[PSUBS-MAILIST] Johnson-Sea-Link first hand contact

[Ray Keefer <psubs2001@yahoo.com>]

Hi,

Here is an email chain I have been having with Norman
Merrell regarding
the Johnson-Sea-Link disaster. Norman was a crew
member on USS Tringa
which took part in the rescue.

Regards,
Ray



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Johnson Sealink rescue
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 20:12:08 -0500
From: Norman Merrell <norm-pubs@netcarrier.com>
To: Ray.Keefer@Sun.COM
References: <41E01207.9000905@netcarrier.com>
<41E2BEDE.3080802@Sun.COM>
<41E375E7.8000306@netcarrier.com>
<41E460DC.5090605@Sun.COM>

Ray,

Feel free to share my email with your group. Did you
ever check out
TONGS? Here a link to a PDF document describing the
program. Note the
man in figure 3 who is closest to the photographer and
has his back to
camera. That's me. So you can say I had a very good
view of the events.

http://www.sfomc.org/TONGS.pdfhttp://www.sfomc.org/TONGS.pdf

Here is another TONGS site and it also talks of the
rescue
http://www.diveweb.com/rovs/features/044.02.htm

Is there a submarine on display near where you live?
If so, you can
check out the escape hatches. I think that WWII era
subs did not have
the international standard opening that is now used.

Here is a site I found with submarine rescue chambers
(SRC). U.S. Navy
photo N-1523C-002 photo looks very much like the SRC
we carried aboard
USS Tringa.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08108.htm

By the way, what got you and your group interested in
SEA LINK?

Norman

Ray Keefer wrote:


>>Hi Norman,
>>
>>Thank you for the details.
>>
>>Can I share these with my group? Or would you rather
I keep them private?
>>
>>Do you have, or know here I can get, details of the
"standard" escape
>>hatch fittings? Diminsions and such.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Ray
>>


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Johnson Sealink rescue
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 01:44:55 -0500
From: Norman Merrell <norm-pubs@netcarrier.com>
To: Ray.Keefer@Sun.COM
References: <41E01207.9000905@netcarrier.com>
<41E2BEDE.3080802@Sun.COM>

Hi Ray,

It has been a long time since that event. I remember
parts of it like
they happened just yesterday. Some of the rest has
kind of faded a bit
due to time.

First of all, check out a picture of USS Tringa ASR 16
(ASR - Auxiliary
Submarine Rescue)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/09321601.jpg

In the photo, note the long objects by the ship's
stack. These are large
floats called SPUDS, there are two on each side, and
are used to lay a
four point moor.

I'll give you a thumb nail sketch of the events, since
you are already
familiar with the investigation proceedings.

When EVENT 1000 (sub sunk) was announced, people and
equipment from all
over were dispatched to the scene. Some arrived within
hours, and some
took longer. I returned to my apartment in Key West
about 08:30 on
Sunday morning, having just finished an in-port duty
day aboard USS
Tringa. We had planned a day trip up the keys swimming
and snorkeling,
and a half dozen of my ship mates and their girl
friends were already
there waiting for me. I did not even time to change
out of  my uniform
before one of my on-duty ship mates arrived in the
ship's truck and
announced that all personnel were ordered to report to
the ship
immediately for an EVENT 1000 emergency. Our crew was
scattered all over
because we weren't due for any voyages for several
weeks and most did
not have to be aboard until quarters at 08:00 Monday
morning. We
returned to the ship, and departed as soon as enough
personnel were
aboard to get the ship underweigh. So began the rescue
of SEA LINK.

I saw and heard a good deal during the rescue
attempts. I was in charge
of CIC (I was Leading ET aboard USS Tringa at the
time), and manned the
underwater telephone (UTC) for the duration of the
rescue. It was
decided quickly that underwater communications would
be between the
submersible's tender ship, SEA DIVER, and the
submersible, SEA LINK. The
Navy was only to monitor UTC transmissions. My orders
(and this was
standard operating procedure) were to ensure that the
entire event was
recorded on audio tape. Submarine sea trials (what
ASRs did when not
qualifying ships divers - and 2/3 of the crew were
SCUBA and either 1st
or 2nd class hard hat divers) communications with
submarines were always
recorded on audio tape so there was an audio record if
anything went
wrong, such as when USS Thresher sank during sea
trials. As I mentioned
in the earlier email, those audio tapes were turned
over to Navy
personnel responsible for the accident investigation.
When USS Tringa
returned to the Naval Station on Key West, all
materials and logs were
turned over to the investigation team, and we were
ordered not to talk
to anyone about the operation.

