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The Official Newsletter for the Divers and Salvors of the United States NavyVolume 5, No. 1 / June 2000

SUPSALV Sends ........................................... 1New Salvage Calculations ComputerProgram for Fleet Salvage Personnel ........... 3Command in the Spotlight .............................. 4Saga of the EX-SUSTAIN .............................. 6Reunion 2000 a Big Hit .................................. 700C Qualifies Friction Stud WeldingProcedure ...................................................... 7USS RUSSELL (DDG 59) Strut BearingReplacement .................................................. 8An Adventure in Pago Pago .......................... 9Book Review ............................................... 10

In This Issue

SUPSALSUPSALSUPSALSUPSALSUPSALV SendsV SendsV SendsV SendsV Sends

Omega 5 headed for the bottom in 10,000 feetof water off Pago Pago, American Samoa - Page 9

RADM Malcolm Fages signing DSWS Instruction, in back-ground QMCS(EOD) Steve Marshall, HTCM(DSW/MDV)

Chuck Young, ENCM(DSW/MDV) Dave Davidson, andMCPON MMCM(SS/SW/AW) James Herdt - 6

Ballast Tank Improvements .......................... 11NDSTC 20th Anniversary Update ............... 12USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74)Screw Change ............................................ 13EXO BR MS Approved forSurface-Supplied Diving ............................. 14Historical Notes ........................................... 15Diving Salvage WarfareSpecialist Approved .................................... 16Bayou Zachary ........................................... 18The Old Master ............................................ 19From the Supervisor of Diving .................... 20

As highlighted by our Front Page

picture and headline, the article of

greatest interest to Fleet divers should

be the one titled “Diving Salvage War-

fare Specialists” (DSWS). In it, and

repeated in CAPT Chris Murray’s

SUPDIVE note, are the names of those

who put forth the effort to get Fleet

diving the recognition it justly de-

serves as a Warfare designation. Let

me add my thanks to those who

pushed and prodded this initiative

along. This change will increase the

significance of the insignia we all

wear proudly on our uniforms. How-

ever, with the recognition comes in-

creased responsibility as there will be

greater emphasis on qualification

both as a DIVE SUP and in your pro-

gression to MDV and on to a commis-

sion. Treat it as a challenge and don’t

get left behind. This office will sup-

port you in every way possible.

A principal goal of FACEPLATE is

to highlight Fleet salvage. To that end

reports on the “Bayou Zachary”, by

Captain (Sel) Phil Beierl and the story

of corralling EX-SUSTAIN, by Jim

Ruth prove that what may seem im-

possible can be done given proper

planning and most importantly the

right people. To continue emphasis

on Fleet accomplishments our next

issue will concentrate on three high

profile aircraft salvages; first the re-

covery of JFK Jr’s aircraft off Nan-

tucket; second the EYGPT AIR 990

(continued on page 2)

Diving S

alvage Warfa

re

Specialists

(DSW

S) See p

age 16

2 June 2000

FACEPLATE is published by the Super-visor of Salvage and Diving to bring thelatest and most informative news avail-able to the Navy diving and salvage com-munity. Discussions or illustrations ofcommercial products do not imply en-dorsement by the Supervisor of Salvageand Diving or the U.S. Navy.

Articles, letters, queries and commentsshould be directed to the Commander,Naval Sea Systems Command, NAVSEA00C, 2531 Jefferson Davis Highway,Arlington, VA 22242-5160. (Attn:FACEPLATE). Visit our website athttp://www.navsea.navy.mil/sea00c.

Captain Bert Marsh, USNDirector of Ocean Engineering

Supervisor of Salvage and DivingNAVSEA 00C

[email protected]

Jim BladhManaging Editor

Head, Operations Branch, [email protected]

HTCM (MDV) Chuck Young, USNENCM (MDV) Dave Davidson, USN

Fleet Liaison [email protected]

[email protected]

F. Scott LassiterGraphic Designer

[email protected]

(continued from page 1)SUPSALSUPSALSUPSALSUPSALSUPSALV SendsV SendsV SendsV SendsV Sendsflight recovery off Rhode Island and fi-

nally the recovery of ALASKAN AIR 261

off Port Hueneme. I have a commitment

from CDR Lee Hall of Deep Submergence

Unit to provide an article on ALASKAN

AIR. With input from GRASP, GRAPPLE

and other units involved we can docu-

ment the difficult tasks these high pro-

file jobs entailed. My staff can’t docu-

ment your efforts without your input; who

was there; who made the recovery dives.

These are stories that rate being told.

To round out this issue we have in-

cluded articles on two high visibility

UWSH jobs both of which directly affected

deployment of major Fleet assets. These

articles, on the RUSSELL bearing staves

and screw changes on the STENNIS, high-

light team efforts by MDSU ONE and CDU

divers with industrial facilities and

NAVSEA personnel. Congratulations to

all those involved who enabled timely

deployment of NAVY strike capability.

Finally, from items to keep in your

toolbox perspective comes LCDR Jeff

Stettler’s article on the “New Salvage

Calculations Computer Program for

Fleet Salvage Personnel” and LT Eddie

Gallion’s article on “00C Qualifies Fric-

tion Stud Welding Procedure”. Both

describe new tools for salvage and

UWSH. No tool is of value unless it’s

used, so call or email if you have ques-

tions about these or any other tools in

our inventory.

Seeking former and current crew members of U.S. NAVY, ARMY, andCOAST GUARD “workhorses” (those tugs and salvage ships clas-sified as ATF, ATR, ATO, ATS, ARS, ASR, Ex-NAVY WMEC, U.S.ARMY LT, and WSA, and all YT-class Ships).

The National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors (NAFTS) EleventhAnnual Reunion will be held in San Diego, CA, October 4 - 8, 2000, atthe Handlery Hotel & Resort.

Contact George Kingston, 1611 Woodbridge Circle, East, Foley, AL36535-2267 or call (334) 943-7823 for details.

National Group SeeksFleet Tug Sailors

National Group SeeksFleet Tug Sailors

http://www.navsea.navy.mil/sea00c

June 2000 3

The 1998 Submarine and IUSS TrainingRequirements Review for Navy diving

and salvage training and the 1998 CNOSalvage Executive Steering Committee re-quested that NAVSEA 00C develop acomputer-based salvage calculations pro-gram, a “mini POSSE” – calculation soft-ware for light salvage operations. Thegoal was to provide a computer tool tosupplement instruction given in the Sal-vage Officer course, as well as provide acomputer tool for Fleet salvage calcula-tions refresher training and for use insimple salvage operations, where morecomplex salvage engineering analysis isnot required.

In response to these requests,NAVSEA 00C has developed a computerprogram (named “Salvage CalculationsProgram” or SCP), based on the RAPIDmode of the Program of Ship Salvage Engi-neering (POSSE). SCP provides the samebasic logic flow and calculations astaught in the Salvage Diving Officercourse, with special emphasis on conduct-ing stranding calculations as well as calcu-lations for afloat stability and trim (intactor damaged). SCP calculations are based

upon first principles. As with the handcalculations taught in the Salvage DivingOfficer course, data input requires knowl-

edge or documentation of the vessel’s hy-drostatic properties and weight. Analysiscapabilities (and results) depend upon thefidelity of the entered data.

SCP is a menu-driven Windows pro-gram and has full Windows functionality(e.g., files, print, cut, paste, view, etc.).Logic flow and data prompts follow stan-dard ship salvage calculation methodol-ogy. The screen shown above illustratesmenu arrangement and data input and out-put. A baseline condition is establishedunder the “Base” menu, including entry ofa vessel’s hydrostatic properties (i.e., datafrom Curves of Form), vessel weights andcenters of gravity, righting arm data (i.e.,data from Cross-Curves of Stability),strength information (i.e., section moduliand shear areas), and plan/profile/section

By: LCDR Jeff Stettler


Screen capture of SCP for Windows.

M/V SergoZakariadzeaground, Old SanJuan, Puerto Rico.

4 June 2000

Keyport, WashingtonKeyport, Washington

Keyport? Where’s that?

