Underwater Survey of the USS Becuna

[LukeFF]

A good friend of mine is an engineer diver and recently was part of a project to survey the hull of the USS Becuna, a Balao class submarine on display in Philadelphia. He just posted a video of the event on YouTube:



My friend's the Hispanic man wearing the orange vest.

On October 27 and 28, 2010, Ocean and Coastal Consultants, Inc. (OCC) performed a survey of the USS Becuna's hull and adjacent port side timber dolphins at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, PA. The USS Becuna (SS/AGSS-319), a National Historic Landmark, is a 66 year old BALAO-class submarine. Launched on January 30, 1944, the USS Becuna currently measures 307.6 feet long by 27.3 feet beam and draws a 17 feet draft with 1,830 tons displaced when surfaced. Decommissioned on November 7, 1969, the USS Becuna has since had through-hull blanking plates installed upon all flooding and utility holes located throughout the hull. The dive planes and rudder have been permanently fixed in position, and the forward and aft torpedo doors have all been permanently shut.

In accordance with the scope of work, OCC performed an underwater video survey of the submarine dive plane, rudder and hull with representative ultrasonic thicknesses (UT) measurements of the blanking plates. A survey was also completed of the two adjacent timber pile dolphins. The inspection diving operations were conducted using a 3-man crew of engineer-divers with surface-supplied air diving equipment and continuous communications and video staged from a large van located on the adjacent relieving platform.