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

Volume 5, No. 3 / March 2001

From the Supervisor of Diving ...................... 1

In Memory of Eric Glaubitz ............................ 2

Pacific Reach................................................. 3

A Day in the Life of an Experimental Diver ... 4

USS COLE...................................................... 5

Turbo Patriot .................................................. 9

USS LAMOURE COUNTY ............................ 10

In This Issue

From the

Supervisor of Diving

CAPT Chris Murray

(continued on page 2)

Operation Determined Response

USS COLE see page 5

ADS pilot Russ DeMille preparing for a dive as the ADS

crew moves the suit to the water. See Page 3.

This issue of FacePlate contains

articles discussing the salvage

response to two very serious

occurrences, the grounding of the

USS La MOURE COUNTY off the

coast of Chile, and the terrorist

attack on the USS COLE in Aden,

Yemen. The salvage response to

both incidents was outstanding. In

both cases the response was rapid

and professional and a real

testimonial to the readiness of and

the need for our salvage Navy.

There is a lot going on with Navy

diving as we progress with new

equipment and procedures. SDV

Team One is currently conducting

field evaluation tests on a dive

computer, NEDU is looking at cold

water regulators to offer an

alternative to Poseidon, 1.3 ppO2

trials are ongoing for the MK 16, a

replacement chamber for the

aluminum FADS II chambers is

under construction, and warm

water research continues at NEDU.

These are but a few of the issues

being worked for Navy diving.

Dive Manual Revision 4, Change A

We expect to have Change A to

Revision 4 of the Dive Manual out

on CD in April 2001and the hard

copy out in May. An AIG will be

released that will highlight the

changes and give the effective date

(upon receipt) and mandatory use

date (approximately 90 days after

receipt). The changes include a

rewrite of Chapter 14, Surface

Supplied Mixed Gas Diving

Operations, warm water diving

guidance, chamber air volume

requirements, SCUBA air

requirements, and numerous other

changes that will be outlined in the

change.

USS MONITOR Expedition 2001

The USS MONITOR expedition

gives the Navy an excellent

opportunity to perform operational

Command in the Spotlight ............................ 11

Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center .. 13

Consolidated Divers Unit, San Diego, CA. .. 14

MK 25 ........................................................... 17

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

PMS Corner .................................................. 19

SEALAB Reunion ........................................ 19

CDR Bobbie Scholley and CWO3 Frank Perna discuss

Dive Ops on the deck of USS COLE. See Page 11
2 March 2001

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

From the Supervisor of Diving (continued from page 1)

Surface Supplied Mixed Gas Diving

under some pretty arduous

conditions. This year we also are

looking at the use of Saturation

Diving as a proof of concept using a

civilian SAT system. Mobile Diving

and Salvage Unit Two will again be

heading up this year’s mission with

MDSU One providing a detachment

for the operation. LOGRON Two will

be providing one and possibly two

ARSs to this Summer’s expedition. The

current plan has the USS Grapple

supporting diving in the April- May

timeframe, a derrick barge for June

and July possibly followed by another

ARS in August.

MDV/CWO Conference 2-4 May 2001

This year’s MDV/CWO conference will

be on Panama City, Florida from 2-4

May. The conference will be held at

NDSTC. For further information refer to

AIG 01-02 or our 00C website at

www.supsalv.org.

Drager Dive Sorb

We are in the process of approving

Drager Dive Sorb as a substitute for

SodaSorb and Sofnolime. This will be

authorized for all diving and for

chamber use as well.

Cochran NAVY Decompression

Computer

SDV Team One is currently conducting

a fleet evaluation for a dive computer

for SEAL use. The evaluation period

completes 1 August. After successful

fleet evaluation of the Cochran NAVY

Decompression Computer, it will be

authorized for SEAL use. Further

evaluation will precede use by fleet

scuba divers and ship husbandry

divers.

On 17 February 2001, we lost a key member of the SUPSALV team.

Eric Glaubitz, the ESSM

salvage equipment life

cycle manager died after

suffering a stroke. Eric

was a true “friend” of the

fleet salvor. His influence

can be found in salvage

holds and the ESSM system. He was instrumental

in designing and upgrading all of the fleet’s yellow

gear, and was an expert

on the Almon Johnson

automatic towing machine. When you rig

beach gear, you can thank

Eric for introducing the

hydraulic pullers into the

inventory, replacing the

cumbersome and dangerous purchase

system. He was always ready to help

solve problems and work with salvors

in maintaining and repairing their equipment. Within the SUPSALV organization, Eric was one of our most versatile

engineers. Regardless of the task, he

always willingly attacked problems with

enthusiasm and completed them in the

most professional manner.

Although his job was not an “operational billet”, Eric was often called

upon to assist in salvage and pollution

operations. He was the first SUPSALV

representative to arrive in Valdez, for the

big oil spill. He assisted in the CHALLENGER, TWA 800 and many other salvage operations.

We will truly miss Eric.

Eric Glaubitz
March 2001 3

The Deep Submergence Unit, Stolt Offshore and NAVSEA 00C team.

(Continued on page 22)

By: LCDR Peter LeHardy

During the first two weeks of October2000, the U.S. Navy’s Deep Submergence Unit (DSU) took part in a multi-national submarine rescue exercise near

Singapore. This exercise, named PACIFIC

REACH 2000, was hosted by the

Singapore Navy and involved the United

States, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. During the exercise, three separate

submarine rescue capabilities were used

on four different submarines. The submarines CONQUEROR (Singapore),

AKISHIO (Japan), CHOI MOO SUN

(South Korea), and USS HELENA (United

States) were each “rescued” by three different submarine rescue platforms. The

platforms were from Japan, South Korea

and a United States/Singapore collaboration. For the United States, DSU deployed

the Submarine Rescue Chamber (SRC) and

an Atmospheric Diving System (ADS) on

the Motor Vessel Kendrick, a Republic of

Singapore Navy leased vessel of opportunity.

The SRC is a one atmosphere chamber that “pulls” itself to a downed submarine using a down-haul cable that is attached to the sub’s escape hatch. Since

its first dive in the 1930’s, the system has

used either surface supplied air or mixed

gas divers to connect the down-haul

cable. This method limits the SRC operating depth to the max depth of the divers

(currently 300 feet). To extend the operating depth of the SRC and reduce the need

for dangerous air and mixed gas dives, the

U.S. Navy recently purchased an ADS.

Using this system, Navy ADS pilots can

descend to depths of 2000 feet while working in an environment that is pressured to

one atmosphere. The pilot can connect

the SRC down-haul cable at a greater

depth than surface supplied divers without the need for time consuming and dangerous decompression dives.

At the time of the exercise, the U.S.

Navy’s ADS had not been certified for use

as an element of DSU’s submarine rescue

program. To overcome this and still complete the exercise, DSU requested assistance from a contractor operated ADS. On

this request, the NAVSEA 00C office

tasked its diving services contractor to

subcontract Stolt Offshore’s Hard Suit

systems to provide ADS support for Pacific Reach 2000. Prior to this exercise,

ADS technology had not been used to

support the SRC in submarine rescue operations.

In preparation for Pacific Reach 2000,

the ADS units were transported from Louisiana to Singapore and loaded aboard the

M/V Kendrick. Also aboard this vessel

was the SRC, operated by members of

DSU. With the SRC and the ADS onboard,

the M/V Kendrick was transformed into a

stand alone submarine rescue platform.

Each submarine in Pacific Reach 2000

required a unique fitting to allow the ADS

to attach the SRC cable. The Japanese

submarine required a “split spelter

socket,” the South Korean sub needed a

“Maryland socket” and the Singapore

submarine called for a standard SRC hook.

Each of these fittings had to be slightly

modified so that the ADS manipulators

could operate the fittings.

During the underway period, the

ADS was used extensively throughout

three separate series of submarine rescue

drills with each submarine. Operating 200

nautical miles north east of Singapore, in

about 270 feet of water, the Kendrick began

the first series of SRC operations on the

Japanese AKISHIO. After two days of

successful drills, the Singapore submarine

CONQUEROR moved in and conducted

drills with the Kendrick. The final series of

rescue drills were conducted between the

Kendrick’s SRC/ADS team and the South

Korean CHOI MOO SUN. During each

series, the ADS located the downed submarine and attached the SRC down-haul

cable to the sub’s escape hatch. The SRC

then traveled down this cable and mated
4 March 2001

With a mission statement that reads “test and evaluate diving and

hyperbaric life support systems and procedures, and conduct biomedical research

and development,” one could certainly

wonder just what goes on at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU), Panama

City, FL. It certainly sounded high-speed/

low-drag and the place to be for the latest

developments in diving technology when

I received my orders. I quickly found out

that the truly unique part of the job was

that you would be subjected to human

testing and would probably be poked and

prodded more than you would like to discuss. After all, the mission also required

“assignment as an experimental human

test subject with a high risk of decompression sickness or oxygen toxicity.”

There are probably multitudes of rumors and perceptions that surface when

you tell someone you are an experimental

diver. To shed some light on what really

goes on, I conducted an interview with

one of the first class/saturation divers at

NEDU. BM1 (DV) Troy A. Larck was the

“guinea pig” for this study. He is the

Leading Petty Officer of the Life Support

Division in the Engineering Department.

On board for just six months, he has alBy: LT Tim Liberatore

ready plunged headfirst into some of our

most demanding protocols like the Warm

Water Diving study and the MK16 1.3

ATA PO2

 table validations. In addition he

has completed qualification as Chamber

Support Operator

(CSO), a critical Ocean

Simulation Facility

(OSF) watch station primarily responsible to

the Dive Watch Supervisor for compression,

decompression, and

depth control of the

OSF chamber.

 The Life Support

Division’s primary responsibility is maintaining the operational

readiness of the OSF.

The OSF is the world’s

largest, most complex,

man-rated, hyperbaric

diving system which is capable of simulating depths to 2,250 FSW and able to sustain extended duration saturation diving

for 10 divers. It is truly the centerpiece of

the command and is three stories tall with a

command/control room and data acquisition room rivaled only by NASA’s mission

control in Houston.

Now on with the interview:

LT: What were your expectations of

NEDU coming from SubDevRon-5 Det

Diving?

BM1: I expected NEDU to be like any

other shore-based command, good diving

and flexible working hours. I received my

welcome aboard package and was surprised to see how large their mission statement was. I knew that I would be asked to

participate in human testing, but the mission statement also included a lot of equipment testing. The rest didn’t really concern me. I certainly wasn’t expecting the

protocols at NEDU to be comprised of

mostly human experimentation.

LT: What’s a typical diving day like at

NEDU?

