The Continuing Saga Of The "Best 

 View" 



In the decade of the sixties the major users 

 of submersibles were scientists: The pilots 

 were responsible for the safety of the scien- 

 tists and for maneuvering the vehicle as 

 directed by their passengers. A great deal of 

 the scientific work consisted of observing or 

 sampling the bottom and/or its animal life. 

 When the operator was required to cruise 

 within a foot or two of the bottom or poke 

 around in narrow submarine canyons, he 

 wanted and got the best — and sometimes the 

 only — view of the very things the scientist 

 was paying to see. When the dive terminated 

 and the scientist was debriefed or wrote his 

 critique, invariably the complaint arose, 

 "The pilot always gets the best view!" This 

 placed the designer on the horns of a di- 

 lemma: If the operator is responsible for the 

 safety of the vehicle and its occupants, then 

 how can you find fault if he pre-empts the 

 scientist at the viewport when maneuvering 

 within and around potentially dangerous ob- 

 stacles? On the other hand, the scientist was 

 a paying customer; if he's dissatisfied with 

 playing second fiddle to the pilot, then he 

 might take his business elsewhere. A solu- 

 tion, of sorts, was found by using forward- 

 looking outboard television cameras which 

 the pilot monitored while the scientist used 

 the viewport. But, once again, when the 

 going got particularly rough the scientist 

 was obliged to yield the viewport. 



The questions to be resolved, then, are: 

 What is the best view and how do you pro- 

 vide it for both operator and scientist? The 

 answers depend upon the vehicle's tasks, its 

 operating depth and its pressure hull dimen- 

 sions. 



One basic flaw in most early vehicles was 

 that they were envisioned to be all things to 

 all men. When they weren't carrying scien- 

 tific passengers they would carry engineers, 

 and when they carried neither of these, the 

 operator himself would be the data-gather- 

 ing or task-conducting human element. In all 

 cases the operator must have as good a view 

 as possible to maneuver safely. In midwater 

 the problem is fairly simple, by monitoring 

 the obstacle avoidance sonar the pilot can 



relinquish direct viewing to the passengers. 

 But, near the bottom, complications arise. 

 When moving forward, the best view is for- 

 ward and down; when ascending upward 

 along the face of a cliff, the best view is 

 forward and upward. In a narrow canyon the 

 best view is forward, upward, left and right. 



It is apparent then, that viewports are 

 really needed everywhere, but this is not 

 feasible for several reasons, the most impor- 

 tant being that the structural integrity of 

 the pressure hull must be maintained. In 

 Chapter 5 we saw that if a viewport penetra- 

 tion is cut, the material taken out has to be 

 replaced by an equal amount of reinforce- 

 ment; furthermore, there is a dimensional 

 limit controlling the proximity of viewports 

 to each other while still maintaining hull 

 integrity. One solution is to make the hull 

 thicker and larger, but the penalty is extra 

 weight and cost. Another solution is to de- 

 crease operating depth, not always accepta- 

 ble if the market shows a need for greater 

 depth. Such trade-offs accompany every solu- 

 tion. Finally, the problem resolved itself by 

 virtue of operating depth and technology. 

 Let us start with the deeper (6,000-ft) vehi- 

 cles and work our way upward. 



ALVIN's viewport locations (Fig. 9.29a) are 

 fairly typical of its deep diving counterparts: 

 One looks forward, two look obliquely left 

 and right at a slight down angle and one 

 looks directly down. Another, much smaller, 

 viewport is in the hatch cover and looks 

 directly upward. The viewing effectiveness 

 in this arrangement depends upon the mis- 

 sion. If the task is to search for an object, the 

 pilot while piloting can perform this by look- 

 ing forward while the occupants look out to 

 the side. On the other hand, if geological 

 observations are required, then the best 

 view is generally forward and this introduces 

 competition between pilot and scientist. The 

 scientist can always use the downward view- 

 port, but he does so by sticking his head 

 between the pilot's feet. Fortunately, there 

 are at least several viewing options and 

 though they may not be considered first-rate 

 by the scientist, TRIESTE Fs single view- 

 port was abysmal by comparison. 



Proceeding upward in depth takes us to 

 the DEEPSTAR series and all Cousteau-de- 



453 



