WET SUITS 



273 



left open during swimming, so that the suits were flooded with seawater.* Although the aqua- 

 nauts reported that they provided adequate supplemental heating, they were not operating satis- 

 factorily because of the flooding of the air cavity within the suit. 



Fig. 105. Aquanaut Dowling assists Aquanaut 

 Barth in donning the snag suit over the elec- 

 trically heated wet suit. 



Four members of Team 2 were also fitted and provided with electrically heated underwater 

 swimmer wetsuits. Three of these aquanauts had had an opportunity to be indoctrinated in the 

 use of the suit and to practice using the suit in a salt-water pool, so that familiarity and con- 

 fidence in the suit were obtained before the suit was used on the sea bottom. These three aqua- 

 nauts found the suit to be most helpful in increasing the duration of their dives. One of these 

 aquanauts used the electrically heated suit with a battery pack for a swim of 2 hr and 53 min. 

 Inasmuch as the heated suit with battery power was designed to provide thermal protection in 

 50° F water for a duration of 3 hr, the operational use of the heated suit for a 2 hr and 53 min 



♦Editors note — Weighting of the heated suit was accomplished by the use of inner pockets, into 

 which small bags of lead pellets were placed. In the course of Team 2's submergence, one of 

 the Team 2 divers became buoyant upon leaving the habitat. Only by vigorous swimming and 

 aid from his diving buddy was he able to return to the habitat. The cause of the incident was 

 attributed to misjudgment on the part of the aquanaut. Nevertheless, the incident emphasizes 

 the need for extreme care in the design and use of gas-purging valves and the check out of 

 weight requirements by the aquanauts. 



