Fig 3,21 Allhough its early career was short-lived, PAULO I began dmng in earnest 

 in 1973 as ttie renovated SEA OTTER (Anautics Inc) 



pressure sphere to effect rescue of trapped 

 submariners; in essence, it was the first in- 

 dustry DSRV and clearly demonstrated 

 Lockheed's expertise in deep submergence. 



Down the coastline from Lockheed's Sun- 

 nyvale plant, another submersible, P4t^LO /, 

 was launched (Fig. 3.21). Built by Anautics 

 Inc. of San Diego, the 600-ft, 2-man submers- 

 ible was designed for inspection, survey and 

 recovery on the continental shelf. 



Beginning in 1967, Captain G. W. Kit- 

 tredge, USN (Ret.), constructed the first of 

 several 1-man, 250-ft submersibles known as 

 the VAST or K-250 series (15). The submers- 

 ible was advertised for application to a wide 

 variety of tasks, and an acrylic plastic dome 

 on the conning tower and a 16-inch-diameter 

 forward viewport provided versatility of 

 viewing from the 10.5-ft-long submersible. 



Acrylic plastic was tested for the first time 

 as a candidate for pressure hulls. Built in the 

 latter part of 1966, plastic-hulled HIKING 

 (Fig. 3.22) underwent tests by the Naval 

 Weapons Center at Shaver Lake, California 

 in early 1967. Several new concepts were 

 embodied in HIKINO: An acrylic plastic 

 pressure sphere to provide panoramic view- 

 ing; cycloidal propellers for maximum ma- 

 neuverability with a minimum amount of 

 propulsion units; and a catamaran-type 

 chassis or exostructure for maximum surface 

 seaworthiness and unhindered visibility (35). 

 HIKINO was purely a test vehicle, but it was 

 a harbinger of things to come. One para- 

 mount criticism of submersibles was the re- 



striction on viewing. No matter how many 

 viewports a vehicle may have, from the 

 standpoint of safety and operational effec- 

 tiveness, more seemed desirable. The concept 

 of an acrylic plastic pressure sphere had 

 been advanced as early as 1963 (36), but this 

 was the first instance of its application. The 

 wider range of viewing through transparent 

 hulls and large diameter bow domes, pi- 

 oneered by HIKINO, would see increased 

 application in shallow submersibles of the 

 70's. 



1968 



If there was, in fact, a shortage of sub- 

 mersibles in 1967, it vanished in 1968 with 

 the advent of 12 new vehicles. 



NEKTON ALPHA, a 1,000-ft, 2-man sub- 

 mersible built by General Oceanographies of 

 Newport Beach, California, originally began 

 its career as an in-house capability of this 

 company to conduct contract jobs of its own. 

 Another 1,000-ft, 2-man vehicle SEA-RAY 

 iSRD-lOl) was built in this year by Subma- 

 rine Research and Development Corp., in 

 Lynnwood, Washington for inspection and 

 salvage tasks at $1,200 per day. 



International Hydrodynamics Ltd., enjoy- 

 ing an extended torpedo-retrieval contract 

 for the U.S. Navy in a test range off Na- 

 naimo, British Columbia, extended its depth 

 capability with the 2,600-ft PISCES II. 



Perry Submarine Builders produced three 

 submersibles; the first, the 3-man, 1,200-ft 

 PCS went to Pacific Submersibles, Inc., of 

 Honolulu; the second two were unique. The 



^^.y^l i 



Fig, 3.22 The plastic-hulled HIKINO set an early precedent for submersibles of the 

 seventies (US Navy) 



55 



