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Legends of Diving Articles |
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This Day in Diving History
August 28, 1965 - SEALAB II leaves
surface
by Bernie Campoli, Sea-Lab Plank Owner
On August 28, 1965, the first of three teams of divers moved
into what became known as the "Tilton Hilton" (because of
the slope of the landing site) also known as SEALAB II. This
first day of the operation happened to be one of the divers
involved birthday; Bob Barth, who turns 80 today-Happy
Birthday Bob! The new pool at NDSTC is soon to be named in
his honor for good reason. Bob was one of the pioneers in
saturation diving which changed diving the world over. One
has only to look at how many civilian divers work in deep
water operations to see sat diving's influence. This program
also helped move forward projects like the man in space
program.
SEALAB II rested at a depth of 205 ft just off the coast of
LaJolla, CA. Whereas SEALAB I tested and proved the concept
of saturation diving, SEALAB II provided evidence that
useful work could be done. The Navy conducted physiological
and psychological studies to determine man's effectiveness
underwater for an extended period. Navy Divers not only
evaluated the structural engineering of the habitat. They
did things like working on a mock-up of a submarine hull,
tested undersea tools, conducted salvage ops using syntactic
foam; they set up a weather station, mined ore samples,
experimented with plants, and studied ocean floor geology
just to name a few things. They also experimented with a
trained porpoise named Tuffy from the U.S. Navy Marine
Mammal Program, to do courier work between the habitat and
the surface.
Each team spent 15 days in the habitat, but
aquanaut/astronaut Scott Carpenter remained below for a
record 30 days. During that time, he was able to speak with
astronaut Gordon Cooper who was in the Gemini space capsule,
orbiting the Earth. Also a congratulatory telephone call was
arranged between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Scott
Carpenter while he was still under pressure. The fact that
Carpenter was breathing Helium-Oxygen made him sound
unintelligible to operators. Much was learned about working
in the ocean and contributions were made to a large number
of undersea science and engineering disciplines. SEALAB II
was no doubt a success and represented another large step
forward in enabling human beings to live and work in a
hostile environment. SEALAB II was designed, built, and
outfitted at Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco
at a cost of $850,000. It was designed to house ten men at a
depth of 200 feet for 30 days. The habitat was 50' long and
12' in diameter, and included four separate areas: entry,
laboratory, galley, and living spaces. Entry while on the
ocean floor was from below the habitat, with divers emerging
into the pressurized habitat through an open moon pool.
Construction of SEALAB II's cylinder end bell used
technology ahead of its time. The large dish-shaped cap was
formed from a sheet of one-inch thick flat steel placed over
a die. In order to shape it, one hundred pounds of C-4
plastic explosive were distributed on the side of the blank
opposite the die. The whole package-die, blank, and charge,
weighing 60 tons total-was lowered 30 feet beneath the
surface of San Francisco Bay where the explosive was
detonated. In approximately .004 seconds the end bell was
formed. Explosive metal shaping on this scale had never been
attempted before. If you would like to see this end bell,
visit the Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, WA.
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