The Challenge
The Far Eastern Navy asked SMP Ltd to manufacture a package that would be able to handle a submarine rescue mission from start to finish. If an incident was to occur where a submarine was unable to resurface, the recovery process would be broken down into two parts.
The first part would be the reconnaissance of the affected submarine to locate it, gather data and evaluate the requirements for the manned mission. This would be done by a first response vessel carrying the SEVDS, ROV System, Diving System and Atmospheric Diver Suit to the rescue site.
The second part of the rescue mission would be the second response vessel arriving on the rescue site to recover the crew of the stricken submarine. This would involve transferring the distressed submarine crew under pressure into a 66-man decompression chamber via a Distressed Submarine Rescue Vehicle (DSRV).