62 



Shipboard Components : Diesel engine, electric generator, auxiliary generator, 

 cable winch, air compressor, bulldozer hoisting winch, operating controls. 



Support Ship Requirements : A non-self propelled barge of approximately lOOt 

 (110 tons) displacement with dimensions (LxWxH) of 16.5 m x 10.2m x 1.8m 

 (54.1 ft X 33.5 ft x 5.9 ft). 



2.3 TOWED VEHICLES 



Vehicles in this category rely solely upon a mobile surface support ship for 

 propulsion and maneuverability, and generally depend upon a surface-connected 

 umbilical cable for power and data telemetry. Ownership of towed vehicles is 

 divided almost equally between the industrial and government/academic community. 

 Approximately 19 have been constructed, 15 of these are operational (Table 2.6). 

 All industrially-owned vehicles belong to corporations involved in assaying 

 or mining deep-sea mineral deposits (i.e., manganese nodules). 



2.3.1 Functional Capabilities 



The following discussion regards functional capabilities and work tasks towed 

 vehicles have performed and are now performing, they are addressed under the 

 categories of Industrial, Military and Scientific/Research. Capabilities 

 and support requirements for these devices are contained in Appendix E. 



2. 3.1. a Industrial 



DSS-125, GUSTAV, MANKA 01, SEP are included in this category. These vehicles 

 are designed almost exclusively for assessment of manganese nodule deposits 

 to depths of 6,096m (20,000 ft). Functional capabilities (Table 2.7) include 

 television, photography and, in one instance, side scan sonar mapping. A 

 fifth vehicle in this category has been built and tested under a consortium 

 headed by the International Nickel Company. Details of the vehicle and its 

 data-collecting capabilities are proprietary. MANKA 01 has the added capability 

 of collecting sea floor samples and conducting in situ element analysis. 



2.3.1.b Military 



TELEPROBE and the NRL System are included in this category. Both vehicles 

 are designed to conduct detailed sea floor surveys (photographically and 

 acoustically) and to search, identify and locate objects of national interest. 

 Both vehicles are capable of operating to 6, 0%m (20,000 ft) depth. Since some 

 portion of the work these vehicles perform is classified, all of the work they 

 have conducted is not available. However, some of the past work includes: 



Search and identification of a scuttled amro.unition ship 



Search and identification of the submarine SCORPION 



In situ monitoring of poison gas cannisters 



Bottom site surveys 



Cable route surveys 



Sterophotographic bottom mapping 



2.3.1.C Scientific/Research 



BATFISH, CRAB, DEEP TOW, RAIE I & II, RUFAS I & II, S , DIGITOW and ANGUS are 

 in this category. All of these vehicles are supported directly or indirectly 

 by government funding. 



