Chapter 42 

 SEALAB II SALVAGE TESTS 



W. F. Searle, Jr. 

 Naval Ship Systems Command Headquarters 

 Washington, D. C. 



INTRODUCTION 



In addition to making his West Coast salvage ship, USNS Gear (ARS-34), available to sup- 

 port the operation, the Supervisor of Salvage, U.S. Navy, sponsored a number of ship-salvage 

 oriented projects in Seal^b II. The general objectives of the several tasks were: 



1. To demonstrate the feasibility of conducting long-term salvage operations from a bottom 

 habitat. 



2. To determine the capability of divers to accomplish strenuous salvage work during pro- 

 longed saturation dives. 



3. To perform subjective in situ tests and field evaluations of several new or modified tools, 

 systems, and techniques in 205 ft of water. 



4. To determine the feasibility of scuba- equipped divers to use these tools in deep water, 

 versus hard-hat equipped divers. 



The general objectives were accomplished with considerable success. All assigned tasks 

 were performed during Team 3's tenure on the bottom. Diver tasks in general were performed 

 with dispatch and skill, and consistently in less time than had been programmed. It was clearly 

 demonstrated that the saturated diver, as a man, could handle the tools employed and accomplish 

 the tasks assigned. This is not, however, to say that the tools in each case were optimum. Nor 

 can it be said that all diver-support systems were satisfactory. On the contrary, the lack of 

 adequate diver-to-diver and diver-to-topside communications, and the inadequate body-heating 

 systems hampered the divers in the accomplishment of their tasks. That they nonetheless were 

 able to perform satisfactorily further emphasizes the feasibility of scuba-equipped saturated 

 divers, operating from a bottom habitat, performing typical complicated, strenuous salvage 

 tasks. 



In the following sections each of the several salvage tasks and tools will be described. 



FOAM-IN-SALVAGE (FIS) 



The Foam-in-Salvage (FIS) tasks were included in order to test a new salvage technique. 

 The use of cast-in-place, frothing foams had previously been employed in salvage only in 

 shallow depths, no deeper than 30 ft. The FIS project in Sealab 11 was oriented toward demon- 

 strating the use of this technique for imparting controlled or fixed buoyancy (as opposed to air 

 bubbles, which migrate) to complicated structures underwater. An aircraft hulk was selected 

 as the principal test bed. It is easy to think of this as a missile, a space capsule, or a sub- 

 marine. The Sealab II tests were particularly important in the BuShips FIS program in that 

 they permitted a realistic test of the system (Fig. 145) at depth and at low ambient tempera- 

 tures. Laboratory tests at these depths and temperatures had not been especially realistic. 



As stated, the principal test bed was an F-86 jet aircraft hulk which had been made avail- 

 able to the program by the Bureau of Naval Weapons. The wings and most machinery had been 



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