Just down the hill from the crossroads ofSCUBA Lane and Hardhat Street, in thesmall unincorporated town of Keyport,WA, sits an old chapel converted manyyears ago into a Navy Diving Locker. In-side this 1918 building sits a recompres-sion chamber built in 1930 with every oneof its 618 or so original rivets still perform-ing their job. Evidence of several “Diver-Alts” performed throughout many de-cades by highly creative and motivateddivers is reflected in a mismatch of decor.From Paul Hughes’ built-in desks and cabi-nets and Don Rogers’ MK 5 helmet andknot board made from small stuff, to theworkbench made from the bowling alleyfloor removed during a previous baserenovation (still sporting the pointers), thedivers have left their mark. Familiar divingpatriarchs like Master Divers RobertSheets, Jerry Kinnard, and Bobby Moore,or famous diving corpsmen like LarryStokes, as well as their protégés like FirstClass Divers Dearl Hankins and LeonardWinter (No “s”!), have all lived part of theirlives within the walls of the old locker.But, today’s legacy isn’t being built intothis historical landmark rather into thoseNavy Divers presently serving in the greatPacific Northwest and the people of its lo-cal communities.

In days gone by, Keyport divers de-voted most of their talents to the recoveryof underwater weapons on local testranges in Washington and Canada. Oper-ating from small craft, braving waves andcold weather, dodging sea-sick crew mem-bers and an occasional torpedo that disap-pears in the depth where it is more often

felt before it is seen. Divers have been anintegral part of the ranges forever. Start-ing in those early days with the MK 5 andprogressing to modern rigs including re-motely operated vehicles (ROVs), diversdid it all when it came to ushering ex-

hausted torpedoes back to the firing pier.This last decade, however, has seen manychanges here at Keyport. Not only is theMK 5 permanently mounted on its displaystand and ROVs are run by civilians, butthe old method of proving every weaponhas dwindled down to sample testing froma production “lot”. Though testing of tor-pedoes is a fraction of what it used to be,the diving locker has maintained its viabil-ity by doing what Navy Divers do best—improvising.

In the Keyport of the new millennium,you will find on almost any given day ateam of divers using the chamber for some-thing its builders never envisioned norwould have understood—Hyperbaric Oxy-gen Therapy (HBO). For the past severalyears, Keyport has administered on aver-age more than 250 HBO treatments for

dozens of patients. Not generally viewedby most divers as the Hooyah, deep-seadiving, salvage, ship husbandry, Holly-wood kind of stuff. HBO carries its ownweight when it comes to accomplishmentand job satisfaction. From a lifesaving

treatment of an 8-year-old boy strickenwith necrotizing fasciitis (i.e., a frequentlyfatal flesh-eating bacteria), to the savingof limbs infected with osteomyelitis, or thefrequent healing of wounds traditionalmedicine was unable to achieve, Keyporthas “been there—done that”.

We haven’t done it alone, though.Diving medical doctors at Branch MedicalClinic Bangor, Naval Hospital Bremerton,and the Army doctors at Madigan ArmyHospital in Tacoma, provided keen insightand their professionalism allowed them tosee and apply the benefits of HBO. With-out their help, most of those we havetreated would still need healing. Althoughthis HBO service has saved hundreds ofthousands of dollars for the Navy medicalcommunity in reduced CHAMPUS costs,its real legacy is the people we have

By MDV D.R. Briggs


Scuba Lane, Keyport WA

June 2000 5

treated and the lives they enjoy. To see ashipmate or his family members healed byHBO, after living for years with a medicalproblem, is worth every minute invested.It’s somewhat like the feeling Navy Sal-vage Divers had when they saw the USSBLUEGILL rise to the surface after 14years on the ocean floor. The big differ-

ence is that our patients lives havechanged , while the BLUEGILL went backto the bottom of the ocean. This mayseem like quite a change from our days ashairy chested Deep Sea divers, but it’s nota big change for Keyport. After all, this isthe only command in the Navy where allthe Divers go to chapel every day.

In addition, Keyport has teamed upwith divers from Naval Intermediate Main-tenance Facility Bangor/Everett and PugetSound Naval Shipyard to form a RegionalDiving Locker. Although there are stillthree distinct commands with Dive Teams,personnel and equipment are shuffledfrom locker to locker and command tocommand to optimize diving assets withinthe region to get all of the diving-relatedwork accomplished. This cooperative ar-rangement has allowed maximum effi-ciency at the least cost, without the con-fusion or temporary loss of productiontime normally associated with realignmentof billets and organizational structures.All lockers follow the same baseline-train-ing plan, qualify using the same PQS stan-dards, and use the same re-entry controlprocedures. Military supervisors from

ENCM(SW, MDV) D. R. Briggs became aNavy Diver over 25 years ago. Stationed inthe Pacific Northwest for over 10 years, hehas finally been pried loose from Keyportand sent to Millington, Tennessee to servethe Diving Navy in a warmer climate.

(continued from page 4)

other commands even qualify as ChamberSupervisors on Keyport’s recompressionchamber. Additionally, the owners of thedive lockers and recipients of these coop-erative diving services enjoy the benefitof knowing that their mission priorities aregoing to be considered and supported eq-uitably with the other commands. They

don’t feel like just anothercustomer without control overtheir own destiny. The payoffis a greater number of divingteams available with a broaderbase of equipment and profes-sionals to satisfy any givenjob. I’m sure the benefits ofthat are self-explanatory to all.

In our quest to expand our ho-rizons and find more divingjobs, Keyport has become apreferred diving service pro-vider for many outside localand non local entities. FromFleet mooring buoy inspec-tions for NAVFAC, to deep-

water aircraft salvage and augmentingCoast Guard diving teams in search ofsunken fleets under the ice caps, we’redoing our part to uphold the Navy Diver“can do” attitude. Naval Undersea War-fare Center, Division Keyport, is one of thebest-equipped commands for non-shiphusbandry underwater work. If we can’tdo it strictly with divers, we augment withour deep-diving ROVs and other assets,with personnel who operate underwater ona daily basis.

Finally (until we find something newto do), recent requests to support theArmy Corps of Engineers have kept usbusy working on shipping locks, harborbreakwaters, and other nontraditional ad-ventures. At any given time on any givenday, we may be working at Vancouver Is-land, Canada, one of the San Juan Islands,Dabob Bay, Hood Canal, Lake Washing-ton, Idaho, or any other place we canpunch holes in the water. This is diversityat its best.

For all of you who have served herein the Pacific Northwest, you know it’s notall fun in the sun. In fact, it’s only fun ifyou don’t like the sun. Land of the pro-verbial moist cloudy drizzle, it’s not hardto figure out why it’s so green and un-crowded here. But if you prefer cold clearwater, plenty of seabag storage space,clean air, no “water hours”, and a smallmilitary contingent (30 military), there’s nobetter place to be.EN2 Marler pilots the 35-foot work boat through the

Hiram Chittenden Locks, Lake Washington, inpreparation for an inspection dive.

CHIEF Strong drives the 70-year-old chamber downwhile CHIEF Wescomsupervises the HBO therapy.

6 June 2000


SAGA OF THE EX-SUSTAINSAGA OF THE EX-SUSTAINSAGA OF THE EX-SUSTAINSAGA OF THE EX-SUSTAINSAGA OF THE EX-SUSTAINBy CAPT(Sel) Phil Beierl and Jim Ruth

On January 14, the EX-USS SUSTAIN(AFDM 7), parted its tow line in a

storm off Cape Hatteras while beingtowed from Little Creek, VA to JacksonvilleFL. No one suspected this was going tobe the start of one of the largest rescue/salvage/towing operations undertaken bythe Navy. The task required close coordi-nation among the Fleet, contractors, andSUPSALV, and spanned over 2000 nauticalmiles (NM) and took 6 weeks to accom-plish.

SUPSALV mobilized its East Coastsalvage and towing contractor DONJONMarine to relieve the USS GRAPPLEwhich was keeping station on the EX-SUSTAIN. DONJON Marine in turn sub-contracted Crowley Marine to provide tugsupport to recover the EX-SUSTAIN.