BM1: That depends upon the diving protocol being conducted. We dive in our

test pool or in the OSF. Some experiments

are even done in our recompression treatment chamber. The most demanding diving days so far have been the “Hot” Water Study being conducted for SpecWar

and Fleet Diving. Each test subject dives

at most twice a week in the test pool. The

night prior to the dive you eat an MRE before going to bed and make sure you hydrate until you’re pretty well bloated. You

also have to take a urine specimen bottle

home with you. This is for you to fill in

the morning. Upon waking you are not

supposed to eat or drink anything until

you get to work where they (the vampires)

take 4 vials of blood. The diving side will

be briefed and then it’s time for you to get

suited up. You eat another MRE and drink

until you’re bloated.

Next is the morning weigh-in prior to

instrumentation. Upon completing that

ritual you move on to installing a core

temp monitor in your rectum and an external catheter, nicely equipped with a handy

urine bag and tube. ECG (electrocardiogram) monitors are the next thing put on

you, consisting of four leads on your

chest and a 2-pound transmitter bag

around your shoulder. Weigh-in again

fully instrumented.

The water temperature is varied from

90 to 99 degrees F. Depending on the day

you could then put on a dive skin, dry

suit or just shorts. The diving rig is the

Aqua-Lung OXY/LUNG UBA, which is a

closed circuit 100% oxygen rebreather.

Your time in the water is set at a max of 4

hours and of course you are exercising

the entire time riding a prone position cycle

ergometer. And yes, they do monitor your

RPMs and work rate. Music is played un-

(continued on page 8)

BM1 Larck in drysuit with OXY/LUNG
March 2001 5

By: CWO3 Frank Perna

MDSU 2 Det Alpha Lends a Hand to A

Wounded Warrior

USS Cole sits ready to begin her long journey home aboard the Blue Marlin.

(continued on page 6)

On 12 October 2000, USS COLE (DDG67) was refueling in the port of Aden,

Yemen when the ship was attacked by terrorists. A small boat packed with explosives was detonated along the portside of

the ship killing 17 sailors, wounding 39,

and ripping a hole approximately 40’ by

40’ in the hull.

Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit

TWO (MDSU-2) Detachment Alpha was

in Bari, Italy on a six-month deployment

aboard the USNS Mohawk (T-ATF 170) as

the ready diving and salvage team. News

of the bombing spread fast and the diving

detachment was placed in standby. On 13

October 2000, Detachment Alpha received

orders from COMSIXTHFLT to deploy immediately to Aden, Yemen. Our tasks

were to locate the missing sailors, assist

with stabilizing the ship, recover evidence,

and perform structural inspections. Close

to 100 investigators, diving and salvage

experts, engineers, and support teams

made up the Crisis Response Team.

On 14 October, twelve members of

Detachment Alpha touched down at the

airport in Aden, 22 hrs after receiving orders to deploy. Armed soldiers and military police surrounded the plane and two

vehicle-mounted fifty-caliber

machineguns were pointed in our direction. CDR Keenan and LCDR Long

greeted us. CDR Keenan, Officer in

Charge of Ship Repair Unit, Bahrain,

headed all of the salvage operations surrounding the Cole. The two officers had

already performed a quick damage assessment on the COLE’s hull. CDR Bobbie

Scholley, Prospective Commanding Officer

of MDSU 2, arrived later with senior engineers from SIMA, Norfolk and Norfolk

Naval Shipyard workers. After our passports were checked and dive systems xrayed and inspected, our equipment was

loaded onto transport trucks. Soldiers

mixed among us on the small and cramped

buses that took us on our way. Before arriving at the ship, we passed through

three Yemeni checkpoints and a U.S.

checkpoint protecting access to the

stricken COLE.

ENCS (MDV) Lyle Becker, BMC (DV)

David Hunter and I boarded the Cole. Our

first glimpse of the ship that night will be

forever fixed in our minds.

The ship was blackened by the explosion, listing slightly to port, and without electrical power. Our first objective

was to determine which locations to

search, identify a centralized location to

setup dive station and determine how to

safely enter those spaces.

The crew of the USS COLE had performed super human feats under arduous

conditions since the attack, but on 15 October, they were unable to stop the flooding into Main Engineroom-2 (ME-2), the

only remaining operational engine room.

As several divers investigated the cause

for ME-2 flooding, the rest of the dive

team setup the Light Weight Dive System

(LWDS) on the 01 level, portside between

the forward and aft stacks. The report on

the flooding: AMR-2 was completely

flooded, and flooding was progressing

into ME-2 through a ruptured bulkhead

shaft seal on the starboard side. Measurements taken of the port bulkhead shaftseal provided us with the dimensions

needed to construct a rope seal from 3-

inch Sampson braid line. All normal accesses to the engine and machinery rooms

were impassable. The dive team routed the

MK 21 helmets and umbilicals through

AMR-2 escape trunk hatch on the 03-level.

OPERATION DETERMINED RESPONCE
6 March 2001

EN2 (DV) Mike Shields routing umbilicals through the engine room vent duct.

The divers were equipped with Divers Underwater Camera Television System

(DUCTS) and Divers Helmet Mounted

Lighting System (DHMLS). Emergency

Gas Supply (EGS) with a 150-foot whip

was used instead of man-carried bottles to

reduce the diver’s profile in the water.

This allowed them to reach all areas of the

engineering spaces. For added protection

against chafing and cuts, the umbilicals

were wrapped inside 2 1⁄2-inch fire hoses.

We monitored the divers’ fatigue and hydration levels very closely. Air temperatures of 100-110 degrees kept water temperatures around 90 degrees and wet suits

were worn to protect the divers.

HT2 (DV) Bret Husbeck and EN2

(DV) Mike Shields located the ruptured

shaft seal very quickly and installed the

temporary rope seal. A layer of electrical

putty filled in small crevices and effectively stopped all flooding into ME-2. Inspection of AMR-2 revealed no visible

breeches in the hull or bulkheads. All accesses into the space were intact and provided a satisfactory flooding boundary.

At this time, it was felt that a tear in the

hull had opened into AMR-2, but the

divers were unable to locate it due to the

layout of the compartment.

On 16 October, The COLE’s diesel

generator stopped running, and due to a

rupture in the starting air piping system

the ship’s engineers could not recharge

the high-pressure air flasks. The Engineering Officer requested that divers locate

and secure the Diesel Air Starting Valve

(AHP-V-67) in Supply Store Room No.1, in

order to isolate the damaged section and

reroute air to the flasks. ETC (DV) Terry

Breaux and IS3 (DV) Greg Sutherland

found entering the space

easy, but had a very difficult time navigating

through the wrecked and

flooded supply spaces.

The portside and forward bulkheads were

blown inward, all nonwater tight doors had

broken from their hinges,

filing cabinets lay scattered across the deck,

and visibility was reduced to less than 3

inches.

While the divers

were searching for the air

valve, plumb and drain

valve (WD-V-342) was

also located and closed. With these

valves secured and the damaged piping

systems isolated, the inspection of the

supply spaces continued. A tear in the

hull near the port forward corner of the

supply storeroom was located accounting

for the flooding of the space.

With the ship’s immediate stability

concerns met, the next underwater task

was to inspect the blast area, gain access

into ME-1 and search the surrounding

workshops. These were the last known locations of the missing COLE sailors. The

diver’s staging area was moved to a small

boat positioned just aft of the blast hole,

and divers were required to climb down a

pilot’s ladder from the 01-level and “hat

up” in the boat before entering the water.

The blast area was nothing less than

devastating; noticeable to the world was

the immense opening in the hull. The

most disturbing sight was the extensive

damage inside the ship. The blast from the

explosion had torn 30-35 feet into the center of the ship. The width of the exterior

breech was approximately 70 feet and involved 3 decks. Half-inch steel bulkheads

had shredded and vertical and horizontal

structural supports had snapped from the

force of the blast. Work spaces closest to

the explosion no longer existed. Those

spaces that escaped total demolition were

unrecognizable. In their place was a

tangled mess of broken equipment, piping,

and wires.

STG2 (SW/DV) Donald Schappert is tended by EN2 (DV) Mike

Shields in the main engine room.

(USS COLE continued from page 5)

(continued on page 7)
March 2001 7

HMC (DV) Don Adams and GM3

(DV) Sean Baker entered the blast area

from outside the skin of the ship. They

placed a large rubber mat over the entrance of the blast-hole to protect themselves and the diving equipment from the

knife-like metal plating. As they made

their way around the blast area, their umbilicals fouled every few feet despite all

efforts by additional tenders and divers.

Very slowly and carefully, the divers inspected every inch of the blast area looking for signs of the missing sailors and

any evidence of the explosive device. The

FBI was keenly interested in anything that

might help their investigation to identify

the terrorists or the composition of the

bomb.

All attempts to enter ME-1 and the

Reverse Osmosis (RO) Shop were

thwarted by a tangled mass of impenetrable debris. At our request, Norfolk

Naval Shipyard (NNSY) workers cut away

a section of decking, allowing us to continue our search and recover one of the

missing sailors.

It had become apparent that the

divers could not gain access to ME-1 from

outside the ship or any of the normal accesses. We decided the best way to enter

ME-1 was from the engine room vent duct

within the intake/uptake compartment.

This was not an easy task, as the flooded

walkway of the upper level of ME-1 was

two decks down, and the vent duct did

not offer us a safe way down. Heavy fuel

vapors coming from the engine room overwhelmed the team; fuel tanks had ruptured

spilling a large amount of fuel into the water. Free communication from the engine

room to the sea allowed a “washout” of

the space and lessened the heavy concentration of fuel in the water. Several

measures had to take place before divers

could attempt an entrance into ME-1. Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) provided gas

free services, certifying the space free of

an explosive atmosphere, and provided interior lighting to illuminate the upper

spaces. Space ventilation was set up using RAMFAN, a water driven blower to

pull the fumes out of the engine room.

Without any significant reduction in fuel

vapors, the diving tenders wore Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) to

safely tend the divers from within the engineering space. As a preventative measure

and for ease of mind, several AFFF containers were emptied into the flooded

space. Wooden ladders were constructed

for each deck within the ventilation duct

to ME-1 upper level walk way.

On 17 October, I entered ME-1 along

with BM2 (DV) Mike Allison. The small

size of the ventilation duct forced us to

climb down without our MK 21 helmets on

and to “hat up” on the walkway within

ME-1. Even though we were very familiar

with the engine room layout, engineers

from the USS COLE and USS DONALD

COOK guided us as they observed our

progress on the DUCTS television. As we

moved through the water column, we

could feel the change in densities between

fuel and water. Metal shavings sparkled as

our underwater lights scanned the engine

room. Diving in this enclosed space was

extremely dangerous. Sheared bulkheads,

buckled decks, broken pipes and wires created an immense “spider web” of destruction. Everything fouled our umbilicals.

