make" connectors, designed to operate at 6,000-foot depths, were developed 

 and fabricated and are currently undergoing long-term immersion tests. 



Construction was completed on a 100-ton rigid salvage pontoon system. 

 The system was successfully tested during the fall of 1971 in water depths 

 of 150 feet using compressed air for dewatering. Further tests, using liquid 

 nitrogen and hydrazine, are scheduled. Initial indications show the variable 

 buoyancy control is working well. 



The Mark II Deep Diving System successfully completed certification 

 dives to depths as great as 935 feet unmanned and 850 feet manned. The 

 operational evaluation will be completed by the end of Fiscal Year 1972 when 

 divers who are saturated to a depth of 850 feet will use the system to make 

 excursion dives to 1,000 feet. 



In biomedicine, Navy developed and is field-evaluating portable bubble- 

 detection devices as an aid to detecting decompression sickness; implemented, 

 with America's allies, an international decompression data bank ; conducted 

 initial animal studies with drugs protective against decompression sickness 

 and oxygen toxicity which show a markedly beneficial effect and suggest 

 future human use ; and completed studies demonstrating the feasibility and 

 safety of neon as a diver breathing gas. 



In support of submersibles, a 20-kilowatt gaseous hydrogen-oxygen fuel- 

 cell breadboard power module was developed for a protected one-atmos- 

 phere operation in a deep submergence vehicle. It will undergo testing and 

 evaluation this year. Significant progress was achieved in the area of 

 advanced imaging systems. Low-light sensitive television (TV) , polarization- 

 discrimination, volume-scanning, and range-gated systems were developed 

 and evaluated. 



Another recent achievement in improved materials for ocean applications 

 was the development of a syntactic foam for use at 20,000-foot depths. 

 This will result in a 30-p)ercent reduction in total vehicle weiarht of future 

 deep submergence systems. 



Various prototype underwater systems and components were developed 

 and demonstrated in the ocean environment to assess the feasibility and 

 potential technical performance capability of advanced systems. The more 

 significant of these are : the Transparent Hull Submersible (THS) Makakai, 

 a two-man free-swimming submersible with an operating depth of 600 feet, 

 affording the two operators an unobstructed panoramic view of the out- 

 side surroundings; an 18- by 35-foot towed-catamaran-designed Launch 

 and Recovery Platform (LARP), providing a stabilized platform for under- 

 water launch and recovery of submersibles ; a recovery device, AIR CLAW, 

 designed to work with a submersible and able to recover items ranging in 

 diameter from 12 to 18 inches and weighing up to 400 pounds ; a lift-cable 

 transfer unit designed to carry a heavy lift cable down a light messenger 

 line to a point of attachment, to which the messenger cable was previously 

 secured, on an object resting on the sea floor; a Diver's Navigation System 

 (DNS) designed to operate to depths of 850 feet for assisting divers or sub- 

 mersible operators in orienting themselves in the ocean environment; 

 SNOOPY, a surface-control, TV-equipped undersea vehicle which can re- 

 place a diver for many tasks to depths of 100 feet; and a Buoyancy Actuated 

 Launch and Retrieval Elevator (BALARE) designed to provide a submer- 



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