| SEALAB | |
|---|---|
 SEALAB I | |
| General information | |
| Type | Research Station |
SEALAB I, II, andIII were experimentalunderwater habitats developed and deployed by theUnited States Navy during the 1960s to prove the viability ofsaturation diving and humans living in isolation for extended periods of time. The knowledge gained from the SEALAB expeditions helped advance the science ofdeep sea diving and rescue and contributed to the understanding of the psychological and physiological strains humans can endure.[1]
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Preliminary research work was undertaken byGeorge F. Bond, who named the project after theBook of Genesis, which prophesied humans would gain dominion over the oceans. Bond began investigations in 1957 to develop theories aboutsaturation diving. Bond's team exposedrats,goats,monkeys, and human beings to various gas mixtures at different pressures. By 1963 they had collected enough data to test the first SEALAB habitat.[2]
At the time,Jacques Cousteau andEdwin A. Link were pursuing privately funded saturation diving projects to study long-term underwater living. Link's efforts resulted in the first underwater habitat, occupied byaquanautRobert Sténuit in the Mediterranean Sea at a depth of 61 m (200 ft) for one day on September 6, 1962. Cousteau's habitats includedConshelf I, with a 2-person crew at a depth of 10 m (33 ft) near Marseilles, placed on September 14, 1962, andConshelf II, placed in the Red Sea at depths of 11 and 27 m (36 and 89 ft) on June 15, 1963. Later that year, the Kennedy administration decided to open a new "race" frontier, directing the navy to begin the SEALAB program.[2]
SEALAB I was commanded by Captain Bond,[3] who became known as "Papa Topside." SEALAB I proved that saturation diving in the open ocean was viable for extended periods. The experiment also offered information about habitat placement, habitat umbilicals, humidity, and helium speech descrambling.[4]
SEALAB I was lowered off the coast ofBermuda on July 20, 1964 to a depth of 192 feet (59 m) below the ocean surface. It was constructed from two converted floats and held in place withaxles fromrailroad cars. The experiment involved four divers (LCDRRobert Thompson, MC; Gunners Mate First ClassLester Anderson, Chief QuartermasterRobert A. Barth, and Chief Hospital CorpsmanSanders Manning), who were to stay submerged for three weeks. The experiment was halted after 11 days due to an approachingtropical storm.[4] SEALAB I demonstrated the same issues as Conshelf: high humidity, temperature control, and verbal communication in the helium atmosphere.[2]
Theastronaut and second American to orbit the Earth,Scott Carpenter, was scheduled to be the fifth aquanaut in the habitat. Carpenter was trained by Robert A. Barth. Shortly before the experiment took place, Carpenter had a scooter accident on Bermuda and broke a few bones. The crash ruined his chances of making the dive.[5]
SEALAB I is on display at theMan in the Sea Museum, inPanama City Beach, Florida, near where it was initially tested offshore before being deployed. It is on outdoor display.[6] Its metal hull is largely intact, though the paint faded to a brick red over the years.[7] The habitat's exterior was restored as part of its 50th anniversary, and it sports its original colors.[8]
SEALAB II was launched in 1965.[3] It was nearly twice as large as SEALAB I with heating coils installed in the deck to ward off the constant helium-induced chill, and air conditioning to reduce the oppressive humidity. Facilities included hot showers, a built-in toilet, laboratory equipment, eleven viewing ports, two exits, andrefrigeration. It was placed in theLa Jolla Canyon off the coast ofScripps Institution of Oceanography atUC San Diego, inLa Jolla, California, at a depth of 205 feet (62 m). On August 28, 1965, the first of three teams of divers moved into what became known as the "Tilton Hilton" (Tiltin' Hilton, because of the slope of the landing site). The support shipBerkone hovered on the surface above, within sight of Scripps Pier. The helium atmosphere conducted heat away from the divers’ bodies so quickly temperatures were raised to 30 °C (86 °F) to ward off chill.[2]
Each team spent 15 days in the habitat, but aquanaut/formerastronautScott Carpenter remained below for a record 30 days. In addition to physiological testing, the 28 divers tested new tools, methods of salvage, and an electrically heated drysuit.[8][9] They were aided by abottlenose dolphin named Tuffy from theUnited States Navy Marine Mammal Program. Aquanauts and Navy trainers attempted, with mixed results, to teach Tuffy to ferry supplies from the surface to SEALAB or from one diver to another, and to come to the rescue of an aquanaut in distress.[10][11][12] When the SEALAB II mission ended on 10 October 1965, there were plans for Tuffy also to take part in SEALAB III.[13][14]
