3 



CONTEMPORARY 

 DEVELOPMENT 



As surface craft progressed century-by- 

 century from muscle, through sail, steam, 

 diesel-electric and nuclear power, peaceful 

 undersea explorers merely dabbled beneath 

 the surface from cable-suspended spheres 

 and open-bottomed diving bells. Then, in less 

 than a score of years, mankind virtually 

 leap-frogged to the greatest known ocean 

 depths and produced an astounding array of 

 undersea vehicles for science, industry and 

 recreation. 



One interested in undersea history cannot 

 help but wonder: Why the 1960's? What pres- 

 sures or inducements were then active to 

 encourage investment of millions of dollars 

 in undersea exploration that were not pres- 

 ent earlier in the twentieth century, or, for 



SUBMERSIBLE 



that matter, in any earlier period? Undoubt- 

 edly, economic gain was the major underly- 

 ing motive, but what made several giant 

 American corporations and numerous small 

 companies and individuals believe there was 

 a market or need for such capabilities? There 

 is no single factor that prompted this surge 

 of activity; instead, the influences of several 

 separate and concurrent events were at 

 work; for example: 



— A demonstrated technological ability 

 to reach the greatest known ocean 

 depth in 1960, 

 — A space program amounting eventu- 

 ally to $35 billion, 

 — Loss of the U.S. Navy nuclear subma- 

 rine THRESHER resulting in a pro- 



31 



