138 STAGING VESSEL MOORING COMPLEX 



placed in stopped bights on the surface -support vessel. The placing of the wire on the towing 

 drum would permit easy payout and retrieval of the wire. 



When all was ready for on-site operations, the surface -support vessel was taken in tow to 

 the site from the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which was the staging point for Sealab II. The 

 surface-support vessel picked up the 1-1/4-in. wire leading to the ground ring, which was se- 

 cured to the mooring spud, and attached it to the 1200 ft of 1-1/4-in. wire. With the aid of two 

 YTBs, it drifted back toward Leg 2. At the same time, the Gear attached the wire on the tow- 

 ing drum to Leg 2 and steamed toward the surface -support vessel. When within about 100 yd, 

 the Gear attached herself to the surface -support vessel with a 6-in. nylon line. The end of the 

 1-1/4-in. wire was then passed to the surface -support vessel. She was now in a two-point 

 moor. The remaining three legs were run by the Gear in a similar manner. The mooring was 

 completed on Aug. 18, 1965. 



It took about eight hours to place the surface -support vessel in the moor. To facilitate 

 precise positioning, the wire was marked every 100 ft. It must be fully recognized that to 

 maintain adequate tension to keep the wire off the bottom and maintain direction, it is necessary 

 to use a ship of the size and horsepower of the Gear. The displacement of the Gear is about 

 2000 tons, and it has 3000 horsepower. The laying of Legs 1 and 5, which spanned the Scripps 

 Canyon, was particularly critical. Since the 1-1/4-in. wire weighs about 2.5 lb per foot in wa- 

 ter, the placing of the wire on the main towing drum for safe handling was almost mandatory. 



