SEA CLIFF/TURTLE Come of Age

In recent years units of the Navy´s operational command dedicated to deep submergence, Submarine Development Group ONE, have established an ever increasing record of productive accomplishments in the deep ocean. This paper highlights on-going development of the deep submergence vehicles SEA CLIFF (DSV 4) and TURTLE (DSV 3) which deploy regularly to conduct operations for various mission sponsors such as the Office of Naval Research, Pacific Missile Test Center and the Naval Research Laboratory. During this period these vehicles have undergone a development to improve their deep ocean capabilities and systems´ reliability. The result has been that each subsequent deployment has produced precedent setting records for deep submergence vehicles in terms of operations and tangible results. The paper concludes with projected plans to extend SEA CLIFF/TURTLE depth capabilities to 20,000 feet.