Operation III - Santa Catalina Channel, deep water. The objective 

 of this test was to demonstrate both the anchor's overall functionality 

 during deployment from a ship at sea and its ability to operate at deep 

 sea water depths. The operation was conducted aboard OSE's vessel, the 

 Oceaneer in the Catalina Channel in a water depth of 2460 feet. 

 Meteorological data at initiation of the test were a Sea State 4 and an 

 18-knot wind. Conditions decreased during the test period to a Sea 

 State 1 and a 7-knot wind. 



A marker buoy was placed as a reference to help the Oceaneer 

 maintain station during the operation. The anchor assembly was lowered 

 to the seafloor taking 25 minutes. The vibrator successfully activated 

 and ran for over one hour before the batteries ran down. Deck gear was 

 rigged to measure anchor line tensions and load was applied by moving 

 the ship ahead. A peak line tension of 52,300 pounds was measured during 

 anchor breakout. After breakout, the anchor assembly was returned to 

 the deck and it was determined that the fluke had not tripped. 



Two observations are pertinent with respect to this test. First, 

 the measured load is highly suspect due to manner in which it was 

 determined. A 0-20,000 pound capacity hydrostatic load cell was rigged 

 so as to measure the force necessary to deflect the main anchor line 

 between two reference positions 24 feet apart. An 1800-pound force 

 deflected the anchor line 3 inches and by trigonometric relationship was 

 translated by the contractor into the 52,300-pound measured force. 

 Second, the anchor line was found to be wrapped around the vibrator 

 when it was returned to the deck. The entanglement is believed to have 

 prevented the fluke tripping mechanism from being activated. 



Operation IV - Santa Barbara Channel, deep water . The primary 

 goal of this operation was to establish the vibratory anchor as the 

 anchor of a taut-line guide system for lowering objects to the seafloor. 

 The operation was conducted in the Santa Barbara Channel at an 

 approximate water depth of 1000 feet. The USS Cocopa (ATF 101) served 

 as the work platform. 



The anchor was lowered to the seafloor twice with the ship in a 

 free drift. The anchor was not successfully embedded on either attempt. 

 The first time, the motors did not activate probably because the anchor 

 toppled. On the second attempt, the motors activated but the motion of 

 the ship caused the anchor to be dragged along the seafloor. Thus, it 

 is believed that the dragging motion was responsible for lack of 

 success in both attempts. 



42 



