submission application which includes attaching the

applicable procedure. Selecting the

“Upload Procedure” button will complete

the submission process.

The final two sections, “NSTM”

and “My Account,” contain applicable

NAVSEA Technical Manuals (NSTM)

and a means for each user to update

their contact information.

The UWSH Reference Website will

be a valuable tool for the Fleet Diver

and the website has endless potential. Not

only does the website contain useful

information in the form of docking plans

and technical manuals, but the site also

contains a valuable procedures database.

The procedures database has unmatched

potential and the extent of its value

depends on the Navy Diver community.

The more procedures that the Dive Lockers upload to the database, the more

valuable the database becomes. Each

Dive Locker will have access to all

procedures and the procedures will be

reviewed and approved by the Technical

Authority. A win-win situation for everyone.
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 1 3

SUPSALV SENDS

I

t all happened three years ago when

MDV Kyle Gaillard went to the movies

to watch the Diver flick “Men of Honor.”

Kyle observed a scene in which Dive

School student instruction was being

conducted on a pier where ten or so

student Divers were suiting up to perform

timed proficiency projects on the bottom

of the harbor. The key to the scene was

the shear number of Divers in the water

at the same time. Kyle was the Command

Master Chief of NDSTC at the time. He

made his best speed back to NDSTC and

engaged the Engineering Department

Head, Dave Sullivan, and asked, “Why

can’t we dive that many students at once

instead of just four at a time?” That

question started the ball rolling to reestablish NDSTC’s Diver training ability

to dive more than 4 Divers at a time out

of the Pierside Support Building (PSSB).

Ed Delanoy is currently the NDSTC

Hyperbarics Division Officer.

Following the customary period of

identifying a training mission need,

identifying and securing funding,

preliminary design, contracting for the

work, performing the installation,

certification for manned dive systems and

the completion of testing both unmanned

and manned, three years had passed. On

August 17, 2006, NDSTC tested MDV

Gaillards’ idea to its maximum manned

capability and delivered a vital training

asset capable of diving 15 student

Divers at the same time. This was the

most Divers deployed from a single

system since the opening of the Dive

School in 1980.

This milestone will increase the

efficiency and effectiveness of diver

training by enabling the student divers to

perform greater amounts of graded dives

without adding training time to their

already cramped schedules. The new

system is configured to allow one

Diving Supervisor to manage the entire

evolution thus minimizing the amount of

Instructor’s required to be “on station.”

(“SUPSALV Sends” continued from p. 2 )

ferring their knowledge to today’s lockers. Also, the SUPSALV team is working

with the USCG to assist in changing Coast

Guard diving policy in the wake of the loss

of two Coast Guard Divers from the

USCGC HEALY last year. We will

provide lessons learned from that incident

in our annual Working Divers Conference

and in a future article in FACEPLATE.

My second imperative as SUPSALV

is providing Navy leadership the ability

to fulfill the national salvage mission that

public law vests in the Navy. SUPSALV

needs to provide the backstop for the gaps

in Fleet salvage capability for national

leadership. Like all things in our lives,

the national salvage posture needs to

be reshaped in the wake of our recent

experience in recovery operations

resulting from disasters such as Hurricanes

Katrina and Rita but, more importantly,

as a result from the threats that exist today

due to worldwide terrorism. Simply put,

our nation’s livelihood and economy are

totally dependent on unobstructed access

to our ports and waterways. Our enemy

was effective in striking at two of the

most prominent symbols of the United

States during the attacks of September 11th,

2001. However, those attacks could have

had far more long lasting economic effects

had they targeted our maritime lifelines.

The danger to the nation is that some of

the United States’ largest and strategically

important (militarily and economically)

seaports could be effectively shut down

for extended periods with coordinated,

even if relatively unsophisticated, terrorist

attacks. SUPSALV needs to provide

recommendations to national leadership to

change our salvage posture to ensure that

if a maritime terrorist strike occurs, we

minimize the length of time that harbors

and waterways are fouled.

My third priority as SUPSALV is to

enable the most efficient transition of

diving technology and diving techniques

to the Fleet Diver to increase Diver

productivity and provide diving capability

as directed by the CNO resource sponsor.