I don't remember SEA LINK looking like the drawing at
the top of your
web page. That may have been what the movie version
looked like. I
remember that I saw the TV movie and that it was
nothing like the actual
events.

Check out the websites below for photos of SEA LINK
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03edge/logs/aug22/media/sub.html
http://www.hboi.edu/gallery/photoarchive/jsl_gallery_1.html

SEA LINK was a two compartment submersible vessel with
a lot of support
stuff hanging about on it - the people compartments
were the forward
pilot and navigator "bubble", which was a Plexiglas
sphere, and a long,
cigar shaped saturation diving chamber that was large
enough to
accommodate four divers, attached aft. The bubble
access hatch was on
top, and the divers chamber had the hatch on the
bottom. There was an
intercom and portholes to allow audio and visual
contact between the two
compartments. However, they were completely separated
with different
environmental control systems. This was because the
diving chamber
needed to match outside pressure so divers could exit
the chamber to
work deep underwater, and for decompression of the
divers (who performed
saturation diving) after they returned to the diving
chamber. The
forward compartment maintained pressure at sea level,
so the pilot and
navigator could exit immediately after returning to
the deck of SEA
DIVER. The divers would emerge later after the
decompression period had
successfully concluded. In this way, the vessel could
quickly drop
divers at a deep water work site, and return quickly
when work was
finished. However, the web photos of SEA LINK listed
above show items
that were not there when the accident occurred. They
apparently were
added later to protect the vessel from snags.

On board of the SEA DIVER on Father's Day in 1973,
there was SUPPOSED to
be a quick, 15 minute dive by SEA LINK to retrieve the
last fish trap
from the wreck of the USS Fred T. Berry. The crew was
making preparation
for a Father's Day cookout on the fantail. The steaks
and beer were in
the cooler, ready for the party to begin. SEA LINK was
designed to dive
with two personnel in the bubble, and at least two
divers in the divers
chamber. The crew needed to load heavy ballast equal
to the weight of
two divers into the divers chamber, which took a good
bit of time and
effort. Two divers decided to be the "ballast" instead
so that the dive
would be finished quicker and could return by
lunchtime. They got into
the diving chamber wearing only their shorts, tee
shirts, and sandals.

As you know, it did not turn out that way.

I still remember feeling so helpless as one thing
after another went
wrong during the rescue attempts. Many people put
their lives on the
line trying to rescue that submersible crew. The Perry
Cubmarine was
launched from the deck of an old diesel sub, USS
Cavalla,  that had been
taken out of service because an overhaul inspection
had revealed a
longitudinal crack along the entire length of the
pressure hull. The
dive tank plates had been welded shut and the sub was
being readied for
exhibit as a museum piece. It went to sea with the
Cubmarine lashed to
the deck because there was no quicker way to launch
the vehicle. The all
volunteer crew knew that there was a good chance that
the Cavalla could
break apart and sink when it submerged to release the
Cubmarine.
Luckily, it did not, and the Cubmarine did launch
successfully. Alas,
problems kept it from reaching SEA LINK, too

Aboard SEA LINK the two divers died of exposure and
CO2 poisoning, and
the pilot and navigator were rescued with less than 30
minutes of
breathing air left in thiner compartment. They were
lucky to get out
alive. The salvage ship A. B Wood II and TONGS saved
their butts after
many others had tried in vain to get to them. When
Jacque Mengees and
his navigator emerged from the bubble and were brought
aboard USS Tringa
for evaluation and treatment, they were beet red due
to CO2 poisoning.
Their color only came back after breathing pure oxygen
for over an hour.

Lessons Learned -

1. NEVER underestimate Mother Nature. The first time
you take things for
granted, you pay dearly. In this case, Edwin Link lost
his son and his
chief diver because they did not bother to either load
ballast to
compensate for the two divers in the divers chamber of
SEA LINK, or take
along the deep sea diving equipment the divers
normally would have worn
while in that chamber, ready to work in the deep water
- like warm
underwater suits, and most importantly, the breathing
systems that would

have allowed them to exit the submersible and remove
the snags which had
ensnared the the vessel.

2. Design your submersible so that its personnel can
be rescued. The SEA
LINK did not have "standard" escape hatch fittings.
All military
submarines have the same size escape hatches, no
matter what country
makes them. That way, ANY submarine rescue chamber can
attach a to the
sub and rescue the crew.

