SEA AND SHORE SUPPORT 



The procedures and support required to 

 place a submersible on the surface and 

 "ready to dive" are extensive. To conduct 

 open-sea diving operations one must have a 

 means of transportation, a launch/retrieval 

 system, specialized technicians and shop fa- 

 cilities for overhaul, maintenance and repair. 

 The annual cost to maintain an operation- 

 ally-ready submersible can begin at $80,000 

 (SEA OTTER), which does not include a sup- 

 port ship or launch/retrieval system. Larger, 

 deeper-diving vehicles, such as ALVIN, may 

 require up to $800,000 or more annually, 

 which does include a support ship or launch/ 

 retrieval system. No figures are available for 

 annual support costs of a bathyscaph, but it 



undoubtedly far exceeds $1 million in the 

 case o{ TRIESTE II. 



TRANSPORTATION 



Before confronting the sea-going problems, 

 the submersible operator first must trans- 

 port his vehicle to a point where it can be 

 either placed aboard ship or launched for 

 towing. In some instances, such as the Cali- 

 fornia-based NEKTON, a cross-country 

 trailer tow brought it to Lake Michigan; SEA 

 OTTER was transported from one dive site 

 to another by a helicopter; in another case, 

 ALVIN made a trans-Atlantic flight from 

 Cape Cod to Spain; while ALUMINAUT, too 



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