sure (Fig. 3.29). Diesel-electric motors would 

 provide it with surface propulsion and auton- 

 omy of operations. Lead-acid batteries would 

 supply submerged power, and in combination 

 with its life support system, a submerged 

 dive of 8 days would be possible for the 10- 

 uan crew. However, when the pressure hulls 

 were constructed and joined, further work on 

 ARGYRONETE was halted to reconsider the 

 project from a financial viewpoint and to 

 study future uses of the vehicle (43). No 

 further work has been reported since Octo- 

 ber 1971. 



In 1970, Westinghouse Corp. also halted 

 construction on the DEEPSTAR 20000. Pos- 

 sibly anticipating a Federal customer, design 

 work on the 20,000-ft vehicle began in the 

 optimistic atmosphere of 1966, but by 1970 

 Westinghouse, like others, could read the tea 

 leaves and no customer for the $5 to $10 

 million submersible was foreseen. With the 

 pressure hull and many other components 

 completed, the never-assembled DEEPSTAR 

 20000 went into storage. 



With little need for a second BEAVER, 

 North American Rockwell sold a spare set of 

 BEAVER pressure hulls to International Hy- 



drodynamics who configured the hulls into 

 the lock-out vehicle SDL-1 for Canadian 

 Forces. Externally similar to the PISCES- 

 class submersible, the 2,000-ft, 6-man SDL-1 

 is capable of lock-out to 1,000 feet and would 

 augment Canadian Forces' capability for mil- 

 itary and scientific tasks. 



Like their Canadian counterpart, the U.S. 

 Navy also took delivery on a submersible in 

 1970, the first Deep Submergence Rescue 

 Vehicle (DSRV-1). Capable of rescuing 24 

 men at a time from 3,500 feet (to be uprated 

 to 5,000 ft), DSRV-1 (Fig. 3.30) was, and 

 remains, the most complex, sophisticated un- 

 dersea vehicle today, but the price tag was 

 far beyond 1964 expectations. Originally esti- 

 mated at $3 million apiece, based on ALV/TV's 

 cost, DSRV-1 cost an estimated $43 million 

 (44). The original DSSRG recommendation 

 for 12 such vehicles for a total of $55 million 

 was, to say the least, embarrassingly shy of 

 the mark. Indeed, embarassment was a com- 

 mon attribute among the earlier prognosti- 

 cators of the nation's future in the sea. By 

 the end of 1970, the deep submersible leas- 

 ing/building curve was plummeting down- 

 ward in the U.S. and the largest customer, 



Fig. 3 29 The pressure hulls of ARGYFtONETE Oftering, in concept, capabilities tor undenwater work tar beyond ttiat o( present submersibles. ARGYRONEJE tias yet to proceed 



trom ttiis point ot construction shown in 1971, (Thomas Horlon) 



62 