3. Have a rescue buoy that can ascend to the surface.
Military
submarines have a rescue buoy that ascends to the
surface. This allows
the rescue vessel to communicate with the submarine
crew via the
emergency communications cable, AND it allows the
rescue vessel to know
EXACTLY where the sunken sub is located. The SEA DIVER
knew
approximately where the SEA LINK was. The ASR lays a
four point moor
based on the location marker (read rescue buoy).
Laying the four point
moor is a precision event that takes much planning and
many hours to
execute properly. The marker buoy laid by Tringa was
placed on best
estimate given by SEA DIVER. When the four point moor
is laid and the
lines are drawn up, the ASR is in a very stable
position necessary to
lower a diving platform, called a stage, over the
side. Hard hat divers,
who are dressed in suits that weigh over 200 pounds
apiece, ride the
stage to the bottom. The divers are attached to the
ship via life lines,
communications cables, and air hoses. It is hard to
move about with all
of this apparatus, even underwater. Great physical
strength and stamina
is required to dive this way. The disadvantage of the
four point moor is
that the ship can move only 50 feet in any direction.
The marker buoy
turned out to be on the other side of the wreak from
the ensnared
submersible. The SEA LINK crew could see the lights of
the stage and
knew that it was too far away to reach them. Between
the divers and
submersible lay a sunken WWII destroyer that was
laying on its side on
the bottom. It was not possible to reach the
submersible without
relaying the four point moor. And there was no
guarantee that the next
moor would be any closer than the first try. It was
decided to keep the
ASR in the existing moor and try other things.

4. Always confirm communications when critical things
are happening. The
hard hat divers were not able to reach SEA LINK. The
maximum depth
allowed for a Class 1 hard hat diver is 300 feet. The
divers breathing
mixture is 80 % helium and 20 % oxygen, which is fed
to him via hoses
from the ship. Diving deeper can  be fatal, as the
diver can get oxygen
poisoning. The SEA LINK was snagged in 436 feet of
water. The USN
Experimental Diving School, located in San Diego, CA,
responded to the
Event 1000 by flying in a team with two divers
qualified to use
Kirby-Morgan diving rigs. These divers could dive
deeper that Tringa's
hard hat divers and their gear weighed much less. They
were much more
maneuverable, but still relied on the surface vessel
for their breathing
mixture. As fate would have it, the teletype in San
Diego that received
the emergency communications had a problem and printed
out the depth of
the sunken submersible as 300 feet. The crew brought
enough hose for
that depth. The Kirby-Morgan rigged divers were not
able to reach the
necessary depth due to the lack of hose.

5. Make sure your submersible is designed so that it
cannot be snagged
easily, and that it has enough power to escape when an
emergency arises.
SEA LINK did not have snag proofing, so it was able to
get caught up in
the wreck. And it did not have enough power to break
free of the snags.

6. Pack much more emergency supplies aboard than you
think will ever be
needed. And make sure that the emergency equipment
works properly before
you need it. SEA LINK was in cold water without
adequate CO2 scrubbing
equipment - the circulation fan was broken in the
divers chamber and the
cold greatly decreased the ability of the CO2
absorbers to operate. The
forward compartment personnel survived because they
were in a smaller
space, their scrubber fan worked, and the space had a
small heater to
keep the crew comfortable. They were supposed to be in
regular clothes,
so they had heat provided for. The divers were not
supposed to need a
space heater, since they were to wear saturation
diving gear.

5. Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV) are the best and
quickest way to reach
a sunken submarine. Navies around the world learned
that lesson because
of the SEA LINK disaster.

My Grandfather was on active duty for 34 years in the
U. S. Navy, and
was one of the original generation of hard hat divers.
He said that the
sea wrote her lessons in blood. We learn from our
mistakes. People die
because we do not understand. We learn slowly, but we
learn.

I hope that this helps to put some new perspective on
the events.

Norman

Ray Keefer wrote:


>>Hi Norman,
>>
>>We discussed the disaster during the 2003 PSUBS
Convention in New
>>Hampshire. The topic created a lot of discussion.
>>
>>You are the first eyewitness, on the scene, person
we have contact with.
>>All the details we have are from the Board of
Inquiry and other sources
>>(news articles and hearsay).
>>
>>Can you tell us anything more about the disaster?
Especially during the
>>rescue. What went right? What went wrong? What
lessons were learned?
>>What changes in rescue doctrine changed as a result
of this disaster?
>>



		
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