Test 3 3 (19 Mar 75) 



Tests 35 and 36 (20 Mar 75) 



The anchor, which was handled beneath the 

 A-frame on the warping tug, was lowered to the sea- 

 floor. The anchor fired, the gun assembly was 

 recovered, a buoy was attached to the line, and it was 

 overboarded. There was no test pull on the anchor. 

 Of interest was the method with which the anchor 

 was handled from a vessel with no boom or crane. 

 Figure A-3 shows the anchor just prior to being lifted 

 off the pallet beneath the A-frame. The task was 

 surprisingly simple and took only a couple of minutes 

 to complete. Later in the day, after a three-piece 

 causeway section was attached to the single-point 

 mooring, the anchor broke free. The fluke was 

 recovered and is shown in Figure A-4. The fluke hit a 

 rock ledge after penetrating only a few feet of sand. 

 The tug was mistakingly placed over a rock ledge. The 

 fact that the rock did not cause the piston to separate 

 from the fluke and break the linkage was particularly 

 significant. This indicates that an anchor with reason- 

 able capacity can be established in a minimum of 

 about 10 feet of sand overlying rock. With less than 

 this depth, the fluke could remain intact (as in this 

 installation), but after keying, the anchor would be a 

 "shallow" anchor and more susceptible to pullout. 



Test 34 (19 Mar 75) 



This installation resulted in a misfire, again 

 attributed to the new, reusable S/A. The firing pin 

 jammed part way down its passageway. The normal 

 procedure for assembling the S/A is to put the firing 

 pin in the chamber and slide it down its close 

 tolerance passageway several times to ascertain that it 

 slides freely. This was not done this time; the firing 

 pin was inserted after the S/A was threaded into the 

 breech to minimize back pressure on the arming 

 plunger and to guarantee that it would be in line on 

 bottom contact. This safety precaution caused a 

 safety hazard and has been eliminated from die 

 checkout procedures. 



Two anchors were installed and test-pulled by 

 using the impetus of the warping tug to set the flukes. 

 The tug was not set up to apply a controlled pull. 

 Each anchor moored various vessels; one anchor held 

 three warping tugs for a brief period before being 

 used to moor a three-piece causeway section. After 

 the operation was completed, attempts were made to 

 pull out the anchors by backing a warping tug down 

 on a slack line. When the line goes taut, a sharp jerk 

 load is applied to the anchor. Larger cables were used 

 with the sand flukes to better match line and anchor 

 resistance. A 7/8-inch 6 x 19 extra-improved plow 

 steel wire rope now replaces a 3/4-inch 6 x 19 wire 

 rope. The larger line will be used with all future 

 anchors. 



Figure A-4. Sediment fluke for CEL 20K anchor 

 after firing into a rock seafloor. 



34 