My team is focused on transitioning a wide

range of enabling technologies but I will

mention two that occupy a significant

amount of my day-to-day efforts. Most

relevant to the Fleet Diver is our imminent

transition of the KM37 diving system to

Fleet use for contaminated water diving.

The urgency for this technology transition

was highlighted by Navy experiences

during Katrina/Rita and is especially

relevant for the types of missions that may

have to be undertaken in a maritime

terrorism response. The second major

technology transition is SUPSALV’s

fielding of a Fly Away Saturation Diving

System for Fleet missions. This system,

which is being constructed as this

issue of FACEPLATE is being published,

will offer another option for Navy diving

to be used as a tool for national missions

including salvage response.

As I close out this SUPSALV

Sends, I would like to remind all Navy

Divers of a mission that we all need to

contribute: Diver recruiting. The Navy

Diving rating is one of the few ratings

facing an increased billet requirement

over the next five years. The increase is

slight but it is extraordinarily rare to see

a Navy community plan for an increased

size as the CNO is decreasing the overall

Navy manning levels. Our diving

community is undermanned to today’s

manning requirement and the Navy

recruiting command has put into place

the right recruiting incentives to attract

new recruits to the fold. Every one of

our commands needs to put forth an

effort to recruit Navy Divers. Whether

those efforts are performed at the

command level or at the individual level,

they are essential for the future of the

Navy Diving community and are important mission to enable the Navy’s success.

Until next time, dive safe.
1 4 A p r i l 2 0 0 7

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard military and DOD civilian Divers

achieve excellence through regionalization, integration, and mutual

respect.

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard

(PHNSY) is currently reaping huge benefits by merging military divers and civilian civil service Rigger/Divers into

three completely integrated ships husbandry dive teams. Each team has 10

Military and 3 DOD civilian divers. The

combined dive team’s production level,

safety record and moral are at an alltime high. Injuries, procedural violations and re-work are at an all time low.

More importantly, the merger has significantly increased the quality of Pearl

Harbor’s service to the fleet and is producing technically superb young Divers

for future assignments that can perform

battle damage assessment and repair on

both surface ships and submarines to commands under the Navy Expeditionary

Combat Command and Naval Special

Warfare Command. These commands have

teams forward deployed and will be the

first on the scene when something goes

wrong.

Under this plan, Pearl Harbor area units

with similar missions where given a one

year transition period to merge and administratively separate from their previous

Commands. The diving merger plan was

executed in three phases;

teams remained segregated for the first

year (Oct 2004 to Oct 2005). This time

was spent establishing a good working

relationship as well as getting to know

each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

ND2 Griffith and ND2 Jones standing by for

the dive brief.

The success of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard’s merger

can only be attributed to the collaborative efforts and

contributions of both civilian and military personnel.

The journey towards a fully integrated

military and civil service Underwater

Ships Husbandry dive locker at Pearl Harbor started in October 2003 when Commander Pacific Fleet directed all ship repair organizations to merge with PHNSY

under the CNO’s Sea Enterprise initiative.

Phase 2: Regionalization; 1 October, 2004 marked the completion of

the administrative transition and the official establishment of PHNSY Code

760, Regional Diving Locker (RDL). Both

the military and civilian DOD divers were

located in the same building with the same

leadership, instructions and equipment.

The end result was 2 military dive teams

and one DOD civilian team. The dive

Phase 1: Planning the administrative

shift of MDSU ONE UWSH billets and

assets to PHNSY. During the transition period between October 2003 and October

2004, PHNSY’s diving Engineering Duty

Officers (EDO) and MDSU ONE leadership worked together to execute the

smooth transfer of all MDSU’s Underwater Ships Husbandry equipment and

40 Active Duty Navy Diver billets permanently to PHNSY Code 700 (Lifting and Handling department). Additionally, shipyard leadership provided

the newly formed dive locker with a

single Chain of Command (COC)

building and a working draft Command

Dive Bill.

Phase 3: Complete Integration of

military and DOD divers. After the first

year ended without any major problems;

it was mutually decided to completely

merge the teams. Special attention was

given to ensure each team had a Military and Civilian Diving Supervisor and

two experienced civilian Riggers/

Divers.

