U.S. Navy´s Deep Submergence Forces

Since its inception in 1970, Submarine Development Group ONE has functioned as the U. S. Navy´s sole operating arm for underwater search, recovery, and rescue. As such, it maintains the largest, most diverse collection of Deep Submergence assets in the world, including submarines, manned and unmanned submersibles, search systems, diving systems, surface ships, and shore facilities. A wealth of operational experiences have been acquired with these assets over the past thirteen years in both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, leading to the establishment of numerous techniques and equipment developments. This paper will describe specific Submarine Development Group systems and present results of several recent operations. Future plans will also be discussed.