Pieces of broken equipment fell from the

overhead as we disturbed their delicate

balance.

We located and recovered three more

of the missing sailors. Additional dives in

ME-1 on 18 October by HT2 (DV) Bret

Husbeck and GM2 (DV) Roger Ziliak

brought up large amounts of personal

items. All attempts to shut a 10-inch fuel

oil transfer valve (FO-V-53) went unsuccessful due to a large expansion tank

blocking operation of the valve.

On 19 October, the dive team was

able to assist the FBI more directly by

searching the ship’s compartments that

their agents had deemed too dangerous to

enter. At this point, the team safely located and recovered two more sailors.

All of the missing Cole sailors were recovered and were given full military honors as

they were escorted off the ship to begin

their long journey home.

With the recovery phase completed,

the dive team began preparing for the

many inspection dives. Naval engineers

needed to determine how much of the

COLE’s structural strength was lost and if

the ship would be able to handle the docking evolution without the need for additional strengthening. From 20 October to

24 October, detailed structural and damage

information in ME-1, AMR-2, Supply

Storerooms and hull plating was provided

and documented. Of particular importance

were the vertical stanchions and I-beam

supports, each inspected for deformation

and signs of weld cracking. Measurements taken of the blast hole were drawn

on a graph to show the shape and size of

the blast hole (location, direction and

number of cracks that radiated out). The

divers then drilled holes at the end of each

crack to prevent them from increasing in

size and further weakening the hull.

To ensure the keel had remained

IS3 (DV) Greg

Sutherland

prepares to dive

in the main

engine room.

(USS COLE continued from page 6)

(continued on page 8)
8 March 2001

straight and undamaged, keel deflection

measurements were taken at twenty-foot

intervals. A Kevlar line (360 feet long)

connected between forward and aft Tugits

was stretched the length of the keel. Two

wire rope bridals fastened at the sonar

dome and the inboard propeller rigging

tunnel held the Tugits in place. Approximately 3 tons of tension applied to the

Kevlar line made it taut. Divers then measured the distance between the line and

the keel. With slight sag calculated into

the measurements, the keel had remained

undamaged.

The Blue Marlin, a 700-foot-long

Norwegian heavy lift transport ship, received the contract to lift and transport

Cole back to the United States. To accommodate the COLE, Blue Marlin was fitted

with docking blocks with two large guideposts to maintain COLE in the proper position over the blocks. For stability, the keel

blocks were shortened and two large

holes were cut into the deck allowing the

propellers to drop below the main deck of

the transport ship. The Cole was positioned 19 degrees off center on the deck

so the sonar dome could hang over the

side of Blue Marlin’s deck.

USNS Catawba (T ATF 168) towed

Cole out of the harbor on October 29 to

deeper waters, approximately 23 miles off

the coast of Yemen. Loading Cole onto

Blue Marlin required a depth of at least 75

feet and calm seas. The transport ship partially submerged as COLE was maneuvered by tugs into position over Blue

Marlin’s deck. Three SCUBA dive teams

guided the damaged destroyer as the Blue

Marlin raised up in the water to meet the

ship. The forward dive team reported on

the sonar dome’s position and forward

keel block, while two aft dive teams reported on the propellers as they entered

the cut outs, the aft keel block and port

and starboard side blocks. The entire

docking evolution took almost 24 hours to

complete. Blue Marlin with the COLE securely held on its deck made the transit

back to the United States. The COLE will

undergo extensive repairs at Ingalls Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. in Pascagoula,

Mississippi.

Salvage and recovery operations are

always a team effort. No one person can

accomplish them alone. I was grateful to

have such fine and experienced diving and

salvage officers as CDR Keenan, CDR

Scholley and LCDR Long on the side.

They provided invaluable guidance and

common sense. I am indebted to and extremely proud of the divers in Detachment

Alpha who made it all possible. The recovery of fallen shipmates was difficult

and mentally exhausting, as were the

treacherous dives performed within

COLE’s flooded and damaged compartments. Thirty-seven dives were conducted with over 76 hours of bottom time.

Besides the diving, these divers with their

“can-do-attitudes” assisted the salvage

efforts in many other ways. They helped

to get the diesel generator back online, rerouted the ship’s starting air system, setup

and operated emergency dewatering

equipment, and provided air recharging

service to the FBI and EOD divers.

The following U.S. Navy Deep Sea

Divers performed these heroic efforts:

ENCS (MDV/SG) Becker, BMC (SW/DV)

Hunter, ETC (SG/DV) Breaux, HMC (DV)

Adams, HT2 (DV) Husbeck, GM2 (SS/DV)

Ziliak , STG2 (SW/DV) Schappert, IS3

(DV) Sutherland, EN2 (DV) Shields, BM2

(DV) Allison, GM3 (DV) Baker.

CWO3 Frank Perna is the Officer In Charge

of Detachment Alpha, Mobile Diving and

Salvage Unit TWO, homeported in Little

Creek, Virginia. Prior to beginning his tour

at MDSU-TWO, CWO3 Perna completed a

tour as Master Diver at SIMA Dive Locker,

Naval Station, Norfolk, Virginia.

derwater and hopefully you are with three

other guys that like the same music. I hate

classic rock - heard all the songs a million

times. Every hour you are given a manual

dexterity test and a comprehension test

(called SINDBAD for System of Investigation of Navy Diver’s Behavior at Depth)

while still trying to pedal. You can come

out any time you want to but they would

prefer if you maxed your body out. The

data collected is what is important. The

dive will be aborted if your core temp

reaches 104.9 oF or if you are above 104 oF

for 5 minutes. It happened to me and it

wasn’t pleasant.

The dive day is not over yet though.

After getting out of the water, you give

four more vials of blood and try to hydrate

again. Then the SOF

(Special Operations

Forces) Mission Related

Performance Measures

testing begins. This test

consists of a timed M-4

carbine (a shorty M-16)

disassembly and assembly, hand grip strength

tests till muscle failure,

running steps with a 44-

lb weighted ruck-sack for

1 minute, max pull-ups,

M-4 target shooting with

50 pop-up targets, and

finally a comprehension

battery on a laptop computer. This had better

(continued on page 16)

(A Day in the life of an Experimental Diver continued from page 4)

BM1 Larck installing new EBA system at OSF Manual

Operating Panel

(USS COLE continued from page 7)
March 2001 9

By: LT Mike Teates

Members of Underwater ConstructionTeam ONE and TWO recently completed Exercise TURBO PATRIOT ’00 in

Camp Pendleton, California. TURBO PATRIOT was a Joint Logistics Over the

Shore (JLOTS) exercise conducted in September 2000 by the United States Transportation Command.

“Logistics over the shore is the process of discharging cargo from vessels

anchored off-shore or in the stream, transporting it to the shore and/or pier, and marshalling it for movement inland. LOTS operations are conducted over unimproved

shorelines, through fixed ports not accessible to deep draft shipping, and through

fixed ports that are inadequate without using LOTS capabilities.”

The Underwater Construction Teams

(UCT) are a key component in the Offshore Petroleum Discharge System

(OPDS) portion of the United States

JLOTS capabilities and assist in other

components of the JLOTS mission by providing hydrographic and sub-sea soil

analysis for the Elevated Causeway Pier,

underwater ship husbandry services and

underwater salvage services.

The OPDS is capable of providing

1.2 million gallons of fuel a day to forces

ashore from a Military Sealift Command

tanker moored up to 4 miles offshore and

is installed jointly by the UCTs and the

Amphibious Construction Battalion

(ACB). The OPDS consists of several

components: a 839-ton barge measuring

57' x 150' that when ballasted to the bottom

becomes a Single Anchor Leg Moor

(SALM), a beach termination unit to receive and distribute fuel upon its arrival on

the beach, a specially configured tanker

that stores and offloads the SALM, OPDS

flexible conduit, and several small craft to

install the system and fuel. The OPDS can

be installed and provide fuel to the beach

in 7 days using 24 hour operations.

Prior to the tanker arrival, the UCTs

assist in determining the installation site

by performing a beach, hydrographic, and

geotechnical survey to determine a suitable location for the SALM and conduit

path. When the tanker arrives it lists 12

degrees to discharge the SALM, which is

towed into its final position by several

OPDS Utility Boats (OUB). The UCTs

connect the submarine hose and conduit

pigtail hoses to the SALM which is then

sunk by controlled ballast tank flooding.

As the SALM sinks to the bottom the 55-

ton main mooring buoy attached to the

SALM becomes positively buoyant and

detaches from the SALM. With the

SALM on the bottom, the floating hose

from the tanker is connected to the submarine hose and the pigtails are connected to

the main conduit. The main conduit is then

pulled to the beach and connected to the

beach termination unit by the ACB. The

tanker can then use the SALM’s main

mooring buoy as a single point moor. The

conduits are sunk to the bottom and must

be stabilized and inspected prior to pumping fuel ashore. Once the OPDS operation is completed, the process is reversed

and the UCTs raise the SALM by flooding

the ballast tanks with air.

Two UCT detachments led by a joint

command and control element mobilized

one air detachment Table of Allowance

(TOA) to Camp Pendleton and established

a command center in the JLOTS camp. A

small crew sailed with the MSC Chesapeake from San Francisco to Camp

Pendleton to prepare the tanker, SALM

and install a MK-3 LWDS and a TRCS on

a specially configured OUB. Upon the

tankers arrival, the SALM was sunk 2

miles offshore at a depth of 100 feet. Due

to the depth and the work requirements on

the bottom, both “No decompression”

dives and “Surface Decompression using

Oxygen” dives were used during the

OPDS installation.

(Continued on page 20)

Diagram of Salvage Operations
10 March 2001

By: CWO2 Riendeau

Master Diver Scott Heineman, HTC Mike Lutz, and GM2 Chad Dillon lowering concrete on a

trolley line to diver in the water.

A puff of smoke rolls off the tires of anAir Force C-5 Galaxy as it completes

a 12 hour flight from Norfolk, Virginia to

Antofagasta, Chile. The oversized cargo

transport carries nearly 100 tons of diving,

salvage and oil pollution control equipment as well as 19 divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit TWO. Led by

CWO4 Tom Ross and Master Diver Scott

Heineman, this team of Navy divers

joined forces with NAVSEA diving and oil

pollution control contractors to complete

one of the largest peacetime ship salvage

operations in US Naval history.

