''Aluminaut'' (built in 1964) was the world's first
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
submarine. An experimental vessel, the 80-ton, crewed deep-ocean research
submersible was built by
Reynolds Metals Company, which was seeking to promote the utility of aluminum. ''Aluminaut'' was based in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, and was operated from 1964 to 1970 by Reynolds Submarine Services, doing contract work for the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
and other organizations, including marine biologist
Jacques Cousteau.
''Aluminaut'' is best known for helping
recover a lost unarmed U.S. hydrogen bomb in 1966 and recovering its smaller fellow
deep-submergence vehicle
A deep-submergence vehicle (DSV) is a deep-diving crewed submersible that is self-propelled. Several navies operate vehicles that can be accurately described as DSVs. DSVs are commonly divided into two types: research DSVs, which are used for ex ...
,
DSV ''Alvin'' in 1969, after ''Alvin'' had been lost and sank in the Atlantic Ocean the previous year. After retirement, ''Aluminaut'' was donated to the
Science Museum of Virginia
The Science Museum of Virginia is a science museum located in Richmond, Virginia. Established in 1970, it is an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is housed in the former Broad Street Station, built in 1917.
History
Early proposals
In 1 ...
in Richmond, where it is on permanent display.
1964: World's first aluminum submarine
Reynolds Metals was an early developer and manufacturer of aluminum products, including aluminum
buses and other aluminum motor vehicles.
Reynolds Metals designed and built the ''Aluminaut'' as an experiment. The concept of an aluminum submarine was developed at Reynolds during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in 1942 by executive vice president Julian "Louis" Reynolds, a son of the founder. Louis Reynolds led the foil division, which accounted for 65% of the company's sales before the war.
Reynolds Metals played an active role in the U.S. war effort, but it was 20 years before the aluminum submarine was built.
In 1964, Reynolds had the
Electric Boat Division
General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) is a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation. It has been the primary builder of submarines for the United States Navy for more than 100 years. The company's main facilities are a shipyard in Groton, Co ...
of
General Dynamics in
Groton, Connecticut
Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London i ...
, build the world's first aluminum submarine. The submersible was operated by subsidiary Reynolds Submarine Services Corporation, based in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
. Compared to many deep-sea vessels, ''Aluminaut'' was large. It weighed 80 tons and could accommodate a crew of three and three to four scientists. It had four
view ports, active and passive
sonar
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...
,
manipulators, side-scan sonar, and a capacity of of payload.
[ Aluminaut](_blank)
at SMV.
For flexibility, it was outfitted for many types of oceanographic and salvage missions. In September 1964, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine reported on the vehicle's unique specifications, stating that its hull consists of 11 forged cylinders. Aluminum's strength-to-weight ratio exceeds that of steel, so ''Aluminaut'' shell could withstand pressures of at the sub's maximum diving range.
The ''Aluminaut'' was designed at the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering.
Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it ...
in
Woods Hole
Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...
, Massachusetts. A full-scale wooden mock-up was built to engineer the interior spaces. The project was classified as top-secret at that time. At that time it did not have a
conning tower entry and it immediately flooded and sank. The tower entry was designed and added and in the first test, the submarine turned upside down. It was thought at that time that the design was impractical and was almost scrapped.
A one-sixteenth scale model of the final design was built in 1960 and run through stability and pressure tests.
1966: Helping recover a lost unarmed atomic bomb
The ''Aluminaut'' soon became useful during an incident with potentially major implications. On January 17, 1966, a 1.45-megaton-of-
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
equivalent
thermonuclear bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
(Teller–Ulam design) was lost in the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
during a
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
collision over
Palomares,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
.
Seven crew members were killed in the mid-air crash of a
B-52
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...
bomber and a
KC-135
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transpo ...
refueling plane. The crash dropped three thermonuclear bombs on the land, and one in the sea. Although the others were quickly located, the bomb which had fallen into the ocean could not be located promptly.