During the initial ten days, MotherNature threw an unprecedented series ofwinter storms at the drifting dock. Thetow would be re-acquired on three sepa-rate occasions by the Crowley tug CRU-SADER only to have the weather deterio-rate, resulting in the parting of a 10-inchpendant to an “Orville Hook”. On one oc-casion the CRUSADER became fouled inthe tow bridle forcing them to cut thebridle to free themselves. Amazingly theEX-SUSTAIN managed to get east of theGulf Stream and drift south until it was ap-proximately 300 NM due east of Jackson-ville. The tug ENSIGN was dispatched torender additional assistance.

After CRUSADER re-established thetow with a fourth “Orville Hook”, MotherNature again intervened, throwing a newseries of Nor’easters at the dock and tugs.At times the winds reached Force 11 onthe Beaufort scale resulting in the docktowing the CRUSADER at 7 knots.SUPSALV determined fleet assistancewould be required to recover the tow aspersonnel were going to have to beplaced onboard the dock to re-rig the tow

bridle at sea.Divers from Mobile Diving and Sal-

vage Unit TWO and SIMA, Mayport weretasked by Second Fleet to assist in recov-ering the EX-SUSTAIN. Second Fleet alsoprovided USS SUPPLY (AOE 6) due to herspeed and helo support capabilities fromJacksonville and USNS SATURN (T-AFS10) from Norfolk with HC-6 embarked totransport the salvage team and equipmentto effect the rescue of the EX-SUSTAIN.

SUPSALV estab-lished a command centerin Jacksonville to coordi-nate logistics, communi-cations, and rescue op-erations. Intensive plan-ning sessions conductedby SUPSALV, contractor,and Fleet activities re-sulted in the develop-ment of an emergencytow configuration whichwas strong enough tosupport the tow but lightenough to be man por-table as the EX-SUS-TAIN had no power.Several configurationswere developed to allow a “max flex” ap-proach to re-rigging the tow. All neces-sary equipment and personnel were stagedin Jacksonville, as two back-to-back snowstorms had virtually closed Norfolk andthe greater Washington, DC area.

On 27 January, CO, MDSU TWO,CAPT (Sel) Phil Beierl, SUPSALV Rep, Jim“Doc” Ruth, contractor personnel (BillyKratz and Clarence Squyres) departedMayport onboard the USS SUPPLY to re-cover the EX-SUSTAIN. While the dockhad nearly a 500 nautical miles (NM) headstart and was drifting Northeast at ap-proximately 5 knots, CAPT Joe Stafford,CO USS SUPPLY, dropped the hammer andbegan closing the gap at 30+ knots as

soon as the ship cleared Jacksonville.Meanwhile the USNS SATURN with HC-6embarked departed Norfolk to rendezvouswith USS SUPPLY.

Using a fifth “Orville Hook”, ENSIGNre-established the tow. On 29 January, thefirst 8 members of the MDSU TWO,SIMA, and contractor salvage team led byMDSU TWO MDV Ken Brown boardedthe EX SUSTAIN to commence rigging thedock for tow into Bermuda, which was

now only 60 miles away. While attemptingto make a hard connection to the newly in-stalled tow bridle, CRUSADER’s aft bul-wark was stoved in by the dry dock. Sixmembers of the team were forced to spenda night on the dock due to deterioratingweather conditions. HC-6 helos did anexcellent job of placing the 10+ pallets ofrigging equipment and the necessary foodstuffs required by the salvage team. Theremainder of the team was extracted on 30January, in time to watch the Super Bowl.

A 12 man salvage team consisting ofthe divers from MDSU TWO, SIMA,SUPSALV, and DONJON re-boarded theEX-SUSTAIN on 31 January. Over thenext several days, the salvage team and

Arial view of the EX-SUSTAIN as it endures the 30+ knot windsand heavy surf.

June 2000 7

Re u n i o n 2 0 0 0 , a j o i n tSEALAB, Trieste, Submersible Pi-

lots, and support personnel celebrationwas recently held in San Diego. Over 150aquanauts and hydronauts attended thefour day reunion, held 16 - 19 March.

Activities began on Thursday nightwith a Mexican fiesta, held poolside at thehome of Bob and Judith Bornholdt. OnFriday, the activities included a presenta-tion of the capabilities of the Deep Sub-mergence Unit in San Diego, given by itsboss, CDR Lee Hall. Lunch followed, withguest speakers Don Walsh and Dr. AndyRechnitzer, who talked about the “DeepestDive” on the Trieste (35,800 feet).

On Saturday morning, a businessmeeting and general discussion was heldfor all attendees. A banquet was held Sat-urday night, followed by several outstand-ing speakers. Jack Tomsky gave a talk onSEALAB; ADM Brad Mooney followedwith a history of Trieste; and CAPT BertMarsh (00C), the keynote speaker, gave an

account of recent Navy salvage opera-tions, including the recovery of JFK, Jr.,and his airplane. The evening concludedwith the raffle of two stained glass MK Vdiving helmet creations by that world fa-mous artist, Walt Mazzone (the heart andsoul of SEALAB).

Sunday was “getaway day,” and theHospitality Suite was filled with coffee,muffins and farewells.

Attendees included: Sir JohnRawlings (England), Richard Blackburn(Australia), John Kleckner (Singapore), BillLukeman (Canada), Dominique Sumian(U.S. Divers/Calypso captain), Dr. PaulLinaweaver (Santa Barbara), Dr. RobertBornnman (Virginia), Mary Lou Cannon(San Diego), Captain Charlie Bishop (SanDiego), George Martin (Maryland), JackReedy (Cal-Dive), Ed Cargile (Oceanside),Bob Croft (New York), Jim McDole (MS),and Herman Kunz (WA).

For additional information, or to getyour name on the mailing list, contact Bob

From 1980 - 1982, CDR Bornholt was theCommanding Officer of the ExperimentalDiving Unit at Panama City Florida,retiring from active duty in 1982. Bob iscurrently the owner and Chief OperatingOfficer of M & D Offshore, a San Diegomarine surveying and consulting firm.

By Bob Bornholdt

B o r n h o l d t a t [email protected] (619) 267-7503.

LT Gallion diassembles the friction studwelder.

SEALAB II, circa 1965.

A procedure for underwater frictionstud welding was recently qualified

by the NAVSEA 00C Underwater ShipHusbandry Division at the Navy Divingand Salvage and Training Center

(NDSTC). The procedure is for welding ½inch carbon steel studs to base materialsof DH36, HY80 and HY100 in water depthsto 50 feet.

In friction stud welding, a threadedstud is rotated at a high rate, while underan axial force to generate heat. The inter-face area is heated to the point that bothbase material and stud are in a plasticstate. Rotation is stopped and the axialforce is maintained until the weld cools,creating a sound metallurgical bond be-tween the stud and base material.

The stud welder qualified by 00C is apneumatic machine attached by a vacuumpad. It can be used on flat or slightlycurved surfaces by varying gasket thick-ness used in the vacuum pad. A fixturecan also be used to mechanically attachwelder to base material if the configurationwill not allow use of a vacuum pad.

Qualifying in a tank is one thing, butdoes it work? That question was an-swered in February in support of aSPAWAR project. Five studs were weldedto a torpedo tube shutter door to support acamera mounting bracket. The stud welder

00C Qualifies Friction Stud Welding Procedure00C Qualifies Friction Stud Welding Procedure

LT Gallion is a qualified Seabee CombatWarfare Officer and Basic Diving Officer.Ed is currently assigned to the Naval SeaSystems Command, Supervisor of Salvageand Diving, where he is a Project Officer inthe Underwater Ship Husbandry division.

By LT Ed Gallionperformed exceptionally well during thisoperational trial.

Modification of a stud welder for un-derwater use and qualification has in-volved an extensive effort over severalyears and would not have been possiblewithout the assistance of SIMAMayport’s Dive Locker. They provideddivers, arranged NDT service, and cameup with good ideas to make the machinesmore diver friendly. NDSTC allowing useof a controlled environment of thier towerfor the final qualification dives was icingon the cake. BZ to all!