Eight days earlier, the USS LA

MOURE COUNTY (LST 1194), as part of a

UNITAS deployment, was conducting a

routine amphibious exercise that would

launch eight Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV) and send 240 marines ashore

on a remote Chilean beach. The LST, home

ported in Norfolk, was making a pre-dawn

approach to the beach when the 522-foot

ship ground to a halt.

Battle stations were quickly manned

as the crew set to work to save their ship.

Three repair lockers worked frantically to

stabilize buckled decks and frames, as well

as control the flooding of fuel into the forward and after troop berthing compartments. Meanwhile the ship started to

broach increasing the damage to her port

side. The Chilean tug, Galvarino, on station to support the exercise came along

side and the crews of both ships worked

to get the towing hawser passed. Soon,

encouraging pops and cracks came from

the straining synthetic towline and the

ship began unleashing her grip on the

rocky bottom. In about 90 minutes the LA

MOURE COUNTY was afloat and under

tow to anchorage in nearby Cinfuncho

Bay.

The ship was not yet out of danger. Although stability of the ship was not a

great concern, the risk of structural failure

and additional flooding due to the massive damage to the keel and ship’s bottom

was serious. The remote location made

mobilization of salvage forces difficult.

The crew spent the next eight days perfecting their damage control skills while

Chilean Navy divers worked tirelessly installing wedges, patches, and underwater

epoxy in the myriad of holes along the

ship’s hull. Over the course of the coming

weeks, the Chilean divers, using just

scuba, were able to apply rudimentary exterior patches on every hole in the hull

except the largest hole at the keel.

The CINCLANTFLT Salvage Officer,

LCDR Jess Riggle, arrived a few days

ahead of the MDSU team and began assessing damage, formulating a rough salvage plan and working with the Chilean

divers. The strength of the ship was a big

problem that was only being made worse

by the severe hogging caused by the

flooding of all the forward tanks. This

flooding left the bow trimmed six feet

deeper than normal. Ultimately the salvage

plan focused on three main areas:, oil pollution control/prevention, structural repairs, and buoyancy restoration. Each area

was important and interrelated. All actions had to be carefully coordinated to

support the operational commander’s desire to offload the Marine AAVs from the

tank deck to support follow-on UNITAS

exercises. Fuel spills and transfer of fuel

and oily waste were managed by the

NAVSEA ESSM contractor, Global Phillips

Cartner. Welding and fabrication of massive structural stiffeners were the job of

the NAVSEA diving contractor, Phoenix

International. The task of buoyancy restoration fell to the divers of MDSU-2, whose

first assignment would be an intensive un-

(Continued on page 18)
March 2001 11

When Jim Bladh asked me to do anarticle for Command in the Spotlight, he was expecting me to do one on

Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit TWO.

As proud as I am of this command, I

thought I would take this opportunity to

highlight a different organization. I want

to pay tribute to the many Military Divers

involved in Operation Determined Response after the October 2000 bombing of

the USS COLE in Aden, Yemen. This diverse group contributed significantly to

the stabilization and protection of the

COLE and assisted in her safe departure

from the Port of Aden. This operation is a

superb example of the teamwork that Military Divers are known for.

Operation Determined Response was

executed by a Joint Task Force (JTF) made

up of the USS TARAWA Amphibious

Ready Group (ARG), several ships from

the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON Battle

Group, and other organizations. The JTF

was composed of organizations from

CINCPACFLT and CINCLANTFLT. There

were many different diving organizations

involved and assigned missions in almost

every major area of the Operation. In addition to the Mobile Diving and Salvage

Unit TWO Detachment Alpha (see article

page 5), there were Divers from EODMU

TWO, THREE, SIX, and ELEVEN,

EODMU EIGHT DET Bahrain, SEALs,

Marines from 1st Battalion Reconnaissance, and the Salvage EDOs from CTF 53.

Each team of Divers brought unique skills

and equipment to the table and provided

support to the other teams when needed.

On the day of the bombing of COLE,

a small group of EODMU Eleven Divers

were on the scene. This team, including

CDR Holly from COMFIFTHFLEET and

ENS Ron Zitzman from EODMU 3, was in

Yemen conducting humanitarian de-mining support. Immediately following

the bombing, EODMU 8 DET Bahrain

and EODMU 6 DET 8 Divers were dispatched to Aden to assist. The arrival

of the TARAWA ARG brought

EODMU 3 DET 9 with much appreciated relief. During the course of the

operation, several of the EOD Officers

were reassigned to the headquarters

staff to assist with force protection,

while the rest of the detachments set

up SCUBA operations to search for

evidence for the FBI’s Evidence Recovery Team. These teams provided

an array of skills that included more

than diving support and that were critical in finding valuable evidence in the

waters surrounding the COLE.

The Salvage Engineering Duty

Officers from CTF 53 arrived on the

scene almost immediately after the

bombing. With only hours to prepare,

CDR Pat Keenan and LCDR Matt

Long provided the leadership and expertise essential to the success of the

operation. The importance of the work

performed by these two officers can not

be stressed too strongly. After making

SCUBA dives on the damaged area, CDR

Keenan and LCDR Long quickly put together an appropriate salvage and stabilization plan. Working closely with

NAVSEA 00C, they identified the how,

who, and what needed to be done to keep

the ship afloat. They provided excellent

guidance on how to best search for and

recover the missing crew members. They

were the Docking Officers responsible for

the precision “at sea” docking of the COLE

on BLUE MARLIN. As far as we know,

this was the first “at sea” docking of a

vessel this size and the event went without a hitch.

Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit

TWO Detachment Alpha played a key

role in the stabilization and victim recovery efforts aboard USS COLE. As the

Sixth Fleet Salvage asset, they were the

quickest and safest means of getting surface supplied divers into the interior

spaces of COLE. CWO4 Frank Perna,

ENCS (MDV) Lyle Becker and the rest of

the detachment (BMC Hunter, HMC

Adams, ETC Breaux, HT2 Husbeck, GM2

Ziliak, STG2 Schappert, BM2 Allison, EN2

Shields, GM3 Baker and IS3 Sutherland)

brought a critical mix of talent that made

the operation a success. Not only was the

team experienced in underwater ship husbandry, but several of them had recently

been stationed at SIMA Norfolk and had

dived on COLE or one of her sister ships

(Continued on page 12)

Mobile and Salvage Unit Two

By: CDR Barbara Scholley

CDR Barbara Scholley, Commanding Officer of

MDSU 2
12 March 2001

before. This helped immensely when

searching through flooded space that had

been damaged by the blast. This team

made heroic efforts to accomplish dives

that are above and beyond what is normally expected and persisted until every

victim was recovered. The team’s experience in diving on dry dock blocks was also

essential during the docking of COLE on

the BLUE MARLIN,

You might not think of the Recon

Marines of 1st Battalion as part of a salvage

dive team, but they too provided valuable

support during the operation. Capt Bruce

Soltire and his team of divers provided

both equipment and personnel support

during the docking evolution on BLUE

MARLIN. To accommodate the early

morning start to dive the blocks, the Recon Divers transferred to USNS Catawba

where MDSU TWO DET Alpha was already embarked. CATAWBA has limited

berthing space, but Marines are incredibly

flexible and of course had their own cots

to set up on deck. Capt Soltire, SGT

Dixon, SGT Rardon, SGT Sanchez, SGT

Spannuth, SGT Wasik, CPL Moser, CPL

Rudig, CPL Thomas, and LCPL Peters were

real team players and even taught us a few

tricks.

There were also several members of

the SEAL Team community in the operation, but their main focus was force protection. There were two other groups of

non-divers that provided invaluable support for the diving operations occurring

aboard COLE. MDSU TWO DET Alpha

was embarked aboard CATAWBA for

most of the operation and for a week of

transit to debark in a safer port. CAPT

John Pope and the crew of CATAWBA

were exceptionally cooperative, providing

small boat support, flexible meal hours, and

excellent hospitality the entire time. CAPT

Pope was also responsible for the safe and

successful tow of COLE from the port to

the BLUE MARLIN. Towing a battle damaged ship is always risky and a nerve racking experience but towing it in a potentially hostile environment adds even more

complications. CAPT Pope and his crew

proved to be real professionals and accomplished the risky tow superbly.

During the course of the operation,

the CATAWBA and the MDSU dive team

were assigned a small USMC component

as a security force. Led by SGT May, the

eight man force was responsible for all the

shipboard security as well as for accompanying the dive team on the daily 60

minute small boat transit to and from the

COLE. SGT May, CPL Mayo, CPL Morgan, CPL Lawson, LCPL Anderson, LCPL

Chavez, LCPL Dykes and PFC Williams

quickly became valued members of the

MDSU team. We were happy to have this

protection and even happier that it was

provided by such a dedicated and professional group of young Marines.

As you can see, there were many

Divers that deserved recognition during

Operation Determined Response. Unfortunately, I did not have the names of each

and every one of them, but they were all

essential to assisting our COLE shipmates

during this tragic event. Whether they

were Navy or Marine Corps, EOD or Salvage, Officer or Enlisted, each Diver contributed significantly to the success. During a dangerous and emotional operation

in a hostile environment, each Diver displayed the highest degree of Honor, Courage and Commitment. HOOYAH Military

Divers!

CDR Scholley is currently the Commanding

Officer of MDSU TWO. She was the PCO

for MDSU TWO when she accompanied

MDSU TWO Det Alpha during Operation

Determined Response. Prior to this tour,

CDR Scholley was Supervisor of Diving and

CO, USS BOLSTER (ARS 38).

Part of the Operation Determined Response Dive Team. This part of the team includes the

MDSU II Det Alpha divers and the First Battalion Recon Marines and and members of the

USMC Security Team

(Command in the Spotlight continued from page 11)
March 2001 13

By: LCDR Jim Bredemeier

The Naval Diving and Salvage TrainingCenter (NDSTC) located at the

Navy’s Coastal Systems Station in Panama

City Beach, Florida, is the latest facility

supporting a long history of U.S. Navy

diving training. In 1882, the U.S. Navy established a diving school under retired

Chief Gunner’s Mate Jacob Anderson at

Newport, Rhode Island. The school

trained divers to descend to 60 feet to recover exercise torpedoes. The school was

closed at the outbreak of World War I, as

all available divers were needed in the

fleet. In 1927, the diving school was re-established at the Washington Navy Yard in

Washington, D.C. The curriculum included training with hand and power tools

including underwater burning with oxygen-hydrogen and oxygen-arc torches.

The Navy Yard school was closed in 1980.