Several key factors enabled the

smooth merger of our military and civil

service Divers. First, we had solid

direction from current Navy policies;

The CNO’s Sea Power 21 program,

NAVSEA’s “One Shipyard” initiative, and

local process improvement tools like

LEAN/Root Cause analysis. Two of the

three pillars of the Sea Power 21 transformation plan for the Navy, are “Sea Enterprise” and “Sea Warrior”. The goal of

Sea Enterprise is to; identify and harvest

efficiencies through organizational

streamlining, process improvement and

enhanced investment in war fighting capabilities. The goal of Sea Warrior is to

provide Navy Divers the right skills, at

the right place, at the right time. We received a tremendous amount of buy in

from all hands by ensuring both military

and civilian Divers clearly understood

how executing the vision set forth in Sea

Power 21 was critical to saving both of

our jobs/billets from going to contractors,

in light of current budget cuts. Additionally, we recognized the serious impact that

shifting from Navy Working Capital funding (flexible budget) to Mission Funding

(set budget) at all repair facilities would

have on our dive locker. Under the Mission Funding, if the customer can get services cheaper from contracted dive teams,

they will! The vision was simple “Organize our Dive Locker in a manner that ensures the most cost efficient underwater

repair work for Fleet Commanders and

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard

By: CWO3 Eric Macdonald
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 1 5

provide follow on war fighting Dive

Commands (NECC/WARCOM) with

the best qualified Navy Divers possible.” Combining the Pearl Harbor

civil service Divers’ 20+ years of submarine and surface ship repair experience with the enthusiasm, professionalism, and attention to detail of the

young Navy Divers was the obvious

solution.

At the command level, the “One

Shipyard” initiative was equally vital

to our success. NAVSEA’s One Shipyard initiative is designed to establish

common work practices/policies and

capture process improvements, then

implement the change across all Naval

shipyards as “corporate policy.” This

program enabled us to reach across the Pacific ocean to get input, advice, and help

from our diving counterparts at our sister

shipyard, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard before implementing changes. Managing a

military work force is second nature for

the MDV/CWO, however, we had no experience leading civilian divers. The ability to reach out to Puget Sound’s military

and civilian leadership to ensure we have

common management policies for both

civilian and military Divers was a huge

benefit. Additionally, we enjoyed 100%

support from our own Shipyard leadership

and from NAVSEA 00C. Having this level

of Top Cover enabled us to make changes

incrementally over time and not have to

implement “change for the sake of

change.” Before moving forward we

asked a few simple questions: Will this

change affect safety? Will it impact the

efficiency of our waterfront production

work? Will this change hurt unit cohesion

or unfairly impact any of our team members? If the answer to any of these questions was yes, we simply did not implement that change. Additionally, to ensure

“we where not drinking our own bathwater,” we applied proven process

improvement tools like LEAN and Root

Cause Analysis to all facets of the Dive

Locker’s culture and measurable performance indicators.

On the Deck Plate level, one last

critical factor that is worth mentioning is

conflict resolution. Since the two senior

positions in the Dive Locker, Diving

Division Head and Master Diver, are filled

by a Chief Warrant Officer and a Master

Chief, it would have been easy to demand

blind compliance and force our vision on

the civil service Divers. However, early

on in the regionalization process, we

discovered that the civilian Divers do not

respond well to intimidation, coercive

leadership, or having their years of

experience discounted. They will simply

wait out the three years until the military

offender transfers. Recognizing that we

needed 100% buy-in from all the civilian

divers to execute the vision mapped out

in Sea Power 21, we opted for a more

democratic approach to resolving problems.

While the Master Diver retained the

last say on all diving, safety, and qualification related issues, management, policy

and personnel decisions are made by

consensus between the Master Diver, Senior Civilian Diver (760 General Forman),

and the Diving Division Head. If we can

not agree, we go to the Department Head

(Code 700) for the tie breaker.

In closing, for Pearl Harbor

Naval Shipyard, regionalization and complete integration of our military and civilGeneral Foreman Rodolfo Gabrillo (hard hat)

reviews job procedures with (from left) ND2

Jericho Diego, ND2 Patrick Byers and Ian

Hoge.

ian Divers was a “perfect fit.” Both individual lockers worked on the same

class ships and submarines and were located less than 2 miles from each other.