Reunion 2000 A Big HitReunion 2000 A Big Hit

8 June 2000

In January 2000, the first waterbornemain strut bearing removal, repair, and

replacement on a DDG 51 Class Destroyerwas completed on USS RUSSELL (DDG59) in Pearl Harbor. The task was success-ful thanks to the cooperative efforts ofMobile Diving and Salvage Unit ONE(MDSU ONE), Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard(PHNSY), the crew of RUSSELL, and theNAVSEA Diving Services Contractor.

In November 1999, a routine inspec-tion revealed bearing staves extending aftout of a bearing housing beneath the ropeguard on the port main strut bearing.COMSUBGRUMIDPAC’s concern washeightened by RUSSELL’s upcomingWESTPAC deployment. With a short win-dow of opportunity and no immediatelyavailable dry dock, repair options were ef-fectively reduced to a waterborne repair inPearl or a slow transit to an available drydock in WESTPAC. NAVSEA 00C5 wascontacted to evaluate the feasibility of thisoperation. It was determined that chal-lenges including lifting the shaft and pro-peller weight off the main bearing, extract-ing the bearing housings, and removaland replacement of welded-in-place NICUfairwater could be met.

MDSU ONE rigged and performed alift of the shaft and propeller off the bear-ing, removed the damaged bearing hous-

ings, and replaced the bearing housingsafter refurbishment. The NAVSEA DivingServices contractor was responsible forremoval and replacement of the weldedfairwater bearing access. PHNSY refur-bished the damaged bearings and modifiedthe removed NICU fairwater with bimetal-lic welding of steel edging on all matingseams of the two fairwater halves, allow-ing for wet welding replacement of thefairwater.

Estimates based on bearing reactioncalculations for total shaft and propellerweight, that would have to be lifted offthe bearing, indicated that divers wouldneed to remove three propeller blades toreduce weight. Propeller blade removal andfairwater removal began simultaneously.

After removal of three propellerblades and the fairwater, MDSU ONEdivers began the bearing removal process.This required removal of the top half of thestrut bearing, transfer of the shaft load torigging installed in lifting tunnels in thehull, rotating the bottom half of the strutbearing top dead center, and removal ofthe bottom bearing half.

PHNSY renewed all staves on thebearing, which had detached from thephenolic foundation. Exten-sive damage to the port strutbearing, lead to inspection ofstarboard with a miniatureunderwater camera providedby NAVSEA. Stave damagewas apparent on the star-board strut bearing, whichincreased scope of the op-eration to include renewal ofthe starboard strut bearing.

Load cell readings ofactual shaft and propellerweight lifted during removalof the port bearing con-firmed, that removal of threepropeller blades was not re-quired. This determination

saved considerable time and effort on thestarboard side bearing replacement.

In little more than one month, com-plete refurbishment of both port and star-board main strut bearings went from “can’tbe done underwater” to another outstand-ing waterborne repair. Congratulations tothe “can do” divers of MDSU ONE.QMCS (MDV) Danny Boyd, team leadersEN1 John Theriot and HT2 Rick Belton ofMAKO, and EN1 Tim Hall and HT2 ErikHaubtmann of GREAT WHITE led someof the finest underwater ship husbandrydivers I have ever had the pleasure ofworking with.

Strut Bearing Replacement for DDG 51Strut Bearing Replacement for DDG 51Strut Bearing Replacement for DDG 51Strut Bearing Replacement for DDG 51Strut Bearing Replacement for DDG 51Class DestrClass DestrClass DestrClass DestrClass Destroooooyyyyyer USS Rer USS Rer USS Rer USS Rer USS RUSSELL (DDG 59)USSELL (DDG 59)USSELL (DDG 59)USSELL (DDG 59)USSELL (DDG 59)Strut Bearing Replacement for DDG 51Strut Bearing Replacement for DDG 51Strut Bearing Replacement for DDG 51Strut Bearing Replacement for DDG 51Strut Bearing Replacement for DDG 51Class DestrClass DestrClass DestrClass DestrClass Destroooooyyyyyer USS Rer USS Rer USS Rer USS Rer USS RUSSELL (DDG 59)USSELL (DDG 59)USSELL (DDG 59)USSELL (DDG 59)USSELL (DDG 59) By Geoff Healy

Geoff Healy is the Senior PropulsionSystems Engineer for the NAVSEAUnderwater Ship Husbandry Division. Likeall Navy Divers, Geoff gets lots of motivationfrom any suggestion that it “can’t be doneunderwater.”

Geoff Healy inspects the damaged bearing staves.

USS RUSSELL bearing shell.

June 2000 9

The USN Supervi-sor of Salvage, un-

der the direction of theU.S. Coast Guard, senttwo rusted-out 180-footlong-liner fishing vessels10,000 feet to the bottomof the sea on 16 and 19March 2000, respectively,bringing an end to theirnine-year stint on thereefs of Pago Pago Har-bor in American Samoa.The two Korean-flaggedvessels were the last ofnine fishing ships re-moved from the reefs.

In 1991, HurricaneVal tore all nine shipsfrom their moorings inPago Pago Harbor andthrew them onto the reefs in front of thevillage of Leloaloa. A response team fromCoast Guard Marine Safety Office Hono-lulu responded to the initial pollutionthreat in 1991, removing 10,500 gallons ofoil from vessels that posed the greatestshort-term pollution threat. After the initialresponse, the Coast Guard began alengthy legal process of finding the ships’

owners and holding them responsible forremoving the ships. In 1997, the CoastGuard took responsibility for anotherclean-up when a slow oil leak was discov-ered coming from one of the rusting hulks,and none of the ships’ owners could befound.

Three years later, with the environ-ment once again being directly contami-

nated by thewrecks, the CoastGuard receivedfunding from theOil Spill LiabilityTrust Fund to re-move the remain-ing oil. The CoastGuard also ob-tained fundingthrough the Com-prehensive Envi-ronmental Re-sponse, Compen-sation, and Liabil-ity Act for the re-moval of ammonia,a s b e s t o s , a n dother contami -nants aboard theships.

The Coast Guard contracted Hawaii-based Pacific Environmental Corporationto build trestles from the shore to wherethe wrecks lay on the reefs; cut seven ofthem down to their water lines; remove theremaining oil, diesel, ammonia, and asbes-tos; and dump the scrap metal out at sea.The Coast Guard then requested and re-ceived funding for support from SUPSALVfor the removal of the two remainingships. Crowley Marine Services wastasked by SUPSALV to pull the two re-maining ships, which were in much betterstructural condition, off the reefs, towthem 12 miles out to sea, and sink them.Crowley’s primary asset for this task wasthe utilization of the Crowley Salvage ShipAMERICAN SALVOR supported with aHuges 500 D helicopter. Bob Barth, fromthe U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit,was on scene as the SUPSALV representa-tive for the removal phase of this opera-tion. The ships’ final resting place waschosen by the Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) based on the depth and


UT-1 and OMEGA 5 sit stranded on the reef.

By Jim BladhHistorical background provided by PA3 Eric Hedaa, USCG

From Left to right: Jim Bladh, SUPSALV Representative, Governor Tauese P. Sunia ofAmerican Samoa, and Frank Igaz, Crowley Marine Salvage Master.

10 June 2000

Sea Dwellers: The Humor, Dramaand Tragedy of the U.S. Navy

SEALAB Programs is a journal of thisexciting Navy adventure. Author andNavy Diver Bob Barth was the only manto experience all of the SEALAB pro-grams and its predecessor, the Genesisprogram, from the other end of the hose.These programs provided the scientificbasis for the practice of saturation div-ing as it is known and performed today.Barth and his peers were literally humanguinea pigs. He gave blood, sweat,tears, the prime years of his life, andeven his heart and soul to these pro-grams to experience what most men canonly dream of, life on the bottom of theocean.