The current facility, under the cognizance

of the Chief of Naval Education and Training (CNET) opened in 1980 and was designed from the ground up to be the cornerstone of U.S. Navy diving training. At

the Panama City location enlisted personnel, officers, and civilians from the Navy,

Marine, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and

allied foreign countries are trained in all

phases of diving and ship salvage. With

the exception of Special Warfare forces, all

military personnel

receive initial and

advanced training

at NDSTC.

 The center is

situated on St. Andrew Bay’s Alligator Bayou and

covers approximately 155,000

square feet.

NDSTC’s engineering, craft, curriculum, medical,

supply, and materiel logistics departments provide

the comprehensive

framework and

support for all

high-risk training (approx 10,000 dives annually) performed at NDSTC. As the hub

of U.S. Navy diving and training, all aspects of diving and life support requirements are addressed, from

deep salvage to routine hull

maintenance. Twenty-four

different courses encompassing all phases of diving, ship

salvage, combat diver

(USMC) and submarine lockout are taught to approximately 1,400 students annually. Typically, courses range

from 5-26 weeks in duration.

Qualifications are made to a

depth of 300 feet. NDSTC’s

Commanding Officer, CDR

Mark T. Helmkamp, was

among the first to complete

training at the Panama City

location. He initially qualified in the spuncopper MK V helmet, synonymous with

deep sea diving and prominent in the recent hit movie “Men of Honor” starring

Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr.

Technology and curriculum used at

NDSTC include diving medicine and

physiology, diving procedures and operations, decompression techniques and applications, diver navigation and tracking,

diver tools, gas dynamics and chemistry,

hyperbaric systems, manned and unmanned hyperbaric testing, nondestructive testing (NDT), thermal protection, and

contaminated atmosphere breathing

equipment.

SCUBA (including MK16 and MK25

re-breathers) and deep-sea surface supplied diving are taught at the center’s outdoor training pool and three indoor open

tanks. After mastering the various diving

rigs in controlled environments, the students perform working dives from open

diving bays on Alligator Bayou. The final

phase of instruction includes open-sea

diving in the Gulf of Mexico from one of

the two Yard Diving Tenders (YDTs) capable of supporting both air and mixed gas

diving. Additional specialized facilities inThe 33 yard, 12 foot deep, 8 lane dive pool.

YDT 18, one of two Yard Diving Tenders here at Panama

City, FL.

 (continued on page 22)
14 March 2001

Consolidated Divers Unit (CDU) located at Pier 10 on Naval Station, San

Diego California is one of the largest diving lockers in the Pacific Fleet. CDU is

dedicated to providing quality underwater

ships husbandry (UWSH) repairs, light

salvage and hyperbaric recompression

chamber support to Commander, Navy Region Southwest. CDU divers are the onsite technical experts for waterborne repairs conducted on the carriers, surface

combatants, submarines, and support

ships and craft of PACFLT.

In 1979 COMNAVSURFPAC created

the San Diego based diver consolidation

plan as a pilot program to determine if

consolidation of Navy divers would better

effect utilization of diving assets and provide cost savings to the Fleet. The first

year of the program was a success, and in

August 1980 the diving unit was officially

commissioned as Harbor Clearance Unit

One Detachment (HCU 1 DET). The unit’s

name was later changed to Mobile Diving

and Salvage Unit One Detachment

(MOBDIVSALU ONE DET).

This consolidation plan was validated when the number of dives and bottom times doubled without increasing perBY: CWO3 RICK ARMSTRONG

sonnel or cost. In addition the West Coast

hull-cleaning program was created, saving

the Navy over $80 million dollars in fuel

costs annually.

The technical expertise combined from a variety of Navy

dive lockers (USS CAPE

COD, USS ACADIA, and

USS JASON) resulted in the

development of new underwater work techniques for underwater repairs on various

classes of Navy and Coast

Guard ships. These included

waterborne propeller and CPP

blade change outs, masker

belt replacements, Auxiliary

Propulsion Unit (APU)

swaps, shaft re-laminations,

and underwater wet welding,

Also, a central database was

established for underwater

work and hull cleaning performed on West

Coast based ships and submarines.

On October 1, 1986 MOBDIVSALVU

ONE DET was disestablished and Consolidated Divers Unit (CDU) was established. The command’s primary focus became underwater ship husbandry with the

transfer of salvage responsibility to Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One (MDSU1) located in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

With the decommissioning of the last

submarine tender in the Southwest region

(USS MCKEE), CDU was tasked with providing waterborne maintenance to

SUBPAC assets. A 12-person dive detachment was established in October of 1999

and continues the quality underwater repair work that has been the legacy of submarine tender divers Navy wide.

With some of the finest divers in the

Navy, CDU handles a variety of tasks from

changing out 40-ton propellers on nuclear

carriers, Auxiliary Propulsion Units on

Hollywood premier of “Men of Honor” from left to right bottom row, CDR Kelly Eley, CO,

CDU, IT1 (SW/DSW) Dave Gove, HM1(DV) Aaron Levy, top row; EM1(SW/DV) Mike

Welsh, CWO3 Rick Armstrong XO, CDU, Master Diver Carl Brashear, Film

Director George Tillman, EN1(SW/DV) Steve Willis.

A mixed crew of Puget sound divers and CDU divers divng

on a double screw change on USS STENNIS (CVN 74),

from left to right, HT2(DV) Bucky Baker, yardbird rigger,

HT2(DV) Travis Richardson and unidentified Puget Sound

Navy divers.

(Continued on page 15)
March 2001 15

surface combatants, Secondary Propulsion Motors on nuclear attack submarines,

to installing cofferdams on a carrier in support of a major yard availability. CDU

divers excel in all facets of these waterborne repairs. Each repair performed inwater saves the Navy thousands of dollars in dry-dock costs.

CDU is commanded by CDR Kelly

Eley and led by Chief Warrant Officers and

Master Divers including CWO2 Roland

Bissonnette, CWO2 Steve Rienagel,

BMCS (SW/DSW) Kyle Gaillard, HTCS

(DSW) Boy Kayona and HTCM (SW/

DSW) Brick Bradford.

Recently five divers from CDU took

leave to assist with filming of the movie

“MEN of HONOR”. These divers provided technical support, acted as extras,

and made a majority of the dives seen in

the final take of this movie depicting the

life and times of BMCM/Master Diver Carl

Brashear. CDU was invited to the Hollywood screening of the film at the “Dorothy

Chandelier Pavilion” and the reception at

the Conga Room.

CDU is also the West Coast bends

watch coordinator, overseeing 14 Diving

Medical Officers, 16 Diving Medical Technicians, 11 Master Divers and all regional

First and Second Class Divers. This diverse group responds to any diving related casualty and/or clinical hyperbaric

oxygen treatments that are initiated within

the Southwest region.

CDU trains divers for the Navy’s only

NAVSEA certified wet welding program.

Developed in 1991 and headed by HTC

(SW/DV) Bob Barker, this team is ready to

deploy worldwide for any underwater repair requiring this unique technique. CDU

has been involved in many complex wetwelding jobs (utilizing fillet and groove

welds) and NDT projects on both Pacific

and Atlantic fleet units. Application of

these skills cover removal and installation

of ropeguards during propeller replacements, zinc replacements, installation of

welded cofferdams for maintenance or deactivating of Navy vessels, and stress

crack repairs.

CDU sponsors a Royal Navy Chief

Diver for a two-year tour of duty utilizing

the Navy Personal Exchange Program

(PEP). This successful program allows U.S.

Navy divers to work with their Royal Navy

counterparts and British divers to learn

U.S. Navy fleet repair techniques that can

be employed on NATO vessels upon their

return to duty in the United Kingdom.

CDU’s PEP member is CPO (D) Strange

who has relieved CPO (D) A.J. Wheeler as

of November 15, 2000.

As America moves into a new century, Navy divers remain a viable, cost efficient tool that Fleet commanders can call

upon to repair any vessel afloat at a tremendous cost savings in their limited repair funds. Commands such as Consolidated Divers Unit are on the cutting edge

of underwater repair technology. The 65

superb officer and enlisted divers that

make up this outstanding Command are

the future leaders within the Navy diving

community, Specifically: HTC (SW/DV)

Carter, IT1 (SW/DSW) Gove, DC1 (DV)

Hellwig, DC1 (DV) Annon, BM2 (DV)

Wiltshire, HT1 (SW/DV) Alexander, EM1

(SW/DV) Welsh, EN1 (SW/DV) Smith,

HT2 (SW/DV) Valentine and HT2 (DV)

Richardson. Consolidated Divers Unit’s

motto “Excellence under Pressure” continues to set the standard for others to emulate.

CWO3 Armstrong served as a Master Diver at

Consolidated Divers Unit (CDU) from 1991

until commissioned a CWO in 1994. He

served as the R-6 division officer, ships

diving officer, and decommissioning officer

on USS DIXON (AS 37) and USS MCKEE

(AS 41). In December of 1999, he reported

to CDU as the Repair Officer. He is currently

serving as the Executive Officer of CDU.

Two divers on the fin stabilizer,

BM3 (DV) Mike Aviogne, HT2 (DV)

Jeff Pitts.

(Consolidated Divers continued from page 14)
16 March 2001

be worth their data points!

LT: What’s a typical workday like in your

division?

BM1: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

we muster outside at 0700 for PT. It is

usually about 30 minutes and then we all

break off to either go to the gym or go for

a run. Tuesday and Thursday PT is left

up to the individual. I like to hit the gym

as much as possible and run only once a

week. After that, I work in Life Support

division. Our division is responsible for

repair, maintenance, and modifications to

the OSF. Currently we are working on installing an emergency breathing apparatus

(EBA) system in case of a building fire.

This will make our limited number of Scott

Air Packs obsolete and save money on recertifying them. We don’t actually fight

the fire but the watch section would need

to be able to have time to surface a dive.

This piping system is currently taking up

much of my time. PMS and diving and

getting qualified on the various watch stations are always present. For a shore

command we are pretty busy all the time.

The good thing is we still get good liberty.

Duty is usually only once a month. If you

have a diving emergency and call our

phone number after hours, you might be

speaking to me.

LT: What are your collateral duties?

BM1: Currently I’m the division 3M Coordinator, Command Urinalysis Coordinator,

and a member of the Executive Steering

Committee.

LT: What is expected of you with regard

to qualifications?

BM1: All opportunities are open to you

no matter your rank. Dive Watch Supervisor for a saturation dive is the highest

(and expected of E-7 and above within 12

months of checking onboard). Others include Chamber Support Operator, Life

Support Operator, Atmosphere Analysis

Operator, Control Technician (Electrical/

Communication Systems Operator), Gas

King, Chamber Supervisor, SCUBA Supervisor, Test Pool Supervisor. These are the

main ones and you are expected to accomplish them all. They are very lengthy and

challenging. By the time you are through

with all the quals you know every inch of

every system.

