2. THE GROWTH OF UNDERSEA ACTIVITY
The growth of offshore drilling and undersea activity during the last dec-
ade has necessitated an unprecedented growth of undersea vehicles and habitats,
etc. These include manned and unmanned, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). In
the category "manned submersibles", there are four different types, namely "one-
atmosphere, free-swimming", "lockout", "observation/work bells" and "atmospheric
diving suits". The remarkable increase in the numbers of manned vehicles is in-
dicative of the need for a high degree of manipulative and maneuvering capabili-
ty for working in restricted areas. The growth of remotely operated vehicles is
notable too, particularly as regards tethered, free-swimming vehicles and bot-
tom-crawling or structurally-reliant vehicles designed for cable and pipeline
trenching. The primary factor which accounts for the growth in both manned vehi-
cles and ROVs is the offshore oil and gas industry.
Drilling water depths are increasingly greater, and increased activity can
be seen in several inhospitable arctic waters, such as the Beaufort Sea, the
straits and coastal seas in the Canadian High Arctic, and soon the U.S.S.R. and
Norway will start drilling in the Barents Sea, and so on.
On the basis of preparatory study by the American company General Dynamics,
a combination of Canadian and U.S. concerns, Arctic Enterprises, calculate the
possibilities of using nuclear super submarine tankers for the transport of LNG
from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago under the polar ice to markets in western
Europe and on the North American east coast. The LNG submarine tankers will be
outfitted with a redundant variety of navigational systems, including: transpon-
der arrays to receive acoustic signals from transponders positioned on the Arctic
bottom; an "omega" system with retractable floating wire antenna for radio sig-
nal reception; inertial and dead reckoning navigation subsystems; both Doppler
and "search and profile" sonars; and bathymetric sensors. A satellite radio re-
ception system might also be installed. The Swedish shipyard KOCKUMS, Malmó, is
invited to participate in the project.
KOCKUMS AB, Malmö, Sweden, delivered its first submarine in 1914. Ever
since their proficiency in subsea technology and adjacent fields has increased
considerably. One step towards offshore applications was taken when a Submarine
Rescue Vehicle, designated URF, was delivered to the Royal Swedish Navy. The URF
is a 50 ton hyperbaric diver lock-out submersible designed to take 25 men (an
entire submarine crew) to the surface. It can operate down to a depth of 460 m.
Kockums naval division undertakes feasibility studies, preliminary and final de-
sign work as well as research and development for subsea applications but also
offers some specialized products for use in the offshore field, among others
Deep Sea Habitats for subsea services employing divers and remotely-operated ve-
hicles (ROVs), a system for continuous Monitoring of Crack Propagation in me-
chanical structures, and small Remotely Operated Bells (ROBs) for divers oper-
ating down to 450 m: At present KOCKUMS and NUTEC (Norwegian Underwater Technol-
ogy Centre) are investigating various alternative habitats for operations in
depths of water down to 1,000 metres.
A combination of the Swedish companies KOCKUMS, Malmë, and SUTEC (Scandina-
vian Underwater Technology), Linkóping, preliminarily named Subcraft AB, has de-
veloped a remote-controlled system for performing offshore underwater work, call-
ed SEA DOG. The system is built-up round an unmanned submersible cont?olled by
an operator on the surface and linked by an umbilical cable containing power,
television, control and other connections. Underwater works is performed by
electrohydraulically operated manipulators. The submersible has powerful light-
ing and two television cameras giving surface operators a good view during
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