Sea Dwellers is published by

SEA DWELLERSBob Barth’s Stirring Tale of the SEALAB Program

Doyle Publishing Company, Inc., 5206 FM1960 West, Suite 107, Houston, TX, 77069;telephone 1-800-457-6459. Price $16.95plus $3.00 shipping and handling. Visa,Mastercard, AMEX accepted. For moreinformation go to: www.seadweller.com.Editor’s Note:Bob is still charging: He has just re-cently completed a task for the Supervi-sor of Salvage, acting as the SUPSALVREP for the removal of two 185-footLONG-LINERS F/V stranded in the har-bor of Pago Pago, American Samoa.Bob’s range of experience throughout theworld and background in diving and sal-vage made him ideal for this task. Beingno stranger to the South Pacific, he spokethe local language fluently.

By Howie Doyle

Jim Bladh presently serves as Head of theOperations Branch for the Supervisor ofSalvage and is the Managing Editor ofFACEPLATE.

OMEGA 5 before extraction.

distance from American Samoa.In planning the removal of the long

liners, the Coast Guard worked closelywith the EPA, SUPSALV, the NationalOceanographic and Atmospheric Admin-istration, and the government of AmericanSamoa.

“Sinking these two worked out to bemuch cheaper than building trestles andtearing them apart,” said LCDR JohnSifling, the project’s federal on-scene coor-dinator representative. “There was alsomuch less damage to the coral, and it wasquicker.” Sifling said that damage to theother seven boats was too severe to allowthem to be pulled from the reef and sunkout at sea.


http://www.seadweller.com

June 2000 11


ships company withstood damaged tugs,small boat casualties and gale force windsas they struggled to overcome Murphy’slaw and Mother Nature enroute to the OldRoyal Navy Dockyard in Bermuda.

While awaiting authorization to enterBermuda, SUPSALV and MDSU TWO de-signed a more robust towing rig, with suf-

ficient strength for making a 1000 NM towin the heart of the North Atlantic winter.Using a satellite phone, the SUPSALV repcalled in design details to the SUPSALVcommand center in Jacksonville manned byLCDR Sly Mata.

Finally, on 4 Feb the dock was safelysecured along side the pier in Bermuda

and Commodore Robert DeStefano,EODGRUTWO arrived to assume onscene commander responsibilities fromCapt Stafford. During the next two weeksthe salvage team assembled a primary towbridle and emergency tow bridle, and twoadditional bridle legs just in case theymight be needed. The logistical challengeto accomplish this task required maximumcoordination by all parties concerned, in-

Jim “Doc” Ruth NAVSEA 00C22B Towingand Salvage Engineer.

cluding people at SUPSALV’s ESSM baseat Cheatham Annex. ESSM personnelworked tirelessly fabricating padeyes, as-sembling equipment, and coordinating airshipments to meet the short fused sched-ule. In the final analysis, five flights wererequired (two DC 8 flights and three Learjet flights).

On 16 February EX-SUSTAINcleared Bermudan waters undertow by CRUSADER enroute toJacksonville. Finally, after an un-eventful eight day tow, the dockarrived safely at Atlantic Marineand Dry Dock, Inc. in Jacksonville,FL. And so ends the saga of theEX-SUSTAIN. Many times we feltas though we were caught in theBermuda Triangle with Mr.Murphy along as an unwelcomeguest. True to the long standingtradition of Navy salvage, all par-ticipants dug in, rolled up their

sleeves, and persevered. Quoting Commo-dore DeStefano in his final sitrep “ BravoZulu to the salvors who did most of therigging and heavy manual labor …includ-ing moving 11 shots of anchor chain intoplace bare handed”. The line between mili-tary and civilian, Headquarters and Fleet,contractor and government became indis-

tinguishable as we worked as one, to ac-complish the mission. The lion’s share ofthe success must be given to the divers ofMDSU TWO and SIMA, Mayport who ac-complished this task the old fashionedway by the sweat of their brow. To them Isay anytime anywhere.

Ballast TankDivingImprovements

By Mike Dean

Michael Dean is an "Ocean Engineer"graduate of Florida Institute ofTechnology. Mike is Head, UnderwaterShips Husbandry Division for theDirector of Oceaneering, Supervisor ofSalvage and Diving.

SIMA MAYPORTENS(DV) HensleySTG2(DV) NastasiHM2(DMT) DentEM2(DMT) Larson

For years divers have entered ballasttank and performed numerous under-

water ship husbandry tasks. More re-cently diving commands have developedgas free procedures in accordance withNaval Ships’ Technical Manual, Chapter074 to permit the divers to remove theirhats while working in these confinedspaces. This practice has significantly im-proved the divers mobility and efficiencyand made working in ballast tanks a morecomfortable practice. In fact, the onlydown side of this current practice is theeffort required by each command to de-velop and maintain a unique process andto cross train divers to act as gas free tech-nicians. In an effort to streamline the pro-cess, SEA 00C has been working to de-velop a common enclosed space proce-dure, reduce training requirements, andprovide commands with reliable gas moni-toring equipment and improved ballasttank lighting systems. To date, we havereceived agreement to move diving in en-closed space requirements out of NSTM074 and into the USN Diving Manual. Weare looking into portable gas monitoringequipment and will soon begin workingwith the medical community to develop al-lowable contaminant levels for divers work-ing in hyperbaric spaces. We have builtand provided prototype ballast tankslights to SIMA Norfolk for evaluation.We would like your feedback in develop-ing this common process and equipment.Commands interested in participating inthis development should contactNAVSEA 00C5. A convenient link to SEA00C5 is available through the UnderwaterShip Husbandry Web Site at http://www.navsea.navy.mil/sea00c.

The EX-SUSTAIN enroute to Jacksonville towed bythe CRUSADER.

The salvage team assembled aboard USS SUPPLY (AOE-6)

MDSU-2CDR Beierl (CO)BMCS(MDV) BrownBMC(DV) BellBMC(DV) BreauxEM2(DV) Borden

NAVSEA 00C22BJim “Doc” RuthCROWLEY MARINEClarence SquyresDONJON MARINEBill Kratz

MDSU-2(cont.)MM1 HooperSM2 GuillenGM2 UrbanBM2 Blanchard


12 June 2000

ask?Our heritage as a diving community

started circa 1882 and has played a vitalrole in Uncle Sam’s Navy and the civiliancommunity ever since. Because of the ex-posure we have received as a result of therecent air tragedies, more and more peopleare asking the question, “Who are theseguys and what do they do?” Through thepress we have been receiving, the publicis learning it’s not an easy job; it requiresone to leave his natural breathing environ-ment (the surface) and to maneuver under-water to accomplish a task with a supportbreathing apparatus. What is considered asimple task in theory on the surface be-comes difficult and arduous to performbelow the surface. The recent filming ofthe movie Navy Diver and the numerousdocumentaries on TV about diving havebrought these facts and the individualsinvolved to the forefront.

On 1 - 2 June of this year, we are go-ing to take the time to pay tribute to sev-eral men who went beyond the call of dutyin the early days of diving, in conjunctionwith celebrating the Dive School’s 20thanniversary and 118 years of formal Navydive training in Panama City at NDSTC.Planned activities during this celebrationwill include dedicating the Dive School

John Schnoering currently serves as theCommand Master Chief/Master Diver atNDSTC and is approaching his 20 - yearanniversary of joining the Navy in July.

By Master Diver John Schnoering

Greetings from the Emerald Coast!Stop and take a hard look at NDSTC

today and compare it to what it was backin 1980. One would notice the school hasnot only changed on the outside with theaddition of two large wings, two new 130-foot diving craft, and a free ascent tower,but also the addition of various specializedcourses. To date, we offer 22 differentcourses of instruction (one is technicallyan evaluation process) with ~ 1,200 stu-dents annually. Even though we are notlabeled a “joint training command,” we areworking jointly with MCD Marines, Army,and Coast Guard under one roof. On theNavy side of the house, we have FleetDiver, EOD, and Seabee training pipelines,and, in the not-too-distant future, the AirForce may join our team and move theiroperations from Key West. We also con-tinue to train submarine sailors, interna-tional students, and members of the lawenforcement community, and are currentlylooking at a partnership with the local uni-versities. On top of that, our staff membersare heavily involved in the local commu-nity, supporting various volunteer andself-help projects. As one can see, wehave greatly expanded our role in the div-ing field outside of the hard-hat and sal-vage realm since moving the Dive Schoolfrom Washington, DC. But, not to worry,there is some “old school” left in this insti-tution.

