Submarines (2/2)

USS Blenny reef
World War II - USS Blenny SS-324 - 312 ft, 1,810 tons, 8 knots submerged

Everyone knows what a submarine is - a ship that can go underwater. Hardly needs any explanation. Unless you're in the US Navy. By the Navy definition, only their modern, nuclear-powered boats ( all submarines are called "boats" ) are true submarines, designed to operate beneath the surface almost indefinitely. Anything else is merely a "submersible", tied to the surface by the need for fuel and air. Whatever.

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Shipwreck USS Salmon
Model of the Salmon in the 1970s.
Type:
shipwreck, Sailfish class submarine, U.S. Navy
Built:
1956, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth NH, USA
Specs:
( 350 x 25 ft ) 2530 tons, no crew
Sunk:
Saturday June 5, 1993 - "artificial reef"
GPS:
39°42.2' -72°18.2' (US Navy 2004)
Depth:
360 ft


Submarines

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An Explanation of Professor A.A. Buhlmann's ZH-L16 Algorithm

by Paul Chapman

Note to new divers and potential new divers:

This information is presented for general interest. Don't be scared off by what you see here - you don't need to learn any of this to become a safe and competent scuba diver. You will however need to understand dive planning.

The following is a summary of the decompression algorithm described by Dr A.A. Buhlmann in the fourth edition of his book Tauchmedizin ( diving medicine ) published in 1995 ( only in German. ) the book contains a considerable amount of other information and is published by Springer-Verlag ISBN 3-540-58970-8. Rumor has it that at the time of writing ( November 1999 ) an English translation is being prepared for publishing, so hopefully, in due course, this document will become redundant.

The algorithm is simply a "recipe" for modeling the behavior of inert gases, which diffuse in and out of our body tissues when breathed under varying pressures. The intention is that if the recipe models the actual processes in our bodies accurately enough, it can be used to plan dives ( and other pressure exposures ) with a view to avoiding decompression sickness.

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