LT: What are your thoughts on Quality of

Life and your work environment?

BM1: I can’t really complain about the

quality of life or my work environment.

My job here keeps me busy and is very

rewarding. Even though the different protocols sometimes make me a little nervous,

I can see that they have real world applications for the diving navy. If NEDU

didn’t exist, who would be doing this research? It’s better for all that the dive

community is directly involved. Catch

phrase – “Cutting-Edge Technology.”

LT: Did you anticipate being a human

test subject?

BM1: Yes I did. I didn’t have any idea of

the scope to which this would be done

though. I anticipated more research being

conducted on diving systems and rigs.

This doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ve

been here only six months but have seen

no research other than biomedical/physiological. The downsizing of the Navy in

conjunction with the decommissioning of

diving ships seems to have caused

NAVSEA to send their budget money

away from hardware. These are only my

opinions, but they do have something to

do with my attitude about being a human

test subject.

LT: What do you think of the operational tempo of the unit?

BM1: The tempo is quite high for a shorebased unit. We have overlapping experimental diving protocols and still have to

find time to do maintenance. All personnel at the unit put in a lot of time coordinating between their collateral duties and

diving. There are approximately 80 military

at the command. This number might seem

to be a lot, but the command is structured

similarly to a naval shipyard. Compartmentalization seems to be the key to our success. We have the capability to draw

upon just about any resource needed to

complete a job.

LT: Does the command support your

professional development?

BM1: Yes, the command supports off duty

education and MWR in a lot of ways. Tuition Assistance is paid 100% as long as

you pass the course. Our Career Counselor is top-notch and works hard to make

sure you are taken care of. I don’t believe

the unit can do anything more to help

people make rank. Awards are given for

special achievements and qualifications

are there for the motivated.

If you are looking for an opportunity

of a lifetime and a truly unique experience,

I highly recommend accepting orders to

NEDU. Obviously, it is not a job for the

faint-at-heart and there are some risks associated with the experiments. To mitigate

these risks, all of the protocols are intensely scrutinized by a Committee for the

Protection of Human Subjects and reviewed by more doctors and divers than

you can shake a stick at. NEDU has certainly been the most challenging and rewarding duty that I have been assigned

and has surpassed my expectations as a

state-of-art research facility. The unit professionalism, camaraderie, and esprit de

corps are unmatched. The unit is well represented from a wide spectrum of diving

communities including: Fleet Divers, Saturation Divers, SEAL, EOD, SEABEE, EDO,

CEC, and of course a large contingent of

DMOs/UMOs and DMTs to keep us from

bending one another. For more information regarding NEDU please refer to the

following website: http://www.nedu.org/.

LT Liberatore is a qualified Seabee Combat

Warfare Officer and Basic Diving Officer.

He has been assigned as the Engineering

Officer at NEDU since August 1999.

(A Day in the life of an Experimental Diver continued from page 8)
March 2001 17

By: LCDR Loring Crepeau

(Continued on page 20)

U. S. Navy Special Warfare personneloften use the MK 25 closed-circuit

underwater breathing apparatus (UBA)

during shallow, clandestine diving operations. Because the MK 25 is a pure oxygen (O2

) UBA, the divers must breathe significantly elevated partial pressures of oxygen (PO2

) for hours at a time. This can

lead to mission-limiting lung damage

caused by pulmonary O2 toxicity (PO2T).

Investigators at the Navy Experimental

Diving Unit (NEDU) are working to develop a way to prevent PO2

T.

Oxygen’s toxic effect on the pulmonary system relies on free O2

 radicals.

Briefly, the theory points the finger at superoxide (O2

-

), a corrosive agent that is

normally produced in small quantities

through normal metabolism. Before it can

accumulate in sufficient quantities to cause

damage, superoxide is metabolized into

hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and after reacting with another enzyme becomes water.

Breathing oxygen-rich gas produces

much more O2

-

, ultimately overwhelming

the body’s capacity to metabolize it.

When this happens, oxygen and hydrogen peroxide can react with biochemicals

on cell surfaces, inducing changes that

cause these surfaces to change shape.

These events can ultimately cause the cell

to rupture and die.

Other components in cells (genes,

transport mechanisms and power plants)

can also be damaged by free radicals, leading to cell death. Proteins can also become free radicals, losing their unique

structure and special activity.

Oxygen toxicity can induce white

blood cells to accumulate in the lungs adhering to the inner lining of the blood vessels. When this happens, blood vessels

leak, cellular debris accumulates in lung

tissue, and fluid collects.

The potential for inducing lung damage increases as PO2

 and exposure increase. Symptoms of PO2

T include a burning as you inhale, cough, shortness of

breath, and chest tightness or pain. Even

in the absence of symptoms, PO2T can diminish lung function, so pulmonary function tests (PFTs) are conducted to determine whether divers exposed to high PO2

suffer silent lung damage.

In our quest to find a way to reduce

PO2T’s risk, we searched the literature and

found a candidate agent that divers could

take before conducting MK 25 missions.

Melatonin is a naturally-occurring hormone synthesized and released by the pineal gland in the brain. It is normally released during the evening and night

hours, and plays a role in sleep among all

vertebrates. Melatonin is also used as an

over-the-counter sleeping aid, taken near

bedtime, usually in 5 milligram (mg) or

smaller doses.

More interesting to us, melatonin has

been shown to serve as a powerful antioxidant, which means it scavenges oxygen

free radicals so they’re prevented from

doing damage. Administering large doses

of melatonin to rats markedly reduced or

completely eliminated all indicators of O2-

derived cellular, lung, and brain damage.

We hypothesized that we could use melatonin to protect MK 25 divers from suffering lung damage.

While melatonin’s protective role in

rats was encouraging news, the dose that

they received was roughly 150 times what

people normally take to induce sleep. The

literature on melatonin’s effect on humans

is confusing. While numerous studies

have reported that taking large doses did

not cause any side effects, other studies

found relatively small doses during the

daytime can induce sleepiness, and create

brain wave activity akin to what’s exhibited

during sleep. We were also concerned that

large doses of melatonin would reduce our

subjects’ alertness levels and mental function as they did in some of the low-dose

articles, ultimately proving more missionlimiting than oxygen-induced lung damage.

Before trying to evaluate melatonin’s

capacity to prevent oxidative lung injury

in divers, we first sought to determine

whether the doses we hope to use would

materially diminish motor function and

neuropsychological status, or cause

something surprising, such as nausea or

dizziness. If a high dose of melatonin compromises warfighters’s combat capabilities, its ability to protect them from oxidative lung damage is irrelevant.

We had 10 subjects take 150 mg of

melatonin that had been dissolved in

about a tenth of an ounce (one to two ml)

of ethyl alcohol and mixed in a glass of orange juice. One hour after each administration, we measured their motor performance (including grip strength, finger tapping, and high stair stepping) and neuropsychological status using the Automated

Neuropsychological Assessment Measurement (ANAM) test battery. This battery measures the subject’s rating of sleepiness, simple reaction time, mood state, and

ability to match cubic patterns, solve math

problems, maintain short-term memory,

and identify letters from a memorized list.

None of our subjects experienced

any adverse reactions that kept them from

taking the second dose of melatonin four

hours later, or completing a regular day at

work. Melatonin did exert subtle and temporary effects on all subjects, with a wide

range of individual differences among

them. Two subjects exhibited a marked reduction in performance on at least one of

the ANAM tests at one hour post-adminCWO 3 Danny Miller exhales forcefully

during pulmonary function testing one day

after eight continuous hours of hyperbaric

oxygen exposure.
18 March 2001

HTC Mike Lutz, GM1 Chad Dillon, SM2 Jorge Guillen, and HT2 Andrew Cowan hand mixing

concrete aboard the Chilian Tug, Galvarino.

(USS LAMOURE COUNTY continued from page 10)

(Continued on page 21)

derwater survey.

Petty officer John Golden held the

end of the measuring tape. Petty Officer

Everett Hairston swam the reel aft beneath

the hole that previously held the keel

beam and flat hull plating. Now, all that remained was jagged metal and the blackness of the ship’s internal fuel tanks.

“Thirty-five plus feet” came through the

diver’s communication box. The hole was

wide enough to drive two large cars

through. Two days of diving revealed severe damage to nearly all fuel tanks and

bottom compartments forward of the main

engineroom, a keel that was not only severed but crushed to the overhead of the

tank, and a hole measuring 37 feet long by

40 feet wide. With this information the

salvage engineers put the NAVSEA diving

contractor to work constructing three box

beams that would be placed under the

crippled ship to effectively replace the

broken keel and give her enough support

to survive an open ocean tow. Each beam

ended up as a box made of one-inch steel

three feet by three feet by seventy feet

long, sealed at each end to allow its 16

tons to be floated into place.

The most urgent priority was to reduce the stress on the hull by restoring

buoyancy forward. Removal of the AAVs

from the middle of the ship would make the

hogging worse so their offload had to wait

until the bow was raised. Storage space

for fuel and fuel-contaminated water recovered from the forward tanks was limited

and located aft where the added weight

also increased hogging stresses. These

factors led to a strategy that called for the

MDSU divers to enter tanks through underwater access holes cut in the tank bottoms after fuel had been stripped off the

tanks, to use concrete to back up the exterior patches applied by the Chileans, and

to isolate internal piping and seal the tank

vents to allow compressed air to be used

if necessary. It was ironic that saving the

ship required adding more holes in the

bottom! Entering the tanks from the bottom saved the divers from much fuel contamination and greatly reduced the fuelcontaminated water that would later have

to be pumped. To strip the tanks, a spool

piece with a gate valve was mounted on

each tank top using friction stud welding

which spins each threaded stud so fast

that it welds itself in place. A “hot tap”

machine mounted on the spool cuts

through the tank top and then water pressure under the tank “floats” the fuel

through the valve to a hydraulic pump.

With no time to spare, the divers focused their attention on the four largest

forward tanks referred to simply by the

frame number of their forward bulkhead:

32, 41, 73 and the Forepeak. Divers went to

work mapping each tank and void. Visibility was less than six inches due to fuel and

floating contamination. Each pipe was

identified by size, and location and traced

hand over hand from entrance to exit from

the tank. Suction and discharge piping

was blank flanged and all bilge pockets inspected for even minor damage. Each tank

had unique problems. The Forepeak was

ripped wide open at the stem with an additional six-foot tear directly under the keel.