If you want to take a trip back in time,read the book The Terrible Hours, by PeterMaas. Not to give away too much of thestory, anyone who has the chance to serveon an 1930s/40s vintage ASR, or tried towork a lance through chest-deep mud in 38degree water, or rode the SRC to depths inexcess of 400 feet, could in part begin torelate to the undertaking of rescuing the 33survivors of the USS SQUALUS and sal-vaging the sub to eventually be placedback in service. What’s that got to dowith the price of tea in Panama City, you

building to the legendary “Swede”Momsen and a Hall of Honor for thosewho received the Medal of Honor in hard-hat diving, to name a few. Food, refresh-ments, and souvenirs will also be available,with a social to wrap up the two-day eventat the Long Glass Conference Hall. I don’tknow which will hit the streets first, thiscolumn or the AIG announcing the event,but anybody and everybody who is orwas affiliated (or not!) with diving is wel-come to attend. Start talking to your com-mands now for travel arrangements andfunding. And, for the entrepreneursamong us, we are looking for vendors topeddle diving-related wares. POC: Yourstruly.

MDV Schnoering

June 2000 13

On 30 August 1999, divers from Consolidated Divers Unit (CDU) San Di-

ego, CA, and Puget Sound Shipyard(PSNS), WA, started adouble propeller replace-ment on USS JOHN CSTENNIS (CVN 74) at NavalAir Station North Island,San Diego. Weeks of be-hind-the-scene planning byPSNS (the planning yard forSTENNIS work), SouthwestRegional Maintenance Cen-ter (the work broker in theS o u t h w e s t R e g i o n ) ,NAVSEA 00C, and CDUwere necessary before thefirst diver ever left the sur-face. This effort was the firstcombining of underwaterassets under the regionalization repairconcept, and it highlighted the flexibility,c a p a b i l i t i e s , a n d b e n e f i t s o fregionalization.

PSNS Diving Supervisor Rick Jack-son and CDU Master Diver BMCSStorment devised a plan to combine re-sources to complete the job. A diving sta-tion was set up on a barge using special-ized equipment provided by NAVSEA 00C,PSNS, CDU, and PWC San Diego. Thisavoided diving under the flight deck andelevator and allowed movement of thebarge with screw attached from under theoverhang, to a place where the pier cranecould safely lift the propeller. This setupalso simplified movement to the outboardside for a second propeller change out.Mounted on the barge were two light-weight diving systems and compressor; aconex box containing the air consoles

communication gear, diver’s underwatercamera system, and diver changing area;NAVSEA 00C tool van; floodable counter

ballast tank with strongback attached; 10-ton portable crane; pneumatic winch; anda hydraulic power unit, hose reel, andtools. A detailed floor plan was necessary,with accompanying stability calculations.

Good communication and teamworkwere a must to safely remove and replacetwo 63,000-pound propellers. Two divestations, with up to five MK 21 divers inthe water at one time, were periodicallyused. Phone and chart personnel werekept very busy! As you can imagine, rig-ging equipment and tools that we usedwere neither lightweight nor highly por-table. A crane was used to transfer rig-ging, lifting fixtures and tools to thewater’s edge. A combination of lift bags,chainfalls, a pneumatic winch, and diveringenuity were used to get it all to andfrom the worksite. Three 50-ton hydraulicchainfalls were used to yard and stay the

propellers from shafts to strongbacks at-tached to a floodable counter ballast tankon the barge. Once transfered to the

strongback, the entire bargewas moved out from underthe overhang, and the pro-peller was transferred to thepier crane. With a new propeller inplace, CDU’s underwaterwelding team went to workreinstalling the rope guards.The Navy’s only certifiedunderwater welding team,led by HTC (SW/DV)Barker, fit up and weldedthe two-piece rope guardsin place. Welding of eachrope guard took approxi-mately 40 hours, and one

welder completed each.A combined crew of 16 Navy Divers,

6 civilian shipyard divers, and NAVSEA00C’s representative worked side by sideon the surface and in the water, 12 hours aday for 20 days. The high level of profes-sionalism and camaraderie that wasquickly established among all personnelled to the safe completion of the job.

CDR Debra Bodenstedt commands CDU,Executive Officer is CWO4 Michael Spisak,and the Senior Enlisted Advisor is BMCS(SW/MDV) Kyle Galliard.

By CDR Debra Bodenstedt

USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74) with her battlegroup following in rear.

14 June 2000


T

EXO BR MSEXO BR MSEXO BR MSEXO BR MSEXO BR MSEXO BR MSEXO BR MSEXO BR MSEXO BR MSEXO BR MSApproved for Surface-Supplied Diving

The Kirby Morgan Dive Systems EXOBR MS Full Face Mask is now class certified

for use with surface-supplied diving systems intemperatures down to 28oF and to depths of 190fsw (air), 140 fsw (NITROX), and 300 fsw (HeO

2).

The EXO features a balanced, fully adjustabledemand regulator, an oral nasal mask, and an exo-thermic exhaust system.

The EXO is an alternate band mask that canbe used in ship husbandry, enclosed space div-ing, and light salvage work. 00C will not be issu-ing the EXO to Fleet units. Fleet units desiringto use the EXO will have to procure it. It can beordered under DSI part number 300-038MS andwill include the mask, O&M Manual, tool kit,large bore and standard manifold block to maskhose, standard comms module (non-preamplifiedmic), comm port plug, and air inlet swivel. If youdo not already have the DSI Manifold Block As-sembly, you will have to purchase it separatelyusing part number 300-150 as well as thepreamplified microphone part number 315-026 foruse with a Hydrocom. Once procured, you willneed to contact 00C for an Indoctrination Train-ing video, qualification card, and PMS. You willalso have to update your diving system certifica-tion PSOB and send it to 00C4 for approval.

After an on-site survey was conducted atDiving Systems International (DSI) Santa Bar-bara facility, indoctrination training, certificationdives, validation of the operations and mainte-nance manuals as well as validation of operatingand emergency procedures and PMS was con-ducted at Underwater Construction Team Two,Port Hueneme, CA. Special thanks to LCDRBrant Pickrell, CUCM(DSW) Rusty Deen and thecrew of UCT TWO and Steve Kushner, ConnieMorgan, and Robbie Olhiser at DSI for their sup-p o r t i n c e r t i f y i n g t h e E X O B R M S .

By HTCM(DSW/MDV) Chuck Young

Paul McMurtrie during certification dive.

June 2000 15

Reprinted from Faceplate, Summer 1970.

offsets (for display). Vessel weightsthat vary from the baseline condition areadded or removed under a “Weight”menu. Damaged compartments ofsimple shape can be modeled under the“Flood” menu, and effects of free sur-face and varying ship waterlines (i.e.,free-communication) are included in thecalculations. Information for strandingcalculation is entered under the“Strand” menu and includes capabilitiesfor entering stranded drafts or definingthe grounding location and extend, aswell as effects of tidal changes onstranding calculations. Results are pre-sented in graphical and tabular format,allowing the user to look at individualcasualty “conditions” (e.g., free-floatingflooded condition, stranded condition,stranded condition with tidal change,etc.). Under the “Tools” menu, a user

LCDR Jeff Stettler is Assistant for Salvageand the Program Manager for thePOSSE for NAVSEA 00C.

can select units (i.e., English or metric),display precision, reference frames, andwater density. A detailed User’s Manual isavailable as an online Help document un-der the “Help” menu. A Microsoft Wordversion of the Help document is availablefor printing.

SCP has gone through beta testingand has been distributed on CD by mail toall Navy salvage commands. Addition-ally, the program will be available to down-load by special request to NAVSEA 00C.Additional information is available on theNAVSEA 00C website.

