INTRODUCTION 



In order to gather information on the performance of materials as 

 structural components of fixed ocean facilities the Criteria and Methods 

 Program of the Chesapeake Division (CHESDIV) , NAVFAC has initiated a 

 project to develop and apply techniques to maximize the amount, quality, 

 and applicability of data obtained from the inspection of objects retrieved 

 from the ocean. In order to develop techniques to maximize the benefit 

 of these inspections, guidelines for the inspection of structures recovered 

 from the sea have been prepared, exercised, and, as appropriate, revised. 

 The main purpose of these guidelines is to set forth procedures for 

 inspection of objects recovered from the sea which can be uniformly 

 applied by field personnel with limited expertise in the field of marine 

 corrosion and which will result in the accumulation of data which can be 

 compared with data obtained by other field personnel from inspection of 

 other objects. The gathering of information in this manner is cost 

 effective when compared with normal corrosion testing because the costs 

 of specimen procurement, specimen preparation, specimen exposure, and 

 specimen retrieval, which are a large portion of the cost of most 

 marine corrosion testing, are eliminated. An additional advantage of 

 gathering information in this manner is that actual components of ocean 

 structures are evaluated. The major disadvantage of data gathered in 

 this manner is that, due to incomplete documentation of the structure 

 prior to emplacement, the data are normally of a qualitative or semi- 

 quantitative nature. Quantitative data such as corrosion rates are not 

 normally obtainable from such inspections. 



In order both to validate the guidelines for inspection of objects 

 recovered from the sea and to gather preliminary data on the performance 

 of materials as structural components of fixed ocean facilities, 

 CHESDIVNAVFAC has sponsored the inspection of "objects of opportunity" 

 recovered from the sea. 



One such object was the AUTEC acoustic array, portions of which 

 were retrieved from the Tongue-of -the-Ocean, Bahama Islands, in March 

 1974 for repair and refurbishment. 



In addition to the validation of inspection guidelines and gathering 

 of material performance data, the field inspection of the retrieved 

 portion of the array was intended to assist in the determination of the 

 extent to which undamaged or unrecovered portions of the existing array 

 could be utilized in the refurbished array. Also, during a precruise 

 standby period, a replacement acoustic string was cursorily inspected 

 after retrieval from a 6-month test exposure in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 

 Harbor. 



