and a liquid oxygen-passive carbon dioxide 

 removal system for life support. BE1\ 

 FRANKLIN was transported to West Palm 

 Beach, Florida in 1968 for sea trials prepara- 

 tory to the Gulf Stream Drift Mission. 



In the midst of the increasing undersea 

 tempo prospects for the future were taking a 

 disquieting turn. At an April 1968 Annual 

 Conference of the American Society of 

 Oceanography in Los Angeles, California, 

 Mr. Thomas Horton, former Marketing Di- 

 rector of Westinghouse's DEEPSTAR 4000, 

 presented some chilling news to potential 

 submersible lessors (39). Alluding to the de- 

 pendence of the Navy submersibles now op- 

 erating on Navy Research and Development 

 programs, Horton foresaw a dire future in 

 light of the R&D funding cutbacks of the 

 past few years. He pointed out that indus- 



try's investment in submersibles was far out 

 of proportion to the market, and what mar- 

 ket was left would experience energetic com- 

 petition, with the weaker companies falling 

 by the wayside. 



Furthermore, Horton revealed, it was 

 doubtful if any leasing programs to date 

 were profitable. He stated that Westing- 

 house's 6-month lease of the DIVING SAU- 

 CER was not profitable, and surmised that 

 International Hydrodynamics, Perry, and 

 Electric Boat, among others, had the same 

 experience: Profit on sales and loss on leas- 

 ing operations. Horton projected that this 

 may be due to a lack of capabilities and 

 pointed out ". . . sophisticated as they (sub- 

 mersibles) may seem, their ability to do eco- 

 nomically justifiable tasks in the sea is very 

 unsophisticated." 



F,g 3 26 On 14 July 1969 BEN FRANKUN began a 30-day drift ofl West Palm Beach. Fla that earned Us crew ot six 1,500 miles before they left Itie 49-fl-long submersible. 



(NAVOCEANO) 



58 



