531 
In the postwar period, revived interest in submersibles began 
to emerge in the late 1950’s, with the conversion of the research 
submarine Severvanka and the designing of the Sever-1 (GG—57) 
diving chamber. Articles began to appear in Soviet newspapers 
and journals on plans for the development of bathyscaphs and 
other deep submergence vehicles. By the mid-1960’s, a number 
of vehicles were on the drawing boards, and one, Sever-2, had 
a promised delivery date of 1965-66. This vehicle was finally 
delivered in mid-1971. 
The most prominent group involved in submersible design is 
Giprorybflot,® headquartered in Leningrad, with a branch in 
Klaipeda, Lithuania. This organization was established in 1931 
and eventually was responsible for the designing of many research 
vessels and a number of the vehicles and submersibles to be 
discussed throughout this review. With few exceptions, Giproryb- 
flot acts only as a design function responding to the requests 
of fisheries and oceanography oriented institutions throughout the 
Soviet Union. It evidently has no voice in establishing priorities 
or construction schedules for the vehicles under design. 
In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, many articles on Western 
achievements in submersible developments appeared regularly in 
Soviet publications. This served to forcibly demonstrate the 
development gap existing between the Soviet Union and the West 
in the area of undersea vehicles. In an attempt to coordinate 
research and design facilities involved in Soviet penetration into 
the sea, on April 14, 1960, the Oceanographic Commission of 
the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences established the Section for 
Underwater Research. Since its founding, the Section has spon- 
sored a number of conferences devoted primarily to the develop- 
ment of undersea research vehicles and habitats. However, despite 
its impressive list of members and stated goals, it too seems 
to lack the decisionmaking capacity that will take a vehicle off 
the drawing board and put it in the water. This is not so true 
for the section’s coordinating ability in developing and supporting 
habitat and sealab programs... ”’ 
In 1923, the first Soviet observation chamber was produced by 
EPRON. The chamber, designed by the famous Soviet engineer, G. 
Z. Danilenko, after whom it was named, was capable of accommodat- 
ing up to three observers to depths down to 150 meters (450 ft.). 
The chamber was used for various salvage operations until about 
1931.7 During the same general period, the United States and Great 
Britain were developing chambers of similar design. 
During the 1930’s the Soviets developed hard, one-atmosphere, ar- 
ticulated diving suits based on German and Italian design. These 
anthropomorphic suits probably permitted dives down to the 150- 
meter level at that time, although their utility was extremely limited 
because of their great weight and vulnerability to leaks.® 
, eS eeUsarStSnnyy, proyektnyy institut rybopromyslovogo flota—State Planning Institute of the Fish- 
In ce 
“Ibid. 
® Ibid. 
69-315 O - 76 -- 35 
