A Day on the Geofjord

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Christine Mahoney, JO2(SW) U.S. Navy

KATTEGAT, OFF FREDERIKSHAVN COAST, DENMARK – The United Kingdom (UK) has the ability to transport their submarine escape and rescue gear anywhere in the world.  Observers and media onboard the Norwegian chartered ship GEOFJORD got to see how the team conducts a submarine escape and how the ship provides supplies to a submarine.

LR5 on A-frame prior to launch

The UK chartered the Norwegian ship in order to participate in SORBET ROYAL 2002 (SOR0 02).  Royal British Navy Project Manager for Submarine Rescue Commander Harry Harrison said they started preparing for the exercise several months ago.  “Approximately six months ago, we started working out the logistics and getting the ship ready for the equipment, “ he said.  “The reason the UK charters a civilian ship to conduct its submarine escape and rescue service is due to the large amount of equipment they need to transport to the distress area.”

Another reason the UK charters civilian ships like GEOFJORD is to save time and money.  “The submarine escape and rescue service has 12 hours to deploy once we receive notice of a submarine distress call.  We found that transporting our equipment by air to a mother ship saves on time.  A ship may have to sail a large distance to a submarine accident site, that takes away from time we could spend on the actual rescue operation.  Air transport is a lot faster,” said Harrison.  “This also works to save costs.  The advantage of working with civilian ship company is that they have a low turnover of personnel; you will probably work with a ship that has the same crew for many years.  This keeps a great level of continuity.  The crew knows the equipment really well.  Therefore, the ship doesn’t have to spend more money on training and on the resources to do that training.”

The equipment used to conduct a submarine escape and rescue mission includes the LR5 vehicle, a RUMIC and Scorpion 45.  “Our equipment is air portable, which allows us to transport the gear by air to anywhere in the world.  We have the LR5, which is launched from and recovered by a mother ship by an A-frame.  The frame is a lift and lower device,” said Harrison.  “We also brought with us the Scorpion 45 and RUMIC Ship Rescue Service.  Both are remotely operated vehicle fitted with specialized manipulators.  We also have four decompression chambers that can hold ten people per chamber.”

According to Harrison, once the call has been sent out for help, the submarine escape and rescue team mobilizes to depart for the accident scene.  “As soon as we get the submarine distress call, we get mobile and deploy within 12 hours after that call,” he said.  “Before we deploy, we have to go through our mother ship database to find a ship in that area we have contracted to use for the rescue mission.  Then we have to get all of the gear, LR5, the Scorpion, the A-Frame and so forth onto an aircraft and they’re off.  Getting to the site could take 48 to four or five days.”

LR5 is a submarine escape and rescue vehicle that can mate with a distressed submarine to take on escapees.  “The vehicle can accommodate up to16 people.  It is manned by three personnel, two pilots and another crewmember who mans the escape hatch,” said Harrison.  “The cycle time to dive down and come up can last up to three hours.  LR5 can dive down to a maximum of 400 meters.”

According to Harrison, a ship can be fitted for LR5 within than 24 hours.  “A ship must have a frame of 30 meters to fit the A-Frame, the crane that lowers and lifts LR5.  After a ship is fitted for the frame, the mounting plates are left on that ship so the LR5 can be deployed to that ship again in the future,” he said.  “If we are unable to get the A-Frame up, we can use a crane, but that puts a lot of constraints on operating the LR5.”

The RUMIC and Scorpion 45 also play vital roles in submarine rescue.  GEOFJORD crewmember and RUMIC Supervisor Stuart Gold said both devices can locate distressed submarines.  “The primary mission of both the RUMIC and the Scorpion is to search for the submarine, which can be difficult if visibility is low,” he said.  “Right now, we are using the RUMIC as our primary vehicle.  The RUMIC is a remotely operated vehicle.  We have three cameras to view what is going on.  We have two black and white, and one color camera.  It can dive up to a depth of 3000 feet, which is the length of the yellow umbilical cord that is attached to it.  RUMIC also has long-range sonar and two front manipulators that are used for grabbing, used like hands.  We use the RUMIC at least 6 times a year just for exercises.”

“During the past couple of days while we are working with the Royal Swedish Navy submarine SJÖONMEN, we have been sending down supplies to the submarine a few times a day,” said Gold.  “The process is called POD-posting.  The POD is a metal cylinder container.  First, we put the POD on the bottom of the ocean floor near the sub.  Once that is done, we use the RUMIC to pick up the POD and place it in the upper hatch of the sub.  The upper hatch will have bag to hold the POD.  Once the top hatch is closed and secured, the submariners can retrieve the POD.”

SJÖONMEN Commanding Officer Lt Cdr Patrick Stjernlof said the submarine was already conducting a training cycle when asked to participate in SOR02.  “This was originally a Singaporean sub, but the Royal Swedish Navy purchased it a few years ago.  Right now, we have 18 Singaporean Navy Submariner officers onboard to conduct training.  We have an agreement with the Singapore government to conduct submarine training for three years with this particular group of officers,” he said.  “We got the word to come down to Kattegat for a few days to participate in the exercise.  I thought this would be a great opportunity for both the Swedish and Singapore crews onboard to spend a few days working with LR5, see how the escape and rescue system works.”

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