operational and proof tests: To Confirm the 



designs and operational characteristics 



of the submersible. 

 These are further divided into Pre-Sea Trial 

 Tests and Sea Trial Tests. In the latter, tests 

 within a single dive or a series of dives are 

 made to the vehicle's maximum operating 

 depth with members of the certifying team on 

 board. 



Operability and Maintenance 



Written procedures are required for both 

 the normal and emergency submersible oper- 

 ations, as well as a checklist of major evolu- 

 tions such as repair, maintenance and in- 

 spections. Appendix III presents daily main- 

 tenance routine and checklist as an example 

 of such procedures. 



Survey of the Submersible 



Subsequent to all dockside testing, a sur- 

 vey of the vehicle will be made to determine 

 that it was actually built and will perform as 

 designed. The survey team is composed of 

 naval and applicant representatives. 



Tenure of Certification 



Once having obtained Navy certification 

 the sponsor user or operator must maintain 

 review records and procedures in order that 

 the vehicle remains certified. Certification is 

 not granted for the design life of the vehicle, 

 but is generally based on its intended mis- 

 sion profile and operating and test history. 

 Major overhauls, expiration of a lease or 

 breaching the scope of certification automat- 

 ically terminates material certification. The 

 tenure of certification is categorized into 

 three areas: 1) Sustaining certification, 2) 

 Continuance of certification and 3) Recertifi- 

 cation. 



1) Sustaining CertiHcation — This is action to 



assure that the submersible remains in the 

 "as certified" condition for the period of cer- 

 tification. Sustaining certification is gener- 

 ally the responsibility of the Naval user and 

 the civilian operator. In order to sustain 

 certification the responsible party must ap- 

 prise NAVSHIPS of the following: All design 

 changes within the certification scope or 

 those which could change the certification 

 scope; that repairs and maintenance have 

 been conducted so that all systems and com- 

 ponents within the scope of certification op- 



erate normally before each dive; that re- 

 quired periodic inspections of certification 

 scope systems and components have been 

 performed and the results forwarded; and 

 that the vehicle has and will operate within 

 its certified operational limits. Finally NAV- 

 SHIPS must be advised of all abnormal situ- 

 ations such as excursions below certified 

 depth, collisions, grounding, entanglements, 

 fires and emergency ascents. 



2) Continuance of Certification — This Category 



applies to the extension of certification be- 

 yond the initial period granted, and it nor- 

 mally accommodates continued use of a vehi- 

 cle which has undergone no changes to the 

 basic design, the scope of certification or 

 general operating characteristics. To main- 

 tain this condition all the requirements and 

 procedures of "Sustaining Certification" 

 must be observed. 



3) Recertification — Breaching the scope of 

 certification, major overhauling or termina- 

 tion of a lease shall cause the initial certifi- 

 cation to expire, and the applicant must rees- 

 tablish a scope of certification and fulfill all 

 the requirements that were necessary for 

 initial certification. 



External Instrumentation 



Instrumentation or devices external to the 

 submersible also fall within the scope of cer- 

 tification, although they may have nothing 

 to do directly with the operation of the vehi- 

 cle. The potential hazard of such instrumen- 

 tation — e.g., manipulators, transducers, 

 oceanographic sensors, cameras, etc. — may 

 rest either in their imploding, if not pres- 

 sure-compensated, or in their becoming en- 

 tangled and immobilizing the vehicle if the 

 instrument is not jettisonable. 



In the case of the pressure-resistant (vs. 

 pressure-compensated) component or system 

 implodable volume and standoff distance are 

 the critical factors. If the volume of the 

 instrument is such that by imploding it could 

 cause a casualty to any component within 

 the certification scope it must be mounted a 

 minimum "standoff distance from such crit- 

 ical components so that if an implosion oc- 

 curred the component would not be affected. 

 The guidelines for determining the criticality 

 of systems and/or components which may 

 implode and cause material damage are pre- 



639 



