nounced plans to build a 12,000-ft DEEP- 

 STAR as a laboratory facility for its own 

 undersea studies, and, if enough interest was 

 shown, they would build further DEEP- 

 STARS for lease or sale (19). For further 

 reassurance Electric Boat had only to look in 

 its own shops where the 51-ft-long, 12,000-ft- 

 depth, 20-year dream-child of J. Louis Rey- 

 nolds (20) was under construction. ALUMI- 

 NAUT, an all aluminum submersible, was 

 being built to conduct deep-ocean explora- 

 tion into minerals and food resources and the 

 salvage of sunken cargo vessels (21). As early 

 as 1956 design studies at the Southwest Re- 

 search Institute (22) had begun on ALUMI- 

 NAUT and the idea was now becoming real- 

 ity. 



Meanwhile, oceanographers at Woods Hole 

 Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod were 

 closely following the construction of the 6,- 

 000-ft, 3-man submersible 4LV/A', being built 

 at General Mills in Minneapolis. ALVIN 

 (named after WHOI oceanographer Alyn 

 Vine) was funded by the U.S. Navy's Office of 

 Naval Research and, when completed, would 

 come under the technical control and opera- 

 tion of WHOI. The Navy's interest in deep 

 submergence was twofold: To demonstrate 

 the feasibility of new construction tech- 

 niques, materials and subsystems for possi- 

 ble application to future military subma- 

 rines; and to provide civilian and military 

 oceanographers with a vehicle from which 

 they, like their NEL counterparts, could con- 

 duct oceanographic studies applicable to 

 both military and civil requirements. At an 

 estimated $1 million, ALV/iV would be a rela- 

 tively inexpensive test platform considering 

 the $180 million plus cost of the then mod- 

 ern-day nuclear attack submarines. In addi- 

 tion, while the materials/components testing 

 was in progress, an equally important set of 

 environmental data would be obtained. 



To add further promise of a burgeoning 

 undersea market, in April 1963 the U.S. De- 

 partment of the Interior asked Congress for 

 funds to perform a feasibility study on a 

 nuclear-powered research submarine or 

 mesoscaph to conduct a wide range of biologi- 

 cal and geological studies (23). Explaining the 

 need for such funds, the then Secretary of the 

 Interior, Stewart Udall, stated: 



"We need better eyes in the sea; eyes 



Fig 3 1 1 General Dynamics' STAR I simulates rescue of personnel at 192 feet ah 

 Bermuda (Gen. Dyn Corp.) 



comparable in power to those with 

 which scientists are probing outer 

 space. We need to apply our techno- 

 logical abilities to more intensive 

 probing of inner space, the world 

 ocean.'''' 



With such promising indications did Elec- 

 tric Boat launch its STAR I (Fig. 3.11) for the 

 expressed purpose of more clearly defining 

 the problems inherent in underwater engi- 

 neering: Materials, structural and hydrody- 

 namic design, instrumentation, buoyancy, 

 navigation, control communications and life 

 support. 



For related purposes, the Data and Con- 

 trols Division of Lear Siegler, Inc., launched 

 their 600-ft, 2-man BENTHOS F as a test 

 vehicle for subsystems, particularly in the 

 area of propulsion. 



Into this atmosphere of cautious and hope- 

 ful anticipation, a tragedy arrived which 

 brought the field of deep submergence to a 

 fever pitch. On 10 April 1963 the nuclear 



44 