Note: SCP will have significant limita-tions when dealing with complex salvagesituations. SCP is much less capable thanthe Navy’s POSSE, which is a detailed na-val architecture and salvage engineeringprogram. For more complex salvage situa-tions, use of POSSE by an experienced sal-


vage engineer is highly recommended,vice relying solely on SCP.

HistoricalNotes

The Legion of Merit was awarded to CAPT Willard F. Searle,Jr., USN, for this outstanding services as the Navy’s Su-

pervisor of Salvage from September 1964 to May 1969. The pre-sentation was made by RADM Maurice H. Rindskopf, USN, on24 February 1970 during the “Equipment for the Working DiverSymposium” held at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus,Ohio.His citation states “. . . CAPT Searle contributed more than anyother individual since World War II to the high state of readi-ness which now exists in the Navy’s salvage and diving orga-nization.”

Legion of Merit Presented toCAPT Willard F. Searle, Jr., USN

The presentation of the Legion of Merit toCAPT Searle by RADM Maurice H. Rindskopfwith CAPT E.B. Mitchell in the background.

16 June 2000

I know all of you are aware of our effortsto get our community our own warfare

designators and hearing us tell you “it’scoming, it’s coming, trust me”. Well, per-sistence has paid off; on 26 April DSWSwas officially signed out. So what doesDSWS do for you? The DSWS Programprovides a professional development andqualification continuum that will increasecombat readiness and enable you to main-tain a proficient level of knowledge in allFleet diving mission areas and operationalenvironments. It will also formally recog-nize your commitment, experience, leader-ship, technical competence, and readinessfor increased responsibility. DSWS is alsoequivalent in importance to other warfaredesignations.

As a warfare specialty, the DSWSqualification can only be obtained througha formal program outlined in OPNAV In-struction 1414.3 and can be viewed at the00C website http://www.navsea.navy.mil/sea00c. Within a few weeks, theNAVADMIN will be released detailing theimplementation of the DSWS program.DSWS is an integral part of a diver’s careerpath. It will be mandatory for all E-5 andsenior enlisted personnel. Active duty E-4

and junior personnel may qualify. As partof the Navy Diver training plan, DSWSwill be a prerequisite for 1st Class Diver(NEC 5342) and eligibility for advancementto E-5 and above.

While we wait for the NAVADMIN,here are some specifics:

• Master Divers are automaticallyqualified and will qualify all others.

• Commands and their ISICs nothaving a MDV should contact00C34/36 (http://www.navsea.navy.mil/sea00c) forguidance.

• E-5 and senior personnel will have12 months to qualify.

• Only enlisted personnel currentlyholding NECs 5346, 5341, 5342, 5311,5343, 8493, 8494, 5931, 5932 areeligible.

• Must complete at least 12 monthsaccumulated time as a 5343, 8493, or5932.

The following common core PQS must becompleted:

• Navy Diver (NAVEDTRA 43245),complete Watchstations 301-304.

• Underwater Ships Husbandry(NAVEDTRA 43252), complete allFundamentals.

• Salvage (NAVEDTRA 432510),complete all Fundamentals.

• Small Arms (NAVEDTRA 43466),complete Watchstations 301, 302,and 314.

• Re-entry Control Procedures.Complete JQR for Divers LifeSupport System MaintenanceTechnician.

• Ship’s Maintenance and MaterialManagement (3M), completeWatchstations 301 through 304.

• Damage Control (NAVEDTRA

By HTCM(DSW/MDV) Chuck YoungCover photo provided by Dick Cole


U.S. Navy Diving Breast Insignias

2nd Class Diver 1st Class Diver Master Diver



June 2000 17

Point of contact for the indoctrina-tion training video, qualification card andPMS for the EXO BR MS is Stuart Yee(NAVSEA 00C37) at commercial (703) 607-2 7 6 6 , D S N 3 2 7 - 2 7 6 6 , o r e m a i [email protected]. Point of contactfor certification is Rob Warren (NAVSEA00C4) at commercial (703) 607-1570, DSN327-1570, or email [email protected].


43119), complete Watchstation 303.

• Safety Program Afloat (NAVEDTRA43460-4), complete Watchstation 301.

The following platform specific divingrelated PQS must be completed:

• Diving, Salvage, and SubmarineRescue

• Underwater Ship Husbandry

• Special Warfare/Explosive OrdnanceDisposal/USMC

• Naval Research

• Diving Training

• Underwater Construction

All core PQS is available for down-load at http://www.cnet.navy.mil/netpdtc/pqs. This summer MDV Propster will beheading up a PQS working group to de-velop a single DSWS PQS book and com-mand specific PQS. Till then, commandswill have to use the core PQS above andcomplete any command/platform specificdiving related qualifications. Now for the

pin; when qualified, you will wear the div-ing pin designated by your NEC and wearit as your warfare specialty and use DSWas your designator after your rate.

The DSWS Program has been a tre-mendous undertaking by many diverswithin our community, but there are a fewwho deserve special recognition. Theyare QMCM(MDV)(Ret) Brendan Murphy,ENCM(MDV) John Propster, HTCM(MDV)Michael Washington, B M C M ( M D V )B a r r y B u r g e s s , MMCM(EOD) JimBrooks, CDR Bill Orr, ENCM(MDV) DaveDavidson, and QMCS(EOD) SteveMarshall. HOOYAH DEEP SEA!


BU1(SCW/DV) Eric Eaton, EO3 Emory Cole,Paul McMurtrie, HM1(DV) HowardUnderwood, CM2(SCW) James Richardson,CE1(DV) Tim Ullom, Scott Lopez andCE1(SCW/DV) Dennis Metcalf.

BU1(SCW/DV) EricEaton, BU1(DV) LeoTrebles and CUCM(SCW/MDV) Rusty Deen duringindoctrination training.

[email protected]

http://www.cnet.navy.mil/netpdtc/pqs

18 June 2000

Bayou ZacharyBy CAPT(Sel) Phil Beierl

Thirty years ago the barge “BayouZachary” was stranded and aban-

doned on the southwest bank of the HeroCutoff of the Inter-Coastal Waterway(ICW) south of New Orleans, Louisiana.Over the years, some effort to salvage thebarge and its cargo of asphalt seem tohave been made but without success.The net result was that many years later abadly deteriorated barge—still holdinghundreds of tons of semi-liquid asphalt—found its way onto the EnvironmentalProtection Agency’s Superfund list of pol-lution sites. With no owner to be held re-sponsible for the clean-up costs, theproject was “federalized” and made a gov-ernment responsibility. This opened thedoor for the EPA to turn to the Navy andMobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two(MDSU TWO) for help.

A survey in early January revealedthe 236 foot by 44 foot barge nearlyawash, with all compartments flooded tothe waterline and significant structural

damage to the after port quarter—the en-tire aft one third of the port side of the

barge had been torn away. Test pumpingshowed that many key compartmentscould probably be made watertightand a diving survey of the starboardside aft compartments gave reason tobelieve they could be repaired. Mostimportantly two of the six cargo com-partments thought to be full of as-phalt were found to contain mostlywater instead. A detailed salvagemodel in the POSSE program showeda reasonable chance of re-floatingthe barge, With the apparently lowrisk of a spill, MDSU TWO agreed toaccept the job. While MDSU TWOsalvors would handle the job of float-ing the barge, they would get sup-port from the EPA, the US CoastGuard Gulf Strike Team, the Bureau of Rec-lamation, and Koester Environmental Ser-vices Company who together wouldhandle all pollution control and disposalissues.

