Maritime Museum; DOWB was given to 

 Santa Barbara City College as a training aid 

 for engineering students; BEN FRANKLIN 

 was sold to Horton Maritime Explorations 

 Ltd. in Vancouver, B.C.; BEAVER, after ex- 

 periencing fire at 1,545 feet, was repaired 

 and sold to International Underwater Con- 

 tractors of New York. The promising aspect 

 of the sixties was only that, as a ". . . new 

 industry larger than aerospace" deep sub- 

 mergence would have to mark time. But as a 

 capability which improved with age, the 

 manned submersible capabilities of the 

 1970's profited by the experience of their 

 predecessors. 



A MORE CONSERVATIVE 

 APPROACH— THE 1970's 



Submersible builders of the seventies, rec- 

 ognizing that great depth equaled great cost, 

 pursued a more modest and inexpensive ap- 

 proach. Twenty submersibles were built from 

 1971 through 1973: Sixteen of these were less 

 than 2,000-ft depth, 13 of which were 1,200-ft 

 or less. The deep submersibles were the 6,- 

 500-ft PISCES IV and V and the 5,000-ft 

 DSRV.2. 



In another vein, the majority of submers- 

 ibles — 13 — were built outside of the U.S. or 

 for non-U.S. customers. Twelve were built 

 under contract for a buyer or were assured 

 of operational funding by a government or 

 research foundation. Those built on lease 

 speculation offered a particular capability to 

 an identified customer: The offshore oil 

 patch. A trend toward large-diameter view- 

 ing domes, or acrylic plastic hulls, was evi- 

 dent, as was lock-out capability. Absent were 

 dashing crew uniforms and talk of large 

 scale undersea exploration. The field of deep 

 submergence was maturing. If the manned 

 submersible was to survive, it would do so 

 because it could compete with the diver, sur- 

 face ship or other engineering, surveying 

 and research devices. 



Increased viewing capability utilizing 

 large, acrylic plastic bow domes was seen in 

 Perry Submarine Builders' 600-ft PC-8, the 

 1,025-ft TUDLIK {PS-2} and the 1,200-ft 

 VOL-Ll (PC-15). TVDLIK was constructed 

 by a Canadian branch of Perry for leasing in 

 that country, while VOL-Ll , a lock-out sub- 

 mersible, was constructed on order for Vick- 



ers Oceanics Ltd. in England. Departing 

 from the standard PISCES configuration. In- 

 ternational Hydrodynamics constructed the 

 1,200-ft AQUARIUS I (Fig. 3.31) with a 36- 

 inch-diameter bow dome and Perry-like, bat- 

 tery-carrying skids. 



A few blocks away from the energetic In- 

 ternational Hydrodynamics group another 

 submersible reappeared which once resided 

 in California. PAULO I was sold in 1971 to 

 Candive Ltd. of Vancouver and its pressure 

 hull was contracted for long-term lease by 

 Arctic Marine Ltd., also Vancouver-based. 

 This new firm retained the general PAULO I 

 outline, but configured and uprated the vehi- 

 cle's depth into the 1,500-ft SEA OTTER (Fig. 

 3.32). Adding a new propulsion system, lights 

 and cameras, and acquiring one of BEA- 

 VER's versatile mechanical arms, Arctic Ma- 

 rine greatly improved the capacity of the 

 original vehicle to perform a wider range of 

 surveying and engineering tasks. 



Mr. Edwin Link, an innovative and emi- 

 nently successful pioneer in the American 

 aircraft industry, turned his many talents 

 toward the sea in the early sixties designing 

 DEEP DIVER and a variety of ambient div- 

 ing habitats and devices. In 1971 Mr. Link 



Fig. 3 31 AQUARIUS I typifies the new breed of submersibles, sfiallow depth, 

 simple construction and operation and panoramic viewing (HYCO) 



64 