A sidenote from SEALAB II was a congratulatorytelephone call that was arranged for Carpenter andPresidentLyndon B. Johnson. Carpenter was calling from adecompression chamber withhelium gas replacingnitrogen, so Carpenter sounded unintelligible to operators.[15] The tape of the call circulated for years[when?] among Navy divers[who?] before it was aired onNational Public Radio in 1999.[16][17]
In 2002, a group of researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography'sHigh Performance Wireless Research and Education Network boarded theMV Kellie Chouest and used aScorpio ROV to find the site of the SEALAB habitat.[18] This expedition was the first return to the site since the habitat was moved.[18]
With naval research funding constrained byVietnam War combat requirements,[2] it was four years later before SEALAB III used the refurbished SEALAB II habitat placed in water three times as deep. Five teams of ninedivers were scheduled to spend 12 days each in the habitat, testing new salvage techniques and conductingoceanographic andfishery studies.[19][20] Preparations for such a deep dive were extensive. In addition to manybiomedical studies, work-up dives were conducted at the U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit at theWashington, D.C., Navy Yard. These “dives” were not done in the open sea, but in a specialhyperbaric chamber that could recreate the pressures at depths as great as 1,025 feet (312 m) of sea water.
According toJohn Piña Craven, the U.S. Navy's head of theDeep Submergence Systems Project of which SEALAB was a part, SEALAB III "was plagued with strange failures at the very start of operations."[21] USSElk River (IX-509) was specially fitted as a SEALAB operations support ship to replaceBerkone; but the project was 18 months late and three million dollars over budget when SEALAB III was lowered to 610 feet (190 m) offSan Clemente Island, California, on 15 February 1969. SEALAB team members were tense and frustrated by these delays, and began taking risks to make things work. When a poorly sized neoprene seal caused helium to leak from the habitat at an unacceptable rate, four divers volunteered to repair the leak in place rather than lifting the habitat to the surface. Their first attempt was unsuccessful, and the divers had been awake for twenty hours usingamphetamines to stay alert for a second attempt,[2] during whichaquanautBerry L. Cannon died.[22][23] A U.S. Navy Board of Inquiry found that Cannon'srebreather was missingbaralyme, the chemical necessary to removecarbon dioxide.[22][24] Surgeon commanderJohn Rawlins, a Royal Navy medical officer assigned to the project, also suggested thathypothermia during the dive was a contributing factor to the problem not being recognized by the diver.[25]
According to Craven, while the other divers were undergoing the week-longdecompression, repeated attempts were made to sabotage their air supply by someone aboard the command barge. Eventually, a guard was posted on the decompression chamber and the men were recovered safely. A potentially unstable suspect was identified by the staff psychiatrist, but the culprit was never prosecuted. Craven suggests this may have been done to spare the Navy bad press so soon after theUSS Pueblo (AGER-2) incident.[21]
After reinvestigating Cannon's death, ocean engineer Kevin Hardy concluded in a 2024 article that "There is greater evidence that Berry Cannon died fromelectrocution thanCO2 poisoning."[24]
The SEALAB program came to a halt, and although the SEALAB III habitat was retrieved,[21] it was eventually scrapped. Aspects of the research continued,[26] but no new habitats were built.
NCEL (now a part ofNaval Facilities Engineering Service Center) ofPort Hueneme, California, was responsible for the handling of several contracts involving life support systems used on SEALAB III.[27]
A model of SEALAB III can be found at theMan in the Sea Museum inPanama City Beach, Florida.[6]
In 1964, Tuffy starred in the documentary 'The Dolphins That Joined the Navy'. The following year, he participated in the Sealab II project, an experiment where divers lived underwater. Tuffy carried messages and tools to the undersea habitat and practiced rescuing lost or injured divers.
