Willard Franklyn Searle Capt . Willard Franklyn " Bill " Searle Jr . USN ( ret . ) ( January 17 , 1924 – March 31 , 2009 ) was an American ocean engineer who was principally responsible for developing equipment and many of the current techniques utilized in United States Navy diving and salvage operations . Background . Searle was born January 17 , 1924 in Columbus , Ohio . He graduated from Bexley High School in 1941 and received the school ' s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1992 . The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor occurred during his first year at Washington and Lee University prompting a transfer to the US Naval Academy where he graduated in 1945 ( Class of 1946 ) . In 1945 , Searle marched with his Naval Academy Company to accompany the late President Franklin D . Roosevelt from Union Station to the White House . Searle then went on to graduate work in naval architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology attaining a master ' s degree in 1952 . Later that year , Searle was assigned as an Engineering Duty Officer in salvage , diving and ocean engineering . Naval career . Searle ' s first diving experience came in 1946 while serving in the destroyer USS " Meredith " before transferring to the USS " Weiss " where he was introduced to Underwater Demolition Team techniques . Searle then trained at the Naval School of Diving and Salvage at the Washington Navy Yard , where he became a deep - sea helium - oxygen diving officer . He was then assigned to two tours at the Charleston Naval Shipyard . From 1957 to 1959 , he was actively evaluating equipment ranging from diving watch es to closed circuit breathing apparatus design at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit . Searle then served two years as Chief Engineer on the USS " Providence " before attending the Command and Staff Course of the Naval War College in Newport , Rhode Island in 1961 . Following two years as Pacific Fleet Salvage Officer in Pearl Harbor , Searle returned to Washington as the Navy Supervisor of Salvage . He served in this role from 1964 to 1969 , where he established the Navy Directorate of Ocean Engineering . As the Navy Supervisor of Salvage , Searle was responsible for the planning and buildup for the salvage and harbor clearance forces in South Vietnam , as well as many major salvage and deep ocean search and recovery projects such as the location of the sunken nuclear submarine USS " Scorpion " . He was also responsible for coordinating the recovery of the H - Bomb lost off Palomares , Spain as a part of Technical Advisory Group ( TAG ) , Chaired by RADM L . V . Swanson . Speaking on the H - bomb recovery , Searle noted that " When you think about what we did , it had never been done before " . In 1968 , Searle co - authored the first National Oil and Hazardous Materials Pollution Contingency Plan . Searle participated in SEALAB III , working with Dr . John Piña Craven , the U . S . Navy ' s head of the Deep Submergence Systems Project . The Legion of Merit was awarded to Searle on February 24 , 1970 by RADM Maurice H . Rindskopf with a citation that states " . . . CAPT Searle contributed more than any other individual since World War II to the high state of readiness which now exists in the Navy ’ s salvage and diving organization . " . Civilian career . Following his retirement in 1970 , Searle founded a consulting firm , Searle Consortium Int . In 1971 , Searle served as a special consultant in charge of removing shipwrecks from waterways during United Nations operations in Bangladesh . The Searle Consortium changed its name to MacKinnon - Searle Consortium in 1990 when Rear Admiral Malcolm MacKinnon USN ( ret ) joined the team . Searle also remained an active member of the marine salvage community by serving as an adviser on several committees . Searle was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers , the American Society of Naval Engineers , the Marine Technology Society , the Royal Institution of Naval Architects , and the Society of American Military Engineers . Searle helped found the American Institute of Nautical Archaeology . He also chaired the American National Standards Institute ( ANSI ) Committee to develop a standard addressing pressure vessels for human occupancy . Searle became a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1982 . The Harold E . Saunders Award was presented to Searle by the American Society of Naval Engineers in 1985 . Searle was awarded the 1986 Lockheed Martin Award for Ocean Science and Engineering by the Marine Technology Society . In 1988 , Special Recognition was awarded by the Undersea Medical Society for his continuing support of physiological and medical research in undersea development . The potential for release of PCB in the salvage of the barge " Irving Whale " prompted the Canadian Government to contact Searle for evaluation of the aft lift cradle in 1996 . Death . Searle died March 31 , 2009 at his home in Alexandria , Virginia of complications from Parkinson ' s disease . Searle ' s two marriages both ended in divorce . His survivors include three daughters from his first marriage , two stepdaughters from his second marriage , eight grandchildren ; and three great - grandchildren . Searle is scheduled for interment with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on August 10 , 2009 .