Australian Submarine Rescue Vehicle Remora | |
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Career (Australia) | |
Name: | Australian Submarine Rescue Vehicle Remora |
Namesake: | Remora |
Builder: | OceanWorks International, North Vancouver, British Columbia |
In service: | 1995–2006 |
General characteristics | |
Type: | Submarine rescue vehicle |
Displacement: | 16.5 tonnes (18.2 tons) |
Test depth: | Over 500 metres (1,600 ft) |
Capacity: | 6 passengers |
Crew: | 1 onboard operator, 12 personnel on surface |
Time to activate: | 36 hours to transport + 25 hours to fit and deploy |
Australian Submarine Rescue Vehicle Remora (ASRV Remora) was a submarine rescue vehicle used by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1995 and 2006. The name comes from the remora, a small fish that can attach itself to larger marine life, and has the backronym "Really Excellent Method Of Rescuing Aussies".[1][2]
Remora was constructed by OceanWorks International of North Vancouver, British Columbia for the RAN, based on a diving bell.[1] The 16.5-tonne (18.2-ton) vehicle was designed to mate with a submarine's escape tower, and could do this even if the submarine had rolled up to 60 degrees from vertical.[1][2] The vehicle can operate at depths over 500 metres (1,600 ft) and in currents of up to 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph), and was intended for use below 180 metres (590 ft); the maximum safe depth for Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment.[1][3] The submersible carried seven people: an onboard operator and six passengers.[1] Those aboard Remora were kept under about five bars of pressure, and rescued submariners exited into one of two 36-man recompression chambers carried aboard the rescue ship.[1]
Remora could be controlled from a containerised facility aboard the rescue ship, with power, control, and sensors fed through an armoured umbilical cable.[4][5] Twelve personnel make up the surface control complement, with this number supplemented by underwater medicine specialists and divers.[5] The entire setup (Remora, control centre, and recompression chambers) could be transported by road or sea, or loaded into C-130 Hercules aircraft.[3][4] Remora could be delivered to anywhere in Australia within 36 hours, and installed on a suitable vessel in another 25 hours.[3] The Defence Maritime Services tender Seahorse Spirit was designated the main tender for Remora, although any vessel with sufficient space to carry and deploy the equipment (300-square-metre (3,200 sq ft) of deck space, with 8 metres (26 ft) minimum width) could be used.[5][6]
In December 2006, the umbilical cable parted during an exercise off Perth, trapping two men at a depth of 140 metres (460 ft) for 12 hours.[2] The men were rescued, but Remora was not recovered until April 2007.[2] The submersible was sent back to OceanWorks for repairs.[2] Although repairs were completed, Remora did not reenter service as the Det Norske Veritas classification society refused to certify the submersible; the launch and recovery equipment did not meet updated safety standards.[2] As of the end of 2008, Remora was in storage at Henderson, Western Australia.[2] To cover the capability loss, the Department of Defence arranged for the British LR5 submersible to be flown to Australia if submarine rescue was required.[2] In June 2009, LR5 was relocated to Australia on lease.[7]
Remora was the basis for the United States Navy's Submarine Rescue Diving Recompression System.[8]
Citations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Davidson & Allibone, Beneath Southern Seas, p. 166
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Stewart, Rescue system for submarines a failure
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Royal Australian Navy, Submarine Rescue Vehicles
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Davidson & Allibone, Beneath Southern Seas, p. 167
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 InDepth Project Management, Australian Submarine Rescue Vehicle (ASRV) Remora Fact Sheet
- ↑ Wertheim (ed.), The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, p. 19
- ↑ Remora replacement arrives, in Australian Defence Magazine
- ↑ Wertheim (ed.), The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, p. 973
References[]
- Books
- Davidson, Jon; Allibone, Tom (2005). Beneath Southern Seas. Crawley, WA: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1-920694-62-5. OCLC 69242056.
- Wertheim, Eric, ed (2007). The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems (15th ed.). Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-955-2. OCLC 140283156. http://books.google.com/books?id=TJunjRvplU4C.
- News articles
- "Remora replacement arrives". Australian Defence Magazine. 12 June 2009. http://www.australiandefence.com.au/81789FF7-5056-8C22-C923F3728E15F0F8. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
- Stewart, Cameron (26 December 2008). "Rescue system for submarines a failure". The Australian. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20090206021852/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24845190-31477,00.html. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
- Websites
- "Australian Submarine Rescue Vehicle (ASRV) Remora Fact Sheet". InDepth Project Management. http://www.idpm.biz/downloads/Remora_Fact_Sheet.pdf. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
- "Submarine Rescue Vehicles". Royal Australian Navy. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20110613231734/http://www.navy.gov.au/Submarine_Rescue_Vehicle. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
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