The end result of this merger has been

amazing; the integrated dive teams are

accomplishing twice the amount of

UWSH work during working hours

which has significantly reduced after

hour (overtime) and weekend work

(supports Mission Funding). Each

teams Direct Labor Indicator (DLI)

is approximately 80% for FY06.

NAVSEA’s goal for FY06 was 54%.

Due to the constant civilian presence,

our young military Divers are qualifying as Underwater Ships Husbandry

Specialist, Diving and Salvage Warfare

Specialist and Unlimited Diving Supervisors in record time. We have even had

several first tour Second Class Divers

qualify unlimited diving supervisor. Most

significantly; our teams have not caused

a diving related injury, procedural violation or re-work in over a year.

Pearl Harbor’s “perfect fit” did not

happen by chance. It took the determined

efforts of Navy diving professionals, those

in uniform and civilian together, to plan

and set in place the processes to integrate

different cultures together and establish

mechanisms to resolve disputes.

CAPT Camelio, Tom Glazier, and NDCM Crider

receive the Federal Organization Excellence Award.

CWO3 Eric Macdonald is currently

Diving Division Head at PHNSY.

The Assistant Supervisor of Diving,

LCDR Daubon and I conducted a Diving

Operational Readiness Assessment

(DORA) at PHNSY. During the week it

became obvious that this is a unique and

very professional Dive Locker. It is unique

in that they have fully integrated with the

shipyard civil service divers. These

military trained and qualified, civilian

divers have years, decades in some cases,

of experience they bring to the team. This

fact and the can-do attitude of the Navy

Divers assigned to PHNSY have given

them an excellent tack record of very

technical and often first times ever

completed ship and submarine repairs.

If your at the point in your career where

a UWSH command is in your future

consider PHNSY, from what I’ve seen

you won’t regret it.

NDCM (SW/DSW/MDV) Brian

Pratschner
1 6 A p r i l 2 0 0 7

There is a misconception by some inthe Fleet that the Office of Supervisor

of Salvage is taking work away from Navy

Divers and Salvors. SUPSALV has heard

these concerns for many years but there

was little evidence of it then or now. This

Office has always worked to engage

organic Navy capability wherever

possible. SUPSALV can cite several

recent examples from both coasts where

salvage and diving jobs came into the

office and were referred to the Fleet as

the option of choice. With FMGS and

SATFADS in the Fleet, there will be even

more opportunities in the future.

Unfortunately, the Salvage Navy some of

us grew up in – two salvage squadrons,

as many as 29 salvage ships (ATS, ARS,

ASR, ATF, T-ATF), HCU/MDSUs with

Reserve Dets – has gone the way of the

Battleships. Our capability is reduced,

however the salvage Navy is still very

capable. The Navy must now rely on the

TEAMWORK of MDSUs within the

NECC organization, the T-ARS/T-ATFs of

MSC and SUPSALV to provide the

required Navy Salvage Capability. This

will be a topic of future articles and dialog

at the Salvage and Diving ESC.

In the meantime, here are some tools

that the Office of Director of Ocean Engineering Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (NAVSEA 00C) has that can help

you in your individual salvage efforts.

SUPSALV has three salvage support that

give us worldwide coverage. Presently

Donjon Marine of New Jersey holds the

Atlantic, Gulf Coast, and Mediterranean

Sea contract, Crowley Marine of Seattle,

Washington holds the West Coast contract,

Smit International of Rotterdam, the

Netherlands holds the Western Pacific and

Indian Ocean contract.

There will be tasks where Divers &

Salvors in the Fleet need technical and

contract support. This assistance can include items like heavy or specialized

equipment or barges and cranes that are

not part of the Navy inventory or are not

located where you need them. Through the

Office of Supervisor of Salvage and

Diving the services of any of the Salvors

listed on the following page are available

through prime or sub contracts. These

Salvors are members of the American Salvage Association; an organization made

up of the principal American salvage companies and Americans who have recognized skill and decades of salvage experience, including the present and all living

former Supervisors of Salvage. Another

resource is SUPSALV’s salvage engineers

who have the tools to help solve the most

complex salvage problems and then translate those solutions into operationally

practical language.