Tanks 32 and 41 not only had a buckled

bulkhead allowing free access between

them, but the wedges, metal patches, and

epoxy installed by Chilean divers to close

the massive tear across the bottom would

never survive an open ocean tow. A buckled bulkhead in 73 was the most challenging because sea pressure acting on an adjacent inaccessible tank made sealing the

crack hard if not impossible. Taking into

consideration that the ship would undergo

an open ocean tow to a safe port, every

repaired area no matter how small needed

to be reinforced.

“Concrete—metal reinforced concrete!” was the word that came from Salvage Central. It was identified as the only

feasible solution to each problem. The

dive team realized that the mortar would

have to be carried through the water column into the spaces and placed in key locations to bring the leaks to a manageable

condition. Teams could then enter the

tanks from inside the ship to make final repairs. The concrete mixing team measured

out each batch with precision. Trash bags

of mortar were placed on a trolley line and

lowered to the green diver, Petty Officer

Shane Keebler, at the tank entrance. Diving supervisor, Petty Officer Jeff Annon,

went through voice commands in great

detail to ensure that this was a timely evolution. “Haul it up” came back from Green

and the trolley line was retrieved and filled

with another load of concrete. Waiting for
March 2001 19

PMS Corner

“Service to the Fleet”

Buoyancy Compensators: The following BC’s initially were added to MIP 5921/023. They will be covered under 5921/011with Force Revision 2-01. Seaquest Model Black Diamond, US Divers Seamaster

CPV/Tech Products Valves: Due to recent incidents involving failures to older CPV valves, maintenance is now in place to

perform a visual/operational inspection and periodic lubrication. This maintenance is covered under MIP 5921/034 and applies to CPV and Tech Product valves. If there are any indications of abnormalities in valve operation, i.e. excessive binding,

stiffness, or bronze residue on stem, the valve should be disassembled and inspected.

Flex Hoses and Diving Umbilicals: Tag requirements for Flex hoses and Diving Umbilicals have been clarified and are available under MIPS 5921/033, and 5921/039.

Sanitizing Agents: Recent changes in state and federal EPA laws have prompted changes to the types of disinfecting agents

used to sanitize diving equipment. Currently the use of WESCODYNE is authorized until exhausted. Changes to the following

MIPS have deleted WESCODYNE and the replacement agents are listed. Affected MIPS: 5921/019, 5921/159, 5921/162, 5921/

172, 5921/177, and H-012/006.

Hot Water Heaters: Maintenance for Diver Hot water Heater (various models) is under development. In the interim, utilize

mfg. tech manuals to perform maintenance.

Technical questions, Logistics problems, Supply requests, Personnel issue? Call or contact ANCHOR DESK 1-877-4-1-

TOUCH or www.AnchorDesk.navy.mil

Welcome aboard to BMCS/DV(RET) Duffy as the NAVSEA Diving Equipment In-Service Engineering Agent. He is now full

time as a civilian at NEDU and is available to answer any planned maintenance questions. Mr. Kerry Duffy/ISEA 059 Comm:

850-230-3100, DSN 436-4351 or duffykp@nedu.navsea.navy.mil.

SEALAB Reunion: Old Timers Re-unite

The weekend of 9-11 March saw the2001 Sealab Reunion at Panama City.

Divers and friends from all walks of life

showed up for their annual get together

with attendees from as far away as Spain

to the east, California to the west, the

Florida Keys to the south and Washington state from the North. Some of the notables who attended were Scott Carpenter,

Sir John Rawlins, Jack Ringelberg, Bruce

Banks, Dick Long, and a long-time attendees, Jim Bladh and Herman Kunz. Bill

Meeks came in from his home in Marbella,

Spain. It had been many a year since Bill

had made it back to the States, and we

were all glad to see him. Master Divers

from the past were in attendance, were acknowledged and applauded. All in all, we

had about 105 attending this get together;

I know of no better feeling than being a

witness to men and women who get to see

each other and talk about old times. That’s

what reunions are all about. On Friday of

the weekend reunion, NDSTC (Navy diving school) put on an old fashioned cookout for the reunion attendees. All who attended saw the famed school hospitality in

action. CDR Mark Helmkamp, CO of the

dive school was also guest speaker at the

reunion banquet on Saturday night.

This reunion is now history and the

California reunion group has started thinking what they plan on doing next year. We

have one reunion in Panama City and the

next in San Diego. For all attendees who

made their way to Panama City for this

past reunion I thank you all for making it a

good one. Bob Barth and committee.
20 March 2001

istration, but most subjects’s performance

returned to baseline levels an hour later.

Generally, subjects described melatonin’s

effect as similar to taking over-the-counter

antihistamine cold medicine and becoming

a little foggy or groggy. Most described

the second dose’s effects as much less

pronounced, suggesting they rapidly developed tolerance.

Having established the safety of our

dose regimen, we started a study to determine melatonin’s effectiveness in reducing

PO2

- induced oxidative lung damage. We

are exposing subjects to eight hours of essentially continuous 2.0 ATA oxygen on

two separate occasions in our hyperbaric

treatment chamber. On one of those exposures, subjects take a 150 mg dose of melatonin just before being pressed to depth,

then take another dose four hours later.

On the other occasion, they consume a

placebo drink following the same administration and oxygen exposure schedules.

The melatonin and placebo are administered double-blind, which means that neither the investigator nor the subjects

know what’s in that glass of juice until after the experiment is completed.

To track cognitive performance, we

administer the ANAM test battery every

hour at depth using the same tasks used

during the first study.

To assess oxidative stress and melatonin metabolism rates, we will measure

some biochemical markers in blood and

urine samples collected just before the

dive, one hour after taking the first dose,

halfway through the dive, an hour after

taking the second dose, then right after

surfacing. We will assay the blood

samples ourselves for superoxide

dismutase and have an outside laboratory

assay the urine samples for cyclic 3

hydroxymelatonin, 8-hydroxy-2-

deoxyguanosine, 6-hydroxymelatonin sulfate, and melatonin.

To assess melatonin’s protective influence on lung function, we determine our

subjects’ baseline, immediate post, and

subsequent post-dive pulmonary function,

using three measures: Forced vital capacity, that shows how well the subject can

forcefully blow out all the air in his lungs

(see Figure 2); slow vital capacity, that defines the subject’s maximum useable lung

volume; and diffusion capacity, that illustrates how well your lungs deliver oxygen

to the body.

If melatonin effectively reduces oxidative stress without causing mission-limiting side effects, we may recommend using this agent in the fleet where divers endure extended O2

 breathing periods, such

as Special Warfare MK 25 UBA operations, or during emergency decompression using O2

 in a disabled submarine scenario.

LCDR Loring J. Crepeau, MSC, USN,

earned his Basic Diving Officer pin at the

Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center

in 1991. He recently transferred to NRD

Miami, where he serves as a Medical

Programs Officer Recruiter.

The installation of the OPDS during

TURBO PATRIOT was a challenge due to

one pigtail becoming trapped under the

SALM on the bottom. With the pigtail

trapped it was impossible to connect the

pigtail to the main conduit and complete

the installation. As the OPDS system has

two identical pumping systems, it was decided to connect the second pigtail to the

SALM on the seafloor. The UCTs were

faced with the difficult task of connecting

a 320-foot, eight inch diameter conduit

through a closed chock to a 8-bolt flange,

underwater at 100 feet, at night. Although

this evolution had never been performed

during previous OPDS installations, the

UCTs utilized Seabee CAN DO and diver

HOOYAH spirit to connect the conduit

and proceed with the remainder of the

OPDS installation.

UCT ONE and TWO will send detachments to participate in operation

TURBO CADS 01 in Korea in May 2001

where they will again participate in JLOTS

operations.

Story by LT Mike Teates, UCT ONE

LT Mike Teates is the Executive Officer and

Diving Officer of Underwater Construction

Team ONE. He is Seabee Combat Warfare

Qualified and is a Registered Professional

Engineer.

(Turbo Patriot continued from page 9)

CUCM Marty Hierholzer (SCW/MDV), EA2 Blair Mercado (DV) and CM1 Daryn Holty (SCW/

DV) stand on the deck of the SALM prior to sinking it to the bottom.

(MK 25 continued from page 17)
March 2001 21

(USS LAMOURE COUNTY continued from page 18)

the surge to assist him, the green diver

passed the 25-pound bag to his buddy,

Petty Officer Jorge Guillen who had taken

up five hours of residency in the tank

hand-packing concrete and rebar around

protruding wedges. This procedure went

on for several days in each tank. Although

the divers were only a few feet from the

surface, it seemed like another world far removed from the activities going on

topside.

The first real test came just ten days after

MDSU divers arrived. The USS TORTUGA

arrived to take the Marine AAVs and the

pressure mounted to get the bow up. After applying air pressure to carefully push

as much water as possible out of the tank

bottom and then sealing the access hole,

the 32 and 41 tanks seemed to be ready.

The massive air pocket would lessen the

water/fuel mixture that would require removal once the tank was opened. Expectations were high as the dive team stood by

with salvage pumps ready and airline respirators charged. A sound like a jet engine

echoed within the ship as Petty Officer

Neil Wolfe opened the hot tap valve to

vent the tank. As the roar of the escaping

air dwindled, the manhole covers were

quickly removed and the pumps inserted

and fired up. It was soon clear that the

pumps could keep up, but the leaks were

bad enough that before long we would run

out of storage space for the oily waste.

As soon as the fuel and water were down

to waist deep, “tank divers” crawled into

the space and began chasing leaks. A

concrete mixer donated by the Chilean

Navy came alive with one pull of its

starter. As in earlier rehearsals in the water,

a trolley line was rigged into the space and

buckets of mixed concrete were lowered to

the divers. Locating holes that squirted

like drinking fountains became commonplace, patching them however, was more

difficult. Over the course of a very long

and frustrating night the fuel soaked

divers finally developed a reasonable technique of channeling

leaks into vent tubes,

pouring concrete

around the vent tube

and plugging the end

of the tube after the

concrete had set. (Just

like in the Salvor’s

Handbook but it’s a lot

harder than it looks).

The efforts of that

night were enough to

allow offloading the

AAVs the next day.

This gave us confidence that we would

succeed, but it would

be many more days and

many tons of concrete

before we could claim

that the 32 and 41 tank

were secure, and over a

month before the remaining tanks were finished. “Mas Cemento!” the Spanish

translation of “more concrete” became the

rallying cry of the divers who kept having

to go back into dirty fuel tanks and were

putting more hours on the airline hose

mask than the MK-21.

