Mystic class
Encyclopedia
Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle
A Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle is a type of Deep Submergence Vehicle used for rescue of downed submarines and clandestine missions. While DSRV is the term most often used by the United States Navy other nations have different designations for their vehicles.- Chinese models :The People's...
s (DSRVs) performed rescue operations on submerged, disabled submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s of the U.S.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
Navy or foreign navies. They have since been replaced by the Submarine Rescue Diving Recompression System
Submarine Rescue Diving Recompression System
The Submarine Rescue Diving Recompression System is a remotely operated underwater vehicle and its associated systems intended to replace the Mystic class deep submergence rescue vehicle for the United States Navy...
Features
DSRVs are designed for quick deployment in the event of a submarine accident. DSRVs are transportable by truck, aircraft, ship, or by specially configured attack submarine. At the accident site, the DSRV works with either a "mother" ship or "mother" submarine. The DSRV dives, conducts a sonarSonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
search, and attaches to the disabled submarine’s hatch. DSRVs can embark up to 24 personnel for transfer to the "mother" vessel.
The DSRV also has an arm to clear hatches on a disabled submarine and a combined gripper and cable cutter. The gripper is able to lift 1,000 pounds (450 kg).
Background
USS Thresher (SSN-593)
The second USS Thresher was the lead ship of her class of nuclear-powered attack submarines in the United States Navy. Her loss at sea during deep-diving tests in 1963 is often considered a watershed event in the implementation of the rigorous submarine safety program SUBSAFE.The contract to build...
in 1963.
At the time, submarine operating depths greatly exceeded the capabilities of rescue vessels. Lockheed Missiles & Space was contracted to produce a deep diving rescue submarine, the first of which was launched in 1970. While it has been alleged that the stated goal of the DSRV project was unrealistic, and that it was a front for research on undersea espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, including cable tapping, the DSRVs have demonstrated rescue capability, and have conducted numerous practice rescue missions.
DSRV-1
DSRV-1 Mystic
DSRV-1 Mystic is a Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle that is rated to dive up to 1500 metres. DSRV1 was built by Lockheed for the U.S. Navy and launched 24 January 1970....
was launched in San Diego, CA on 24 January 1970. Testing culminated in an operational evaluation that saw a complete, simulated submarine rescue mission. DSRV-1 was named Mystic during the Fleet Acceptance Ceremonies in 1977.
The second, and final, vessel in the class, DSRV-2
DSRV-2 Avalon
DSRV-2 Avalon is a Mystic class Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle that is rated to dive up to 5000 feet . The submarine was acquired in response to the loss of the so that the Navy would have a way to rescue submarine crews trapped far beneath the ocean surface.Avalon was launched in 1971...
, was subsequently launched and named Avalon.
DSRVs in fiction
The DSRV was portrayed in the 1978 movie Gray Lady DownGray Lady Down
Gray Lady Down is a 1978 disaster film by Universal Studios starring Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Stacy Keach, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, and features the first film role for a young Christopher Reeve...
, where it was used to rescue the crew of a sunken submarine.
Both DSRVs were featured in Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
's book, The Hunt for Red October
The Hunt for Red October
The Hunt for Red October is a 1984 novel by Tom Clancy. The story follows the intertwined adventures of Soviet submarine captain Marko Aleksandrovich Ramius and CIA analyst Jack Ryan.The novel was originally published by the U.S...
, as part of a scheme to seize a defecting Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
submarine, and one featured in the film adaptation
The Hunt for Red October (film)
The Hunt for Red October is a 1990 thriller film based on the novel of the same name by Tom Clancy. It was directed by John McTiernan and stars Sean Connery as Captain Marko Ramius and Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan...
.
The DSRV Mystic was featured in the pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
of the 2005 NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Surface
Surface (TV series)
Surface is a science fiction television series that premiered on NBC on 19 September 2005. The program aired fifteen episodes before going on hiatus on February 6, 2006 due to NBC's coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics...
. One of the main characters takes the sub down to the ocean floor to study a newly discovered life-form.
It also plays a role as a rescue vehicle for Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
submariners in the game Sub Command
Sub Command
Sub Command, subtitled Akula Seawolf 688 is a submarine simulator computer game designed by Sonalysts Combat Simulations and published for Windows systems by Strategy First in 2001.The player commands one submarine: a U.S...
under the mission "Save The Danes".
General characteristics
| Builder: | Lockheed Missiles and Space, Co., Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area... , USA |
| Power Plant: | Electric motors, silver/zinc batteries, one shaft, 15 shaft horsepower (11 kW), four thrusters, 7.5 horsepower (6 kW). |
| Length: | 49 ft (15 m) |
| Beam: | 8 ft (2.4 m) |
| Displacement: | 38 tons (39 metric tons) |
| Speed | 4 knots (7 km/h) |
| Maximum depth: | 5,000 ft (1500 m) |
| Sonar: | Search and navigation |
| Ships: | Mystic (DSRV 1) |
| Avalon (DSRV 2) | |
| Crew: | Two pilots, two rescue personnel and the capacity for 24 passengers |