early tests, and Is currently undergoing some changes including 

 improvements to its main propulsion system. The DSRV-II will be 

 ready soon for launching. Our goal with these vehicles and their 

 attendant systems is a capability of rescuing personnel down to 

 submarine crush depth. They will be made available on request to 

 other governments and some are already making the necessary modi- 

 fications required for utilizing their services. 



Our first nuclear propelled deep sea vehicle the NR-I , has 

 done some bathymetric work during her sea trials and is undergoing 

 continuing tests to determine the limits of her capabilities. 



We are working on a Large Object Salvage System (LOSS), 

 The goal is to develop a capability of bringing up a submarine intact 

 down to a depth of 850 feet. 



An extension of the engineering effort is our Deep Ocean 

 Technology or DOT program designed to anticipate the multiplying 

 requirennents of the pioneering technology. 



For instance we are well past the blue print stage on our 

 proposed Deep Submergence Search Vehicle (DSSV) designed to 

 operate to a depth of 20,000 feet --a depth that accounts for 98% 

 of the ocean floor. 



An immediate concern is with new power packs. The old 

 style batteries just can't give us either the speed, power or endurance 

 now required. We need electrical systems that will operate in salt 

 water and we are working on thermochemical power sources. We 

 are currently sponsoring a design competititon between two firms in 

 this area. It is a long range item that already shows promise. 



Our new machines with all of the improvements we are 

 achieving are no better than the skills of the men who operate them. 

 To m.ake the point by hyperbole, if I had only a dollar to spend I would 

 spend 95 cents on training and equipping men and 5 cents on the hard- 

 ware. So the whole engineering effort is concerned with extensive 

 bio-medical work, particularly in relation to deep saturation diving. 



We are already working deeper than 600 feet in the open sea 

 and 1,000 feet experimentally. We are hoping to go to 2,000 feet, 

 perhaps 3,000 feet before we are through. 



This means we need more and more bio-medical data for 

 equipment design and for shaping the selection, training, operational 

 use and health care of our aquanauts and undersea vehicle pilots. 



We are taking the field of underwater medicine from its 

 rather narrow corner as an occupational sub-specialty, for its 

 scope transcends its size in at least three important ways. First, 

 it has forced us to study the effects of pressure on living systems. 



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