The
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
responded to the coast off Spain with an 18-ship, 2,200-man recovery task force under Admiral
William S. "Wild Bill" Guest. In addition to military ships, the civilian-crewed ''Aluminaut'' and deep-sea submersible ''
Alvin
Alvin may refer to:
Places Canada
*Alvin, British Columbia United States
*Alvin, Colorado
*Alvin, Georgia
*Alvin, Illinois
* Alvin, Michigan
*Alvin, Texas
* Alvin, Wisconsin, a town
*Alvin (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community
Other ...
'' were both used to respond to this urgent situation as part of the task force, along with other specialized equipment. Once on site, ''Aluminaut'' and ''Alvin'' searched the ocean depths to locate and recover the submerged bomb. For eighty days the search went on, straining the U.S. relationship with Spain, and giving
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
propagandists what ''Time'' magazine described as "a rich fallout of anti-American gibes".
The bomb was found by ''Alvin'' resting nearly below the surface, and was raised intact on April 7, 1966.
Admiral Guest allowed it to be photographed by the news media, allowing the world at large its first peek at a thermonuclear bomb as it sat secured on the fantail of the submarine rescue ship
USS ''Petrel''.
1969: Rescuing DSV ''Alvin''
Although both were put into service in 1964, the smaller ''Alvin'' was to have a much longer life. As of 2017, the ''Alvin'' is still in active service, operated by the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering.
Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it ...
.
Yet ''Aluminaut'' proved vital to ''Alvin'' in 1969.
In October 1968, ''Alvin'' was being transported aboard the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution tender ship ''Lulu''. ''Lulu'' was a vessel created from a pair of decommissioned U.S. Navy
pontoon boats with a support structure. While ''Alvin'' was being lowered over the side of ''Lulu'' on October 16, 1968, two steel cables snapped with three crew members aboard and the hatch open. Situated between the pontoons with no deck underneath, ''Alvin'' entered the water and rapidly began to sink. The three crew members managed to escape, but ''Alvin'' sank in of water.
[Salvops 69]
", "A review of significant salvage operations conducted by U.S. Navy salvage forces and other salvage activities during 1969", pp. 1-18, Department of the Navy, Naval Ship Systems Command, Washington, D.C.
In September 1969, ''Aluminaut'' was used to secure lines and a net to the ''Alvin'', which was located, intact, almost a mile beneath the surface. ''Alvin'' was then hauled to the surface by
USS ''Mizar''. Lunches left aboard ''Alvin'' were found to be soggy but edible, a fact which was tested when a preserved cheese sandwich was nibbled upon by one of the crew. This incident led to a more comprehensive understanding that near-freezing temperatures and the lack of decaying oxygen at depth aided preservation. ''Alvin'' required a major overhaul after the incident.
Other missions
''Aluminaut'' did other work for the U.S. Navy, recovering a current array
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...
at the Navy's acoustic testing facility in the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...
. It helped make films for
Jacques Cousteau and
Ivan Tors
Ivan Tors (born Iván Törzs; June 12, 1916 – June 4, 1983) was a Hungarian playwright, film director, screenwriter, and film and television producer with an emphasis on non-violent but exciting science fiction, underwater sequences, and stori ...
Studios. Depths up to were reached while surveying for the U.S.
Naval Oceanographic Office
The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), located at John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi, comprises approximately 1,000 civilian, military and contract personnel responsible for providing oceanographic products and services to al ...
.
Aluminaut
, HNSA.
Retirement
The ''Aluminaut'' was retired in 1970. It was donated by Reynolds Metals Company to the Science Museum of Virginia
The Science Museum of Virginia is a science museum located in Richmond, Virginia. Established in 1970, it is an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is housed in the former Broad Street Station, built in 1917.
History
Early proposals
In 1 ...
in Richmond, Virginia, where it is on display. However, the submersible continues to be maintained in case it needs to be returned to active service.
See also
*
*
*
References
External links
"Aluminaut & Aquanauts"
''Time''. September 11, 1964.
{{coord, 37.563007, -77.466413, display=title
Deep-submergence vehicles
Maritime incidents in 1968
Museum ships in Virginia
Museums in Richmond, Virginia
1964 ships