Military

Article and photos by LT Doug Gabos,
USNAVEUR Public Affairs

Working with the British and Swedish navies in Operation SEDGEMOOR 01, the U.S. Navy Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) Mystic recently demonstrated its unique capabilities for providing worldwide, quick-reaction, all-weather rescue services for personnel on disabled submarines. 

Under the frigid, choppy waters of Scotland's Raasay Inner Sound, just a few miles from the Isle of Skye, the DSRV's four-person crew maneuvered their 50-foot vessel from the back of the British mother submarine, HMS Vanguard, and mated it to the hatch of the Swedish submarine, HMSwS Gotland, simulating a disabled boat 450 feet below the surface. Later, Mystic made its way back to the mother ship and successfully re-mated. In a real-world rescue operation, Mystic can retrieve up to 24 submariners at a time. During the exercise, British rescue vehicle LR-5 transferred personnel from the Swedish boat. 

When a call for assistance is received, Mystic and its support crew can be quickly loaded onto an aircraft and sent anywhere in the world. At its destination, the DSRV is attached to the back of a mother submarine, which transports the vehicle to the vicinity of the victim. The DSRV detaches and travels to the disabled submarine, mates with a hatch, transfers the stranded submariners onboard, and brings them back safely. 

(above) Swedish submariners travel in the Royal Navy Submergence Vessel LR-5 back to their submarine.  (right) Submergence Vessel LR-5 is prepared for deployment aboard the Swedish Diving and Submarine Rescue ship HMSwS Belos during Exercise SEDGEMOOR 01.

Easier said than done. It's an operation that demands adaptability, creativity, and total professionalism to overcome challenges like brutal weather conditions, inter-operating with foreign navies, and achieving compatibility with rescue vessels, support ships, and submarines. Exercises such as SEDGEMOOR provide just the type of training that Sailors of the Deep Submergence Unit in San Diego, California need in the event an actual rescue is ever required. 

SEDGEMOOR began as realistically as any real-world rescue mission. Mystic, the Navy's only DSRV, was delivered from San Diego to the Royal Air Force base at Prestwick on a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy and then trucked to Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland. CDR David Clopp, Commanding Officer of the Deep Submergence Unit, noted that in deploying the DSRV to such a remote location, "We can actually test the flyaway system to see if we can get the parts and equipment to the point they need to be, offload the system, and then mate it up with a submarine that we've never operated with before." The loss of the USS Thresher (SSN-593) in 1963 caused the Navy to concentrate on reducing risk in submarine operations. The result was the SUBSAFE program, instituted to ensure that safety was foremost. At the same time, the submarine rescue program was initiated, and now, almost four decades later, the U.S. Navy maintains Submarine Rescue Chambers, useful down to 850 feet, and the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle Mystic, capable of operating down to 2,000 feet. 

The U.S. Navy Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle Mystic receives a piggy-back ride aboard the British submarine HMS Vanguard.

Several other rescue scenarios had been planned for SEDGEMOOR. One coupled a surface recovery operation by members of the British Submarine Parachute Assistance Group (SPAG) with a medical drill. Responding to submariners who had egressed from their boat in exposure suits, six members of the SPAG and two life rafts were parachuted from a Hercules aircraft into the vicinity, where the SPAG team transferred the submariners into the rafts. A 160-pound dummy, simulating a rescue in need of immediate medical attention, was hoisted into a helicopter and transported to the frigate HMS Monmouth, where the "victims" were treated by medical personnel. Another drill addressed the complications of radiation exposure.

For Sailors with the Deep Submergence Unit, training aspects were just one benefit of the exercise. Clopp said SEDGEMOOR also facilitated a valuable exchange of ideas with other professionals in the field. "Coming out here, working with different submarines, different people - the best thing is the exchange of information with foreign navies. We learn better ways to do things from them and they learn from us."