Working in concert with the diver, who can 

 provide specialized functions, the lock-out 

 submersible will improve his performance by 

 conserving life support, removing the fear of 

 loneliness, providing additional power for 

 tooling and improving work time by using 

 the submersible's freedom for search and 

 approach to the work site. Henson predicts 

 that by 1980 the submersible and the satu- 

 rated ambient diver will be equals in annual 

 earnings (utilization). One might take issue 

 with such predictions, but the orders of mag- 

 nitude of submersible utilization shown by 

 Goudge are irrefutable evidence of an in- 

 creasingly significant role for such vehicles 

 in the North Sea. 



Predictably, Vickers' activities have not 

 gone unnoticed by other submersible owners. 



Fig 3 34 This 55-ton hyperbaric section ot PHOENIX 66 will be encapsulated into a 



70-ft-lQng submersible tor oil field work to 1 .200 feet with a crew ot seven (Sub Sea 



Oil Services. Milan) 



HYCO's P/SCES V and one ARIES are slated 

 for North Sea leasing under their new par- 

 ent organization. Peninsular and Orient 

 Steamship Lines. Sub Sea Oil Services of 

 Milan, Italy has acquired the PS-2 and the 

 PC5C and is building an immense, mobile 

 working habitat designated PHOENIX 66 

 (Fig. 3.34) for North Sea application by 1974. 

 Taylor Divers' TS-1 is now working on a 

 long-term charter in the North Sea and 

 other European firms stand ready with their 

 entries. 



The "new" future of submersibles is prom- 

 ising indeed, but the former participants 

 might correctly advise the newcomer to pro- 

 ceed with caution. Whether they will heed 

 such advice is speculative, for once again the 

 manned submersible finds itself a most 

 newsworthy item: 



"The energy crisis has created demand 

 for little submarines to lay underwater 

 pipelines and explore along the ocean 

 floor for oil. Suddenly the demand (for 

 submersibles) far outstrips supply as oil 

 exploration actitnty picks up.'''' 



—THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MOM- 

 TOR 



22 January 1974 



REFERENCES 



1. Beebe, W. 1934 Half Mile Down. Har- 

 court. Brace & Co., New York. 



2. Mark, R. F. 1967 They Dared The Deep. 

 The World Pub Co., New York. 



3. Piccard, A. 1954 In Balloon and Bathy- 

 scaphe. Cassell & Co. Ltd., London. 



4. U.S. Navy Diving Manual. 1970 NAV- 

 SHIPS 0994-001-9010, Navy Dept., Wash- 

 ington, D.C., 687 pp. 



5. Houot, G. S. and Wilhm, P. H. 1955 2,000 

 Fathoms Down. E. P. Dutton & Co., New 

 York. 



6. Maxwell, A. E., Lewis, R., Lomask, M., 

 Frasetto, R. and Rechnitzer, A. 1957 A 

 Preliminary report on the 1957 investi- 

 gations with the bfithyscaph. TRIESTE 

 (unpub. manuscript). 



7. Dr. Andres Rechnitzer, Office of the 

 Oceanographer of the Navy, Alexandria, 

 Va. (Personal Communications) 



71 