The above information is provided to

help you understand what is available to

you and assist you in the future. If you

have any questions, don’t hesitate to call.

CAPT Mike Herb, USN (Ret.) is currently

Director of Salvage Operations (00C2).

CAPT Herb can be reached at (202)

781-2736 or michael.herb@navy.mil.

Jim Bladh, Managing Editor

The 5th Annual D.C. Diver Charity GolfClassic was successful in raising

over $4,500 for charity. The Navy Marine

Corps Relief Society received the majority

of the donations and a small portion went

to the MK V memorial fund. The

tournament was held at the Andrews

Air Force Base West Course on Friday,

October 5, 2006. This year the weather

was ferocious on golf day with high

winds and flooding monsoon type rain

storms that were raging over the course

all day. This adverse weather did not

daunt the golfers in the least as Navy

Divers and the folks associated with them

are generally not affected by mere rain

or any other type of atmospheric moisture.

Those golfers that did require protection

from the elements were given the

opportunity to borrow their wives’

umbrellas. We intended to golf rain or

shine.

Unfortunately the pro at the golf

course Andrews Air Force is not as

stalwart a golfer and did not share our

dedication to the charity event. The course

was closed due to extensive flooding just

prior to our tee time.

 Even though no holes were played,

all of the golfers assembled in the

clubhouse to enjoy lunch, some

socializing, and to conduct the award

ceremony and hand out the prizes. This

year’s “Captain’s Cup” trophy, the MK V

Helmet that resides in the Office of the

Director of Ocean Engineering and

Supervisor of Salvage and Diving, will

have to go to Mother Nature.

 Sponsorships are essential to the

financial success of the tournament, as all

net proceeds from this tournament go

directly to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief

Society (NMCRS), www.nmcrs.org. The

NMCRS has helped junior Sailors and

Marines with family emergencies and

assists families of Sailors and Marines

when a service member is injured or

wounded in the line of duty.

 After all our earnings were counted

out, we were honored to present the check

to Mr. John Alexander Vice President of

the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society.

Mr. Alexander gave a very moving

speech to all of those assembled, on the

accomplishments of the Navy Marine

Corps Relief Society past year, and

assured us our efforts were for a truly

noble cause.

 The 2007 D.C. Divers Charity Golf

Classic will again be held at the courses

at Andrews Air Force Base on Friday

October 5, 2007. In the next issue of

FACEPLATE you will find a flyer, signup sheet and sponsorship form enclosed.

Mark your calendars and join us for a

round of golf to raise money for the

Sailors, Marines, and their families in

need. If you know of any potential

sponsors, we would appreciate all the help

we can get to increase our donation to the

NMRCS.

 D.C. Divers Charity Golf Classic

Committee Members are: Paul McMurtrie, Al Porteus, Brendan Murphy and

Mike Frey.

CHARITY GOLF CLASSIC UPDATE

By: Paul McMurtrie
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 1 7
1 8 A p r i l 2 0 0 7

Okay boys, you are probablywondering, “Wow, is Fred still up

at NAVSEA?” The answer is yes! I know,

I know, I keep saying “I’M OUTTA

HERE!” Well not yet!

Since I have been here so long, I

thought I would provide a little in-sight

on using NAVSEA to your benefit. First

of all, what is NAVSEA 00C? The

Office of Ocean Engineering, Supervisor

of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) is

responsible for all aspects of ocean

engineering, including salvage, in-water

ship repair, contracting, towing, pollution

abatement, diving program manager,

policy and equipment, shipboard diving

and hyperbaric system certification

and technical advisors on personnel

and training issues just to name a few.

We are responsible for the publication

and updating most of the manuals used

by you each and every day. There are

approximately 50 military and civilian

employees at 00C. With 4 retired, 3

active duty Master Divers, Engineering

Duty and SPECWAR Officers, civilian

engineers, Diving Medical Officers,

financial experts and even a Sea Lawyer,

we have the manning to tackle almost

anything. A complete break-down of all

of the divisions and their functions are

available on the SUPSALV website:

www.supsalv.org. There is a tremendous

amount of information available to you,

use it!

