mountings. Small zone anodes are utilized 

 freely to protect against electrolysis. 



Temperature 



To control the pressure hull's internal tem- 

 perature there are two temperature sensors 

 in each of the two spheres which activate an 

 electrical damping sys^tem to apportion air 

 through three heat exchangers. Excess heat 

 (from personnel and operation of electrical 

 equipment) is conducted through the hull 

 wall. Electrically powered heater strips sup- 

 ply additional heat if that produced by equip- 

 ment operation is insufficient. Toughness 

 (crack arrest) of the pressure hull's marag- 

 ing steel was improved by careful modifica- 

 tion of the chemical composition of the steel. 



Light 



To provide external lighting at depth, 

 DEEP QUEST has nine fixed lights ranging 

 in power from 500 to 2,500 watts; these may 

 be individually controlled. On each of the two 

 television pan and tilt mechanisms is a 500- 

 watt flood light for trainable illumination. 



Currents 



To counter adverse currents, in addition to 

 maneuvering, DEEP QUEST may employ 

 two 7.5-hp, stern-mounted axial thrusters 

 and one 7.5-hp lateral water-jet bow thrus- 

 ter. 



Density 



A steel shot (1,900 lb dry weight) releasable 

 ballast system is used to adjust for minor 

 seawater density changes. DEEP QUEST 

 normally operates submerged in a slightly 

 heavy (negative buoyancy) condition, taking 

 advantage of her lifting body outer hull con- 

 figuration and vertical thrusters. 



Acoustics 



To minimize the effects of sound refrac- 

 tion, the submersible's support ship TRANS- 

 QUEST attempts to maintain a position 

 nearly above DEEP QUEST during the dive. 

 Two 27-kHz acoustic pingers are affixed to 

 the submersible; one is omnidirectional and 

 one is vertically oriented by a parabolic re- 

 flector. A directional hydrophone antenna on 

 TRANSQUEST provides the relative bearing 

 to DEEP QUEST and a modification to the 

 submersible's underwater telephone (UQC) 



provides range information on a digital read- 

 out. 



Sea State 



TRANSQUESTs launch/retrieval system 

 (see Chap. 12), a hydraulically-powered ele- 

 vator platform mounted in the open-stern- 

 well, is marginally effective at sea state 4 in 

 short period waves, optimizing at longer pe- 

 riod swells. 



Bottom Conditions 



DEEP QUEST'S outer hull is streamlined 

 and rugged. Two skids on the bottom of the 

 vehicle protect it against damage and hold it 

 high enough off the bottom to inhibit the 

 possibility of accidentally taking aboard sedi- 

 ment. Object avoidance/search sonar pro- 

 vides for full-scale range indications from 15 

 to 1,500 yards. 



VEHICLE PERFORMANCE 



Viewing 



For direct viewing, DEEP QUEST incorpo- 

 rates two viewports: one in the forward hull 

 looks down and forward; one in the aft hull 

 looks directly down through a hatch located 

 on the bottom of the aft hull. The aft view- 

 port is equipped with an optical remote view- 

 ing system incorporating an external "fish- 

 eye" lens. Augmenting the viewports are two 

 (port/starboard) pan- and tilt-mounted TV 

 cameras; one bow-mounted TV camera, and 

 one sail-mounted, 360-degree-vision, peri- 

 scope-scanning, TV camera, and a fifth cam- 

 era mounted as desired to observe a particu- 

 lar area or equipment for the specific dive. 



Buoyancy 



Four ballasting/buoyancy components are 

 incorporated in DEEP QUEST (Fig. 2.5): 1) A 

 Main Ballast System, consisting of two for- 

 ward and two after tanks (port/starboard), 

 provides 12 percent reserve buoyancy on the 

 surface and is blown free of water by com- 

 pressed air; 2) a Shot Ballast System, con- 

 sisting of 1,900 pounds (wet) of steel shot in 

 two cylindrical hoppers mounted outboard in 

 the longitudinal C.G. plane provides "fail 

 safe" ballast which is electromagnetically 

 held and dropped in the event of a total 

 power loss or metered out as desired; 3) 



22 