A few days later, a coastal tanker arrived,

easing our storage problem and allowing

us to empty the massive dracones (floating fuel bladders) that we had been using

since USS TORTUGA delivered them from

the ESSM base. The first of the massive

box beams arrived as well and the contract

divers worked around the clock for the

next several weeks assembling the beam

sections, rigging the beams into position,

fitting them up and building up the thousands of linear feet of underwater weld

bead necessary to fix them in place. As

buoyancy restoration work wound down

in the weeks that followed, the MDSU

divers turned their energies to rigging the

LAMOURE COUNTY for tow. When all

the repairs were complete the MDSU team

led by MDV Jim Mariano connected the

towline of the Chilean Icebreaker OSCAR

VIEL for the long-awaited tow to safety in

Talcahuano, 700 miles to the south.

Navy divers had been on the scene

for six weeks and had installed 22 steel reinforced patches, plugged more than 50

holes, poured 27 tons of steel reinforced

concrete, and restored 700 tons of buoyancy to the crippled ship. By a tremendous cooperative effort the Navy divers,

NAVSEA ESSM, and diving contractors

had kept LA MOURE COUNTY afloat and

delivered her safely to port.

CWO2 Riendeau served as LCPO of MDSU2 Detachment BRAVO prior to his

commissioning as Chief Warrant Officer. As

a CWO he is currently assigned as one of

three Detachment OIC’s at MDSU-2.

Special thanks to the Commander in Chief

Atlantic Salvage and Special Operations

Officer CAPT. (sel) Phillip Beierl for his

invaluable assistance in this endeavor.

Members involved in the Operation:

CLF: LCDR Jess Riggle

CNSL: LCDR Rich Blank

MDSU2:

CAPT (sel) Philip Beierl

CWO4 Tom Ross

HTCM Scott Heineman

BMC James Mariano

MMC Roger Riendeau

HTC Mike Lutz

BMC Rueben Finger

BM1 Jeff Annon

EN1 Neil Wolfe

HM1 Everett Hairston,

QM1 Geoffrey Ives

HT1 Anthony Mabry

EN2 John Golden

GM2 Chad Dillon

HT1 Anthony Mabry

EN2 John Golden

HT1 Anthony Mabry

EN2 John Golden

GM2 Chad Dillon

SM2 Jorge Guillen

GM2 Shane Keebler

GM2 James Urban

HT2 Andrew Cowan

HT2 Larry Langdon

DC2 Bryan Clark

NAVSEA:

Mike Dean

LCDR Scott Mattingly

LCDR Greg Baumann

LT Rob McCLellan

Denise Brown

Jim Ruth
22 March 2001

(NDSTC continued from page 13)

clude three hyperbaric complexes that allow simulated dives to 600 feet, a 347,000-

cubic foot gas farm to support hyperbaric

diving operations and a medical facility

with limited laboratory and emergency capabilities.

The school recently received delivery of YDT-17 Neptune and YDT-18

Poseidon—the newest class of diving

support vessels in the U.S. Navy. Each

$7M craft is 131 feet in length with a 27

foot beam. The aluminum-hulled shallow

draft vessels are equipped with dual diesel-driven water-jet drives and throughhull bow thrusters. They are capable of 18

knots and cruise at 15 knots. The YDTs

replaced WWII vintage craft and have an

expected service life of 40 years.

The center also works closely with

the Navy Experimental Diving Unit, located across the bayou, and Navy fleet

diving units to keep its courses up-to-date

and relevant to the diving community.

“We need to remember the heritage and

investment we have here,” notes CDR

Helmkamp. “The relationships we share

with Coastal Systems Station and the

Navy Experimental Diving Unit represent

an unbeatable group when it comes to the

advancement of naval, salvage and commercial diving.”For more information, visit

NDSTC’s website at: www.cnet.navy.mil/

ndstc.

Lieutenant Commander Bredemeier was

commissioned through Officer Candidate

School, Newport Rhode Island in Feb 1987.

He now serves as the Executive Officer for

NDSTC.

(Pacific Reach continued from page 3)

The 2001 MDV/CWO Conference will be held at NDSTC on 2-4 May 2001. Details of the conference have been promulgated in

Diving Advisory 01-02 or you can visit the web site at http://www.supsalv.org/conferences.html. Also, a summary of the 1999

conference action items is viewable from the ‘What’s New’ to the right. There will be five working groups covering Salvage,

UWSH, Personnel and Training, EOD/SPECWAR/USMC, and CWO. All MDVs and Diving CWOs are encouraged to submit

point papers of interest. An electronic point paper submission form is available at the web page, and is the preferred method for

submission of point papers. Deadline for submission of point papers is 13 April 2001. An agenda for the conference as well as

the review of submitted point papers will be added to the web page prior to the conference.

MDV/CWO Conference

2-4 May 2001, Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center, Panama City, Florida.

MDV Reunion

The MDV Reunion will be held at the CSS marina, Panama City Beach, FL on 5 May 2001 starting at 1000. If you have questions call Joe Gray @850-230-9217 or e-mail him at jgrayretmdv@knology.net.

with the submarine. After the SRC returned to the surface, the ADS disconnected the down-haul cable. The average

time required by the ADS to descend to

the sub and connect the SRC cable was

approximately 30 minutes. Additionally,

the ADS assisted SRC operations by observing and relaying information on the

mating process to the SRC topside personnel. After a week of successful drills, the

ADS has proven itself to be a reliable tool

for SRC submarine rescue operations.

Pacific Reach 2000 successfully demonstrated many different ADS capabilities.

First, the “fly away” capability of the system was exhibited. Packed into two, relatively small, containers, the ADS system

arrived in Singapore two days after departing the United States. Also evident in

this exercise was the system’s ability to

operate from vessels of opportunity. With

a footprint of roughly 700 square feet, the

system needed very little space to operate.

The ADS demonstrated its ability to work

with the SRC, successfully connecting and

disconnecting three unique fittings to

three different submarines. Many other

benefits of the ADS system were displayed, but perhaps the most important

capability of this contractor-operated system was its ability to be seamlessly integrated into a military operation. Through

six days of intensive submarine rescue exercises, the Hard Suit team and the Navy’s

DSU personnel worked side by side, developing a strong sense of teamwork.

ADS involvement in submarine rescue exercise Pacific Reach 2000 was a complete

success.

LCDR Peter K. LeHardy (USNR) is a

member of NAVSEA Detachment 1006.

Prior to joining the reserves, he served over

ten years on Active Duty, first as a Surface

Warfare Officer and then as a Special

Operations Officer. After completing Dive

School in 1994 and Explosive Ordnance

Disposal (EOD) School in 1995, he was

assigned to EOD Mobile Unit THREE, in

San Diego, California. While there, he

served as the EOD Detachment Officer in

Charge (OIC) aboard USS KITTY HAWK

and as the OIC for the Marine Mammal

Systems Detachment. His final tour on

Active Duty was as the OIC of the EOD

Detachment at Naval Weapons Station

Earle, in Colts Neck, New Jersey.
March 2001 23

I

’m writing this as I prepare to transfer to

the fleet reserve after 22 years in our

great Navy. Since entrance into the diving

community in 1982, I have learned what

INVESTING can do for you. Investing for

Divers? Let me explain. As divers we really don’t work in our rate. Occasionally

we fix a diesel engine or braid a line, but

that’s not what appears on the advancement exams. Now is the time for INVESTING your time and resources to make rate.

Investing study time, getting orders to

duty that enhance your experience, taking

time to ask the right questions all lead to

achievement. First of all the thing you

want to achieve is rate. You do so by setting goals. More study time, schools, TAD

to ships, etc. Finally after time the INVESTMENT pays off. You make that next

rate.

Diving is the same way. You INVEST

the energy and fortitude to make it

through Second Class Dive School and

become a Diver for the Fleet. With that

achievement comes extra money and responsibility. Not satisfied as a Second

Class Diver, you want to increase your

value to First Class Diver. This means you

again have to increase the INVESTMENT

of time, study, and effort to attain that

goal which equates to more money and responsibility.

After making First Class Diver and

INVESTING your time and energy into

making Chief, you are ready to go the final

step toward Master Diver. The road hasn’t

been easy, but it really hasn’t been that

hard either. The years of experience, time,

and effort have prepared you to make that

next step. The INVESTMENT pays off

when you get the “FAT PIN”. It takes

time, energy, persistence, and discipline to

achieve your goals. The great news is that

they do pay off and the hard work and

motivation are worth every painful night

studying, every pull-up, every run and every late night on the side.

I wish someone had told me that the

By: ENCM(DSW/SW/MDV) Robert D. Carmichael

INVESTMENT part of becoming a Master

Diver also applies to investing money. If I

had put even a fraction of my Second

Class Dive Pay away in a savings account,

mutual fund or IRA, I wouldn’t be looking

for a job as I retire from this great Navy.

Just think of what we could do after 20

years if we INVESTED a little each time as

we made rate or the next grade of Diver.

Shipmates, I want to emphasize some of

the things that you can do to lead a fulfilling Navy Diving career as well as a prosperous one.

Starting this year the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year

2000 authorizes a Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).

This is a way for you to save a portion of

your base pay in a special account. The

money placed in this account and its earnings is not taxed until it is withdrawn.

This plan is offered to assist you in

achieving your financial goals. There are

numerous ways in which to put away

some of that Dive pay for future use, such

as IRAs (individual retirement accounts),

CDs, Mutual Funds, and other safe ways

to start an INVESTMENT plan.

Just as you climb the Navy ladder as

a Diver and Sailor, start climbing the financial ladder as well. I just wish that when I

was an EN2 (DV) that someone would

have made me realize how much money I

wasted that I could have saved. By INVESTING in your career as a Navy Diver

and in your and your family’s financial security, you will be much better off after 20

years.

Finally, I would like to use the last remaining space to say “Thanks to the Diving Community”. I have had a rewarding

and exciting career, and it all comes from

the family known as Divers. I want you all

to know that it has been an Honor to serve

with you and an even greater Honor to

serve for you.

Master Diver Carmichael has spent tours on

USS Safeguard (ARS-25), USS Bolster

(ARS-38), USS Conserver (ARS-39), Subase

Pearl Harbor, USS Canopus (AS-34),

MDSU-1 Pearl Harbor, Ship Repair Facility

Yokosuka, and will retire from SPAWAR

(formerly NOSC) San Diego.

Master Diver Robert Carmichael
24 March 2001

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

SEA 00C

NAVAL SEA SYSTEMS COMMAND

2531 JEFFERSON DAVIS HIGHWAY

ARLINGTON VA 22242-5160

Official Business