00C is the most effective source of

technical information available to the

Salvage and Diving community. We are

here to assist you in completing your

mission. At times it seems as though it

takes forever to get important issues

resolved or get the equipment you

need properly certified or tested to

ensure that it safe for you to use. One

of the biggest problems is the lack of

official tasking. If you have an issue

or diving related equipment that you

think would benefit you, let us know.

Research the equipment, or issue

getting all data available. For equipment,

include any documented use by the

commercial industry if available. Get

full support from your chain of command.

Often times we will get a request from

ND1 A.J. Squared-away and we don’t

even know if the Master Diver is

supporting it. The request should

come in an official letter from a

command to NAVSEA 00C3. That way

there is official tasking from the Fleet and

it will get tracked to final resolution.

Help us help you.

Another problem is insufficient

follow-up on ideas. Someone can have a

great idea and it gets lost in the OBE file.

WDC is a perfect example of that. An action item that we leave WDC with has routinely been forgotten by whomever and

when it comes to the next year, we are doing the “Dick Tudor salute,” without an

answer to the original idea. We need Fleet

diving commands to be more involved

with the issues at hand and show official

command interest in accomplishing valid

action items from WDC. We have made

some advancement over the years and we

have much more to make. Whether it is

equipment or policy, we need your input

and actions to get it done.

With 3 Master Divers on staff,

NDCM Danny Boyd and Brian

Pratschner, and myself diligently

working on a multitude of programs

to enable you to get the job done

with the best equipment and procedures

possible. Always keep in mind that

NAVSEA 00C is a tool for the Fleet to

be utilized to enhance your ability to

complete your mission. So use them as

often as possible.

Last but not least, I want to sign

off by reminding you of a few phrases

that we have learned from some of

our Old Master Divers that have been

etched in our noggins. I am quite sure

most of you have heard them before,

but just in case you haven’t or have

forgotten: See what you’re looking at.

Listen to what you’re hearing. Say

what you mean. If you don’t know

what you’re talking about, you should

probably be listening. Know the

parameters of “The Box”, and stay

within. Where there is a will, there is

a way and you can make almost anything happen if you want it bad

enough. Sometimes you just have to

kick down a door to get it. A man’s got

to do, what a man’s got to do. So, don’t

always take “NO” for an answer.

Sometimes that “NO” might mean

“MAYBE.” “Oh for @#%* sakes!”

Want to wrestle? Talk to ya later.

NDCM Frederick K. Orns

NDCM Frederick K. Orns
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 1 9

The IRON MEN

It’s said the IRON MEN are gone

And only in sentimental song live on.

Soft living has taken its toll, they say

The IRON MEN belong to another day.

But listen now and I’ll tell you true.

That IRON MEN still wear the Navy blue;

For when the cry rises to succor and save,

The Navy Salvor’s – the first of the brave.

Steel ships ripped on a coral reef

Need steel men to free from grief.

Ten fathoms below a Diver grows chill,

Works with his hands, his heart and his will.

“Bring back my son from his watery grave!

Raise that boat – a fortune to save!

Clear that wreck that blocks the port!”

“CAN DO!” is the Salvors ready retort.

From the bitter freeze of the Arctic cold,

 To the heartless heat of the tropic fold,

Wherever tormenting wind and sea are met,

Fare forth the Salvors with no regret.

When at last the toilsome deed is done

And the fearful struggle with sea is won,

The Salvor sighs a great... AMEN

And takes his place...with the IRON MEN!

by J. F. Madeo, Jr.

Commanding Officer

Harbor Clearance Unit-1

Those “Iron Men” of the harborclearance units are confronted with

countless situations which they

consider to be “all in a day’s work.”

HCU-ONE performs its duties in

the western Pacific where it was commissioned in 1966. Not only does it

maintain many roles, but HCU-ONE

partakes additionally in such tasks as

the repairing or removal of vessels and

land construction, which expose it to

missions of varying importance.

