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INTERNATIONAL STATUS AND UTILIZATION OF UNDERSEA VEHICLES 



Joseph R. Vadus 



United States Department of Commerce 



National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 



Rockville, Maryland 



ABSTRACT 



There are about 100 manned vehicles and 55 

 tinmanned vehicles around the world that 

 are ready for operational use or are under 

 construction. This represents an increase 

 of over 30 percent in one year. New systems 

 are going deeper and providing increased 

 payload capability. Depending on mission 

 requirements, there will always be need for 

 manned or unmanned systems. According to 

 statistics, the U.S. is the leading 

 builder and owner of submersibles followed 

 by France and the Soviet Union. 



The highest concentration of vehicles is 

 in support of the offshore oil industry, 

 especially in the North Sea. Following 

 this activity, vehicles are mainly used 

 for inspection, cable laying, salvage, 

 coral harvesting, geology, fisheries, and 

 environmental missions. 



Over the last seven years, there have been 

 seven serious accidents reported taking 

 the lives of seven persons. Most of the 

 new vehicles are classified by one of six 

 classification societies. There is a need 

 for international standardization on cer- 

 tain items pertaining to improved safety, 

 especially during emergencies, search and 

 rescue. 



The major trends in vehicle design pertain 

 to designing completely integrated vehicle 

 systems, which, in addition to the vehicle, 

 includes support ship, handling gear for 

 launch and retrieval, and logistic support. 

 The major problem is still the launch and 

 retrieval of vehicles, especially in heavy 

 seas. 



INTRODUCTION 



Over the last decade, the undersea vehicle 

 has evolved from a demonstration of tech- 

 nological capability and scientific 

 curiosity into a very useful means for con- 

 ducting a variety of imdersea work tasks 

 and research missions commensurate with 

 national needs. 



Unlike the early systems, the new undersea 

 vehicles are economically designed and 

 built to reliably fulfill specific mission 

 requirements. This approach is necessary 

 to maintain an edge in cost-effective 

 comparisons with other means. 



The undersea vehicle transports men and 

 equipment to the work or mission site and 

 serves as an underwater platform for 

 observation, sampling, measurement, and 

 performing various work tasks. Now that 

 undersea vehicles have proven to be a 

 valuable undersea tool, they provide 

 another optional means for satisfying a 

 given set of mission requirements. There 

 are 155 undersea vehicles : 100 manned and 

 55 unmanned that are listed by country and 

 characterized in tables 1 and 2. 



UNDERSEA VEHICLE STATISTICS 



Statistics on 155 manned and unmanned under- 

 sea vehicles on a world-wide basis are given 

 in Table 3. Of these, there are 100 manned 

 vehicles of which 86 are operational or 

 available and ready for use, and 14 that 

 are still under construction with most 

 expected to be completed before the end of 

 1976. There are 55 unmanned vehicles of 

 which there are 49 operational or available 

 and ready for use, and 5 that are still 

 under construction. 



