Figure 16. Ordnance safe-and-arm device with 

 refillable gas canister assembly. 



TEST PROGRAMS AND PROCEDURES 



The anchor was thoroughly tested on land to 

 define gun system performance.* The ballastic perfor- 

 mance was in excellent agreement with predicted per- 

 formance. Subsequent to this evaluation, the 20K 

 anchor was either tested or utilized 36 times in a wide 

 range of water depths and seafloor conditions. The 

 intent was not to try to thoroughly evaluate anchor 

 performance under every conceivable situation 

 (because this would be economically impractical), but 

 simply to show that the system functions in a wide 

 variety of situations. In addition to the actual testing 



of the anchor, attempts were and are continually 

 being made to use the anchor in actual field installa- 

 tions, such as the SEACON II installation and an 

 amphibious operation off San Diego, to gather 

 reliability data. 



Test procedures for the anchor varied somewhat, 

 depending upon the test objectives, test vessel, and 

 water depth; however, a generalized procedure can be 

 described. This procedure is detailed in an operations 

 manual by Taylor and Babineau [7] . The anchor is 

 partially assembled, the launch vehicle and gun are 

 connected, and this package is placed in its cradle 

 where the fluke assembly, cable, cartridge, and firing 

 mechanism are installed and checked. The anchor is 

 then picked up, placed over the side, and lowered to 

 the seafloor at up to 300 ft/min. After the anchor has 

 fired and embedded, a load cell is attached to the 

 main load line unless the line runs over a mechanical 

 or electrical dynamometer. Load is applied slowly by 

 winch or ship's power, and a continuous trace of pull- 

 out load is obtained. Normally, penetration depth is 

 also recorded, and, in a few cases, load displacement 

 records are obtained. These generally depend upon 

 the resolution of the ship's depth recording instru- 

 mentation. A pinger is placed a known distance above 

 the gun assembly. When load is applied to the anchor 

 load line after the anchor has been fired, the depth of 

 penetration can be determined within a couple of 

 feet. The pinger sends a direct and an indirect (to the 

 seafloor and then to the ship) signal. The length of 

 line between the pinger and the fluke minus the 

 distance of the pinger above the seafloor yields the 

 fluke embedment depth. 



Soils data were always obtained at each site. The 

 amount and type of data depended greatly upon 

 water depth, ship's capability, weather conditions, 

 and available test time. In some cases, charts and 

 other documents indicating the general nature of the 

 site were all that could be obtained. However, near 

 Port Hueneme, tests were performed at established 

 sites where considerable in-situ and laboratory data 

 were available. Generally, the level of knowledge 

 about a site is derived from data taken from the 

 literature, a short core, and sediment taken off the 

 fluke (assumed to be from the deepest penetration). 



* The results of the test program are summarized in Reference 6. 



15 