One mission of great importance

was the salvaging of the merchant vessel Sea Raven early in the life of HCUONE. This operation was successfully

undertaken in South Vietnam. This location also set the scene for another

extraordinary display of ability for the

HCU-ONE. Acting as a unit, it salvaged the SS Baton Rouge Victory and

its cargo worth over $500,000. Another

concerted effort of the entire unit led

to the salvaging of the dredge, Jamaica

Bay, again in South Vietnam.

However, as in any other job, such

formidable accomplishments do not

make up the daily routine of HCUONE. Rather than efforts stemming

from the unit as a whole, subdivisions

or “teams”, usually go out on individual missions. These missions not

only involve salvaging but also include

such duties as changing and cleaning

propellers, cleaning sea strainers,

extinguishing fires, and repairing salvaged objects of almost infinite

descriptions. The types of items include barges, tugboats, fragmented

aircraft, destroyed bridges and various

mechanical devices.

The importance of teams in the

daily work of this elite corps has

already been cited. Each team is comprised of men of all abilities, each

highly competent in his specialized

field and all varying in rank. This kind

of “complete” make-up is preferred;

enabling the team to function without

outside assistance. The goal of each

group is to succeed independently.

This is also carried over to the individual

member, thus developing each man in skill

and character. After completion of an initial

plan or approach to a task, each team exerts

its independence by utilizing whatever supplies and labor can be mustered locally for

the job.

There exists, nevertheless, a central location acting as the hub of all operations, YRST1, which is a Repair Salvage Tender. The

YRST-1 is styled to perform various roles

including the repair of equipment, the production of salvage patches and the supply of

electrical power. Its crew is also comprised

of men of diversified ranks and skills.

To compliment the exceptional background of the men exists an equally commendable line-up of sea vessels available to

help them. The craft vary in size to accommodate any mission that could be encountered. Two Heavy-Lift Craft, constructed in

Germany during World War II, and which are

the largest of their kind in the world, could

be termed the backbone of the unit. Their

ability is tremendous, with a combined lift

potential of 8,600,000 pounds. Despite their

ruggedness, the vessels nevertheless provide

ample comforts for their crews: air conditioning, excellent food and nightly movies.

Three Light-Lift Craft also join the lineup. Independent operation is their trademark,

too, although they are indispensable when a

major salvaging mission is to be undertaken

in cooperation with the other craft. Their facilities include an A-frame derrick capable of

lifting 25 tons, a ballast bow lift of 100 tons,

and the equipment for welding, underwater

digging, fire extinguishing, and logistic work.

Vessels of lesser magnitude are necessary

because of numerous missions which occur

not only in the larger bodies of water, but in

narrow rivers or other “cramped” working

conditions. Falling into this category are four

Combat Salvage Boats, considered to be

highly competent as backing for the Mobil

Riverine Groups, and two Yard Diving Boats.

Their maneuverability makes them a popular

choice for many jobs.

Another piece of equipment HCU-ONE

can be proud of is the Advanced Diving System FOUR (ADS IV) which is classified as

the only fully operational deep diving system owned by the Navy. To a depth of 600

feet, it is very useful in searching and salvaging operations. Important, too, is the

fact that it can be airlifted to any location

in the world.

The courage, coordination and skill of

the men, and the efficiency of the equipment are some of the reasons for the continued success of HCU-ONE. The word

courage is not used lightly, either, since

even a glance over the extensive list of

medals awarded to the Salvors is impressive. Their work can be termed arduous

even in “normal” conditions, but the hazards confronted in the violent Vietnamese environment compounds the difficulty

of each mission. The hardy Salvors refuse

to permit these circumstances to impede

their work.
2 0 A p r i l 2 0 0 7

From SUPDIVE... CDR John Gray

The 2007 Working Diver Conference will be held at the Navy Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, FL

on May 15, 16, and 17. For more information please see www.supsalv.org or contact MDV Fred Orns, MDV Danny

Boyd, or MDV Brian Pratschner (see p. 2 for contact information).

Fellow Divers: If you remembernothing else from this article please

take this away, I Can Help You. We, at

NAVSEA, myself specifically, are in the

customer service business. It is not a

question of whether I am going to help

you, it is merely how. You will hear this

theme throughout my tenure as SUPDIVE.

No one is more important than you and I

always have time for you.

