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THE NAVY OCEAN ENGINEERING PROGRAM 



The NCEL "Padlock" anchor being lowered into the water. This 

 anchor is designed to support a load in any direction and will have a 

 depth capabiUty of 6000 ft. 



Deep ocean anchors will be of use in sea-floor construction for use as 

 foundation anchor or as a mooring for construction equipment. In the 

 design of deep ocean anchors certain constraints must be considered. 

 These constraints are concerned with the type and degree of restraint, 

 holding power, permanence, and simplicity of placement. 



As a solution to these constraints, an investigation was undertaken into 

 the development of an anchor that could be rapidly and surely placed by 

 free fall impetus and could be used to secure small to medium sized objects 

 such as buoys, floats, and barges on station in deep ocean areas. A free 

 fall anchor was tested unsuccessfully, and as a result it was concluded that 

 means additional to, or independent of, free fall impetus would be neces- 

 sary to achieve the depths of imbedment required to develop sufficient 

 holding power. 



