The Navy's Remote Unmanned Works System (RUWS), shown in assembly, 

 will be able to perform a variety of engineering and scientific tasks both on the 

 deep ocean floor and in the water column above. 



Connectors to couple electrical cables to underwater facilities or 

 instruments are being developed. These connectors are metal- 

 pronged plugs and watertight rubber sockets which will handle 360- 

 kilowatt loads and can be coupled or uncoupled by divers at shallow 

 depths or by submersible system manipulators down to 6,000-foot 

 depths. The development of other power equipment, a pressure- 

 compensated sea-floor battery charger and batteries capable of 

 multiple recharging under pressure, was completed in 1972. 



Launch and Recovery Systems 



Another technological area has come into existence aimed at 

 improving the methods of placing men and equipment into the sea 

 and retrieving them from it. This program has focused mainly on 

 three crucial problems: deployment of submersible platforms from 

 shipboard cranes, submarines, and semi-submerged ships; salvage 

 of large objects; and retrieval of emplaced items. 



A motion-compensating shipboard crane for installation of large 

 ocean bottom facilities is now being field tested. By automatically 

 compensating for ship motion, it keeps the object on the end of its 

 cable from surging up and down. The shipboard crane will be used in 

 SEACON II to place 20-ton structures carefully at predetermined 

 sites on the sea floor, 6,000 feet below, while the surface ship rolls in 

 response to waves up to 8 feet. 



60 