C W O 3 C h u c k H u l s i z e r a n dBMCS(MDV) Ken Brown tookMDSU TWO DetachmentBravo back to New Orleans justafter Mardi Gras. They orga-nized a command post at asmall shipyard that would serveas the ultimate disposal site forthe barge, and staged divingand salvage equipment on a“spud” barge moored al-ongside the “Bayou Zachary”.Each morning the team made aten-mile ICW boat transit toreach the salvage site and gotright to work. Their first taskwas to clean up thirty years ac-cumulation of trash and debrisand to remove unnecessary

topside equipment and structure to lightenthe barge. Then they got down to the seri-

ous business of restoring buoyancy.Much of the asphalt was located aft

of midships in the third main compartment,so one salvage plan relied heavily on re-storing some buoyancy to the badly dam-aged stern section. Working in muck andtar that seemed to cover everything,divers were able to install patches andshoring to repair the stern-most starboardcompartments, but still more buoyancywas needed. A key breakthrough re-

sulted from the discovery that there wasnot eight feet of asphalt in a key cargocompartment, but a three foot thick layerwith water underneath. By forcing a largeslotted pipe section through the asphaltlayer, pump suctions could be loweredthrough the pipe and the water belowpumped out. A final step was a major ef-fort to jet and pump out the mud that hadaccumulated in the stern of the barge overthe many years since its stranding.

Less than two weeks after they set towork, Detachment Bravo cheered as twotugs gently pulled the Bayou Zachary freeof the mud bank and began the tow to theshipyard. Having planned for all mannerof emergency, it seemed almost too easyas the barge was kept afloat with a mini-mum of pumping and the tow proceededuneventfully. Only the premature ground-ing of the barge as it was two thirds of theway into the disposal slip at the shipyardsoured an otherwise perfect operation.Despite this less than ideal mooring ar-rangement, the EPA happily took custodyof the barge, confident that it would


MMC Riendeau and BM2 Ogg installshoring on a damaged bulkhead below thewaterline.

MMC Riendeau and SM2 Guillen install anexternal patch.

June 2000 19

TTTTThe Old Masterhe Old Masterhe Old Masterhe Old Masterhe Old MasterThe Old MasterThe Old MasterThe Old MasterThe Old MasterThe Old Master By BMCM(SW/MDV) Joseph K. Johnson

I was asked to write this article due to thefact that I just returned from the E-9 Se-

lection Board. From my experience I cantell you that the process is not perfect butit is fair. Selection board members take

great pride in trying to choose the bestcandidate to fill each quota available. Inall ratings it’s not easy to compare diversversus non-divers. There are alwaysgood candidates in both, but with the lim-ited number the board has to select, therewill always be good candidates left out.Non-selection does not mean poor perfor-mance. It is simply a relative judgment ofstanding amongst peers when consideringmembers for a finite number of advance-ment quotas.

In the past selection boards werebriefed on SPECWAR programs. Thatwasn’t the case this year as each indi-vidual board was given a binder contain-ing information specific to each field ofSPECWAR. The divers information sheetcontained a brief description of each diverNEC, a list of hard jobs both operationaland administrative, a list of sea/shore

commands. The brief sheet also describedhow divers are detailed, the limited avail-ability to work within source ratings andthat divers must be a Master Diver (5341/5346) to be advanced to E-9. The latter

statement should speak volumes to firstclass and saturation divers. If you wantto be considered a viable candidate forMaster Chief, you need to get hot! Thedetailer is waiting to hear from you.

There were 20 Master Divers up forselection to E-9 and seven were selected.There is a false perception that if a MasterDiver is on the board, he will have thepower to influence each selection. If thatwere true, we would have selected 20 Mas-ter Divers. It is no secret most boards look back aminimum of five years. Your record has tostand for itself. Make sure your micro-fiche is accurate and legible and your ESRis up to date. You must have strongevaluations. Don’t leave it up to the boardto decipher if something is going on withyour career, explain it. There is no substi-tute for sustained superior performance;

one good evaluation does not guaranteeselection. It is your responsibility to ac-cept and excel at the hard jobs both seaand shore. I hope we haven’t gotten tothe point that just because we wear thepin, we think we should be automaticallyadvanced. The pin gives you the opportu-nity for advancement, but you still have tocompete.

Each and everyone that has the op-portunity to sit on a selection boardshould go. There is always a need for se-lection board members and recorders. Itwill really open your eyes and help thediving community to better understandthe selection process. In the future whenwe get our own Selection Board, it will helpto choose the best qualified members fromour own community although our advancequotas will probably drop.

I would like to close by congratulat-ing our new Master Chiefs and SeniorChiefs for a job well done. I’m looking for-ward to working with each of you in thefuture.

BMCM(SW/MDV) Joseph K. Johnson iscurrently assigned as Command MasterChief and Detachment FIVE Master Diver atMobile Diving and Salvage Unit ONE.

Master Diver Joseph K. Johnson

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVYSEA 00CNAVAL SEA SYSTEMS COMMAND2531 JEFFERSON DAVIS HIGHWAYARLINGTON VA 22242-5160

Official Business

From the Supervisor of DivingCaptain Chris MurrayCaptain Chris MurrayCaptain Chris MurrayCaptain Chris MurrayCaptain Chris Murray

float all the way into the slip as they beganremoving cargo.

Two important lessons were learnedduring this operation. First and foremost,a thorough and detailed salvage surveypays dividends in the long run. Do notassume that the record of a previous sur-vey is correct and don’t take anything for


CAPT (Sel) Phil Beierl is theCommanding Officer of Mobile Divingand Salvage Unit Two.

granted. A core sample of the asphaltcargo during the initial survey would haverevealed the water underneath. The sec-ond lesson is that when working in a teamwith several agencies it is always impor-tant to double-check the work by the otheragencies. While preparation of the dis-posal site was an EPA responsibility, it

DSWS has been approved by ADMJohnson!

The final step was the signing ofOPNAVINST 1414.3 Diving Salvage War-fare Specialist Qualification (see page 16).Attainment of the DSWS designation sig-nifies that a diver has excelled in compe-tency and professionalism, and hasachieved leadership positions beyondthat of the basic diver Navy Enlisted Clas-sification (NEC) qualification. This is a bigstep in the continued professional growthof our fleet divers.

Well done to HTCM(DSW/MDV)Young, ENCM(DSW/MDV) Davidson,QMCS(EOD) Marshall, HTCM(DSW/MDV) Washington, ENCM(DSW/MDV)Propster, BMCM(DSW/MDV) Burgess,MMCM(EOD) Brooks, CDR Orr andQMCM(MDV) (retired) Murphy for theirpersistence in making this happen.

Diving Salvage Warfare Specialists (DSWS)

Working Divers Conference (WDC2000) January 25-27

Great turn out at the WDC in PanamaCity, Florida. 205 paying customers. Be-sides being a little cold for the south, itwas a very productive week discussingvarious diving issues. WDC 2000 presen-tations, point papers, status of actionitems and a list of attendees can be foundat our WEB site, http://www.navsea.navy.mil/sea00c. The list of attendees ispassword protected, but the rest is open.HEO2 SSDS revised tables

Revised HEO2 tables and proceduresare being finalized for operational testing.The tables have been revised to addressthe O2 convulsion problems that surfacedin the Fleet after the reintroduction of theFlyAway Mixed Gas System in 1997. Thisis in response to the MDV/CWO confer-ence from last summer. The revised tables

have been reviewed by the Navy Decom-pression Team and are to be tested thissummer with MDSU TWO divers whilediving on the USS MONITOR. The goal isto complete 200 plus dives to depths from210 to 240 FSW. NEDU and 00C will moni-tor the tests.Master Diver Candidates MDV candidates need to get your pack-ages in. The overall manning now sits at 86MDV’s to fill 95 billets. As a reminder achange to the MILPER’s manual is in ef-fect as of APR, 2000 that makes it manda-tory for E-8’s to become MDV’s within oneyear of making E-8. E-7’s are required to befully qualified to attend an MDV class (rec-ommended, passed the test, with a pack-age into BUPERS) within three years.

would have been wise to QA the dredg-ing work.

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS LEARNED: OUR NEXT EDITION OF“FACEPLATE” IS SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 2000. I WILL REQUIRE YOURARTICLES NO LATER THAN 1 AUG 2000. INCLUDE PICTURES WITH CAPTIONS,AND THE NAMES OF YOUR DIVERS. ALSO, A SHORT BIO OF THEAUTHOR. CONTACT YOUR FLEET LIASON EDITORS (SEE PAGE 2).

EDITOR’S NOTE


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