ence of scuba diving, plus the commercial 

 availability of relatively inexpensive diving 

 gear, produced an annual invasion of the sea 

 by newly-trained recreational divers at an 

 ever-increasing rate. 



Beginning in 1961 with the first SPORTS- 

 MAN 300 and in 1963 with SPORTSMAN 

 600, both sometimes referred to as AMER- 

 SUB''s (15), the American Submarine Co. of 

 Lorain, Ohio constructed shallow one- and 

 two-man submersibles aimed at the recrea- 

 tional market (as their name implies) as well 

 as government and other commercial activi- 

 ties. Various reports allude to 20 or more of 

 this class having been constructed (16), but 

 documentation is lacking. 



A diving enthusiast himself, Florida news- 

 paper publisher, John H. Perry, Jr., believed 

 that a need existed for recreational submers- 

 ibles to provide protection from sharks and 

 other predators. In 1962 Periy manufactured 

 his first successful "recreational" submers- 

 ible (the third one built), the 150-ft, 1-man 

 Perry CUBMARINE (at one point called SUB 

 ROSA), later designated PC3-X (Fig. 3.10). 

 But he soon abandoned the recreational goal 

 and felt the market showed a need for indus- 

 trial and scientific undersea "workboats;" to 

 this end he produced the 600-ft, 2-man PC- 

 SB in 1963. Perry advanced from a "backyard 

 builder" hobbyist in 1950-1960 to a profes- 

 sional submarine builder — today the full- 

 time producer of 12 submersibles of varying 

 depths and capabilities and numerous diving 

 capsules and several undersea habitats. In 

 the process Perry Submarine Builders of Ri- 

 viera Beach has become the largest single 

 producer of manned submersibles in the 

 world. But the impetus towards this produc- 

 tion began with the assumed need for a 

 recreational vehicle. 



At Long Beach, California, the first "gen- 

 eral utility" submersible {IDSUBMARAY ap- 

 peared in 1962. The 2-man, 300-ft-depth vehi- 

 cle laid claim to a wide range of capabilities: 

 "Sea floor surveys, search and recovery, ma- 

 rine life studies, underwater photography, 

 undersea research/development, inspection 

 of pipeline, cables, etc." Mart Toggweiler was 

 the first private owner to pursue the indus- 

 trial and scientific undersea market and, at a 

 lease cost of $500 daily, his corporation, Hy- 

 drotech, subsequently reported 180 SUB- 

 MARAY dives by the spring of 1964. 



Fig 3-10 PC3-X, the firsi ot thineen submersibles built by John Perry ol Riviera 

 Beach, Fla (Perry Submarine Builders) 



More modest capabilities went into the de- 

 sign of the first, and only, modern wooden- 

 hulled submersible, SUBMANAUT, built in 

 1963 by oceanographer James R. Helle of San 

 Diego. Unlike its earlier steel-hulled name- 

 sake, this SUBMANAUT was built of 3/4-inch- 

 thick, laminated plywood "Doughnuts" and 

 had a design depth capability of 1,000 feet. 

 The 2-man vehicle was to serve as a test 

 platform for various electronic devices, e.g., 

 pingers, communications systems, developed 

 by Oceanic Enterprises, a division of Helle 

 Engineering, Inc. 



The same year saw the first, timid-like 

 entry of large industry into the submersible 

 field, for up to this point the participants 

 were either federal governments or private 

 individuals. 



The nation's largest military submarine 

 builder. General Dynamic's Electric Boat Di- 

 vision at Groton, Connecticut, put forth the 

 first of its STAR (Submarine Test and Re- 

 search Vehicle)-class vehicles, the 1-man, 

 200-ft-depth STAR I. 



At this point it is interesting to note that a 

 number of reports from NEL scientists had 

 been published detailing the oceanographic 

 discoveries and advantages of man in situ. 

 The enthusiasm of the NEL oceanographers 

 and their Naval officer associates was infec- 

 tious and generated an optimistic future for 

 manned underwater research and surveys. 

 Significant, unique applications of manned 

 submersibles were coming from a respected 

 and highly qualified group of oceanogra- 

 phers and Naval officers (18); their influence 

 was permeating the "new markets" forecasts 

 of large American industry. 



Indeed, just a year earlier (July 1962) 

 Westinghouse Electric Corporation an- 



43 



