10 76-242/07 



to the scene may not be so equipped. Once 

 located, the next step is to recover the sub' 

 mersible; and it would be very desirable for 

 each submersible to have a standard hooking 

 arrangement located at an established lift 

 point. 



A report entitled, "Self-Help Rescue Capa- 

 bility for Submerslbles"^"^ provides the 

 following list of items considered mandatory 

 as self-help rescue features for undersea 

 vehicles: 



° Acoustic beacon on a standard dis- 

 tress frequency (37 kHz) . 



** External standard lift points. 



" Acoustic communications on a standard 

 underwater telephone (8-11 kHz) . 



° Minimum operator qualifications . 



° Filing of dive plan with a potential 

 rescue unit. 



" Passenger predive briefing. 



The Marine Technology Society's Undersea 

 Vehicles Safety Standards Subcommittee^ ') 

 is preparing a plan to formulate submersible 

 safety standards. The objectives are to 

 improve safety in vehicle operation, and to 

 improve rescue response capabilities. 



The plan involves establishing three working 

 groups, one each on: 



" Personnel qualifications and training 



" Operational plans and procedures. 



" Emergency equipment. 



It also involves getting good representation 

 on an international basis, especially from 

 the major submersible operators, designers, 

 and builders. The results of this effort 

 will be documented in an MTS book "Recom- 

 mended Safety Standards for Undersea 

 Vehicles," to be published at the end of 

 1977. This will be a third in the series of 

 books prepared by this Subcommittee; the 

 other two are entitled "Safety and Opera- 

 tional Guidelines for Undersea Vehicles."^ ' 



Manned Submersible Accidents 



There have been seven major submersible acci- 

 dents within the last seven years, which 

 were reported to have occurred during under- 

 water operations, taking the lives of seven 

 persons. Last year's report' •' provides a 

 table listing six of these accidents, along 

 with data pertaining to their location and 

 recovery . 



In September 1975, there was a fatal acci- 

 dent reported involving the STAR II submer- 

 sible and its Launch-Retrieval Transport 

 (LRT) , Figure 17 . It was reported that two 

 of the divers, supporting the submerged 

 launching of the STAR II, lost their lives 

 trying to free the STAR II while the LRT 

 continued to sink uncontrollably, and the 

 safe diver depths for air breathing were 

 exceeded. The third diver barely made it 

 back to the surface. 



A good reference source, pertaining to sub- 

 mersible safety through accident analysis, 

 is Appendix IV of Book II, "Safety and 

 Operational Guidelines for Undersea Vehic- 

 les. "(^) A book entitled "Manned Submer- 

 sibles"^^^ contains a chapter "Emergency 

 Devices and Procedures," and another chapter 

 "Emergency Incidents and the Potential for 

 Rescue. " 



VEHICLE UTILIZATION 



Within the last year, there has been over a 

 30 percent increase worldwide in available 

 undersea vehicles, primarily in support of 

 offshore development activities, especially 

 the oil industry. The summation of data on 

 manned vehicles listed in Figures 18, 19, 

 and Tables 4 and 5, reveals that inspection, 

 mainly of pipelines and cables , was the 

 leading mission category worldwide, followed 

 by cable burial. A listing of the leading 

 mission activities sampled on a worldwide, 

 dive-day basis, in descending order are: 



" Inspection (pipeline, cable, etc.)~ 



50 percent 

 ° Cable burial ■ — 18 percent 

 ** Engineering, salvage, etc. — 



12 percent 



The following categories, representing the 

 balance of about 20 percent of the missions, 

 are placed in descending order, though there 

 are only small differences between them: 



