Cammell Laird / NRDC. SBV.01 (Sea Bed Vehicle) 'SealBeaver'

[TsrJoe]

New Scientist

New Scientist magazine was launched in 1956 "for all those men and women who are interested in scientific discovery, and in its industrial, commercial and social consequences". The brand's mission is no different today - for its consumers, New Scientist reports, explores and interprets the...

books.google.co.uk

 

[TsrJoe]

https://www.mcdoa.org.uk/RN_Diving_Magazine_Vol_16_No_3.pdf

MCDOA News Archive 49

 

[TsrJoe]

MARINE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Hansard, 2 July 1969)

MARINE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Hansard, 2 July 1969)

hansard.millbanksystems.com

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1972-07-31/debates/f6c8bae2-8685-4668-bb93-c0a23d649765/Sealbeaver

Seabed Vehicle (Cammell Laird) (Hansard, 25 July 1972)

Seabed Vehicle (Cammell Laird) (Hansard, 25 July 1972)

api.parliament.uk

 

[TsrJoe]

British Record

books.google.co.uk

 

[TsrJoe]

Anyone near to the Wirral Archives perchance ?

Sea Bed Vehicle SBV01 | The National Archives

The official archive of the UK government. Our vision is to lead and transform information management, guarantee the survival of today's information for tomorrow and bring history to life for everyone.

discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk

 

[TsrJoe]

Patent relating to SBV. ...

US3500648A - Underwater vehicles - Google Patents

 

[Nik]

Would that be from when they began worrying about aerial-festooned Russian 'trawlers' interfering with the trans-Atlantic comms lines ??

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Fascinating - thanks for posting....

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Yellow Palace]

Would that be from when they began worrying about aerial-festooned Russian 'trawlers' interfering with the trans-Atlantic comms lines ??

This was the era when offshore oil and gas was a huge growth industry and there was an expectation that there'd be massive demand for undersea construction. It's an interesting idea, though I'm not sure how practical it would actually be; the world seems to have coped just fine without seabed-crawling submersibles.

It doesn't seem - from the documents posted - to have had anything to do with any military requirement. The only one that's even vaguely military is from the RN Diving Magazine, which covered a wide range of subjects of general interest to divers: articles in the same issue cover the salvage of the SS GREAT BRITAIN, decimalisation of currency, and the Weddell seal.

 

[Nik]

"seabed-crawling submersibles"

Tracked ROVs, yes, especially for the last mile to in-shore, where you'd want to trench & bury cables etc against storms, trawlers, anchors and hostiles, yet too deep for 'wading' ...

 

[TsrJoe]

Ref. New Scientist (via Bob Shaw)

 

[publiusr]

Now to get a heat proof version to Venus

 

[TsrJoe]

SBV.01 model

 

[TsrJoe]

SBV.01 artwork

 

[TsrJoe]

SBV.01 description

 

[Yellow Palace]

I've always wondered about the practicality of the diving arrangements on the SBV.

Operated for 'bounce' dives, the decompression time would be so long compared to the bottom time that I'm not sure it would justify having the vehicle there at all. Operated for saturation diving, the support the vehicle could provide would be so limited you'd probably be as dependent on surface support as if you just carried out bell dives.

Still, it was the 1960s, and subsea work in general was still a bit of a mystery.

 

[CJGibson]

Still, it was the 1960s, and subsea work in general was still a bit of a mystery.

...and very dangerous.

Chris

 

[Yellow Palace]

...and very dangerous.

Chris

That too. Bounce diving from a tin can trundling along the bottom would not have made it safer, IMO!