In that same regard, I believe that it

is an honor to be chosen as SUPDIVE and

I do not say that lightly. There are plenty

of good folks out there with more bottom

time than me. What I bring to the dive side

is an operational planning background.

Someone smarter than me thought that

was a good idea so I owe it to you to deliver and I will. Recalling my basic economics classes: an item becomes valuable

if it is either scarce or usable. It occurs to

me that Divers are both. That’s something

I think about a lot these days.

I like to talk to smart people and that

means you. I was recently given the opportunity by the CO of the Naval Experimental Dive Unit to sit in on a technical

discussion with some of his people. Four

DMOs, two Master Divers, two PhDs and

two very experienced DMTs in addition

to the CO himself. This is the kind of opportunity I live for. Today, I listened to a

NASA scientist explain decompression

issues in space and I actually understood

about half of it.

The following are the top five issues

I as SUPDIVE am working on. If you

think I am wrong, tell me. I encourage you

to get on my work list!

 Gain Saturation Diving Capability

Update OPNAV 3150.27 B

Update Contaminated Water Diving

Procedures

Procure/field of XLDS

Update Navy Diving Tables (Probabilistic Algorithm)

I don’t read as fast as all the PhDs

that I work with up here so it is best just

to tell me what you want in the first two

sentences. Hopefully, I just say “sure, I can

do that” and I stop reading. Everybody

(particularly the Navy) wins.

I believe that any day in the gym is

better than just about any other day. A close

second is “any day not behind my desk and

at your command with you, or better yet

out in the field, is better than any other day

particularly if you also have a gym.” This

means a lot because I have a really nice

desk (best I have had in 22 years including my CO tours) and a super office (just

needs some paint). By the time you read

this, I will have been on about ten trips. I

would like to see what you do first hand.

It makes the issues come alive for me and

I become a better advocate. It makes things

real. Please, invite me to save me the embarrassment of inviting myself.

I note that the Fleet is sending in articles to FACEPLATE and I ask you to continue to do so. You are the best authors because you are living the story. When I told

my wife that part of my new job was being Editor-in-Chief of FACEPLATE, she

laughed so hard that I had to call EMS to

stop the convulsing. Next time she laughs

that hard, she is going to 60 feet on O2

.

Who would convict me? Trust me, it is

better to have you submit the articles. I am

more of a math/science guy. If you send in

a picture, and we love pictures, please put

it on the highest resolution you can (at least

300 dpi, otherwise it will look blurry).

I’d like to change FACEPLATE just a

bit. I don’t mind it being controversial. I

would like to publish some “outof-the-box” thinking; ideas that

might normally be dismissed.

This facilitates discussion among all the

smart people without fear. If there is an

immediate safety issue, FACEPLATE isn’t

the best place to read about it. We will send

a message or call you. What you are doing, particularly new things in support

GWOT or the Fleet, are always good for

FACEPLATE.

Finally, this is what I need from you.

I know you are busy. Look at the diagram.

Every operational planner will be familiar with this sequence – they live it everyday. When it works, sun is warm, grass is

green, and all is well. In my experience,

when it breaks, it is almost always due to

assessment. That’s what I need from you

– assessment.

A brief history of my assignments:

· I started my career on old MSOs (USS

ADROIT) as an 1110. The Commodore

(06) leaned over his desk and said, “John

(02) you are going to be a Diver.” I said,

“Yes, Sir.” Old Navy mentoring that really served me well. Second best decision

I ever made. The first being the purchase

of a port-a-potty for the van when my kids

were young.

· After Dive and EOD School I spent

three years at EODMU 3 in a variety of

jobs deployed on USS RANGER during

the war, some MMS and MCM department head.

· I took an XO ride on USS GUARDIAN deployed to Japan.

· I commanded a Reserve Center in WI

· I commanded SAFEGUARD changing her homeport to Japan

· I spent three years at COMUSNAVEUR London including over a year

on a CAT (Crisis Action Team) post 9/11.

This is when OPS really started to make

sense.

· I spent three years at SECONDFLT

working Reserves, KM and Current

Operations.

The 2007 Salvage Executive Steering Committee will be held at the Washington Navy Yard on April 10, 11, and 12.