April 2007 - Supervisor of Salvage and Diving

FACEPLATE is published by the Supervisor
of Salvage and Diving to make the latest and
most informative news available to the Navy
diving and salvage community. Discussions
or illustrations of commercial products do not
imply endorsement by the Supervisor of
Salvage and Diving or the U.S. Navy.
Articles, letters, queries and comments should
be directed to the Commander, Naval Sea
Systems Command, NAVSEA 00C, 1333
Isaac Hull Ave. SE Stop 1070, Washington
Navy Yard, DC 20376-1070. (Attn:
FACEPLATE). Visit our website at http://
www.supsalv.org. To view an electronic
version of Faceplate in PDF format go to our
website and click on the word “Faceplate”
located in the left hand column. This link will
direct you to our list of Faceplate issues.
Captain Richard Hooper, USN
Director of Ocean Engineering
Supervisor of Salvage and Diving
NAVSEA 00C
richard.hooper@navy.mil
Commander John Gray, USN
Supervisor of Diving
Editor-In-Chief
john.g.gray@navy.mil
LCDR Jim Bladh, USN (Ret.)
Managing Editor
jimbladhsr@aol.com
NDCM (MDV) Danny Boyd, USN
NDCM (MDV) Fred K. Orns, USN
NDCM (MDV) Brian Pratschner, USN
Fleet Liaison Editors
danny.boyd@navy.mil
frederick.orns@navy.mil
brian.pratschner@navy.mil
In This Issue
Zoya Gorbunova
Production Manager
zgorbunova@roh-inc.com
Otto C. Adams
Graphic Designer
oadams@roh-inc.com
SUPSALV Sends ........................................... 2
Underwater Friction Stud Welding System .... 3
ESCAPEX 2006 ............................................. 4
Safety Center Update .................................... 5
Joe Stahovec Obituary ................................... 5
USS MONITOR Center Opening ................... 6
Navy Tug Fights Fire Aboard Freighter .......... 8
SUPSALV SENDS
Greetings, Navy Divers, from the new
leadership team at the Supervisor of
Salvage and Diving. Captain
Jim Wilkins and Captain
Mark Helmkamp have both
turned over the watch as
SUPSALV and SUPDIVE.
Please read the article from
the new SUPDIVE, Captain
(Select) John Gray on p. 20
of this issue. Captain Gray
reports after his tour on the
SECOND Fleet Staff and the
entire Navy diving community will be the
beneficiary of his operational perspective.
If you would like to learn more on our
backgrounds, our bios are available on the
SUPSALV website at www.supsalv.org.
First, a word about FACEPLATE.
This is your magazine. We are all professionals
confronting the sole constant in our
professional career: change. Let’s use this
magazine as your forum to “get the word
out” to the entire Navy diving community.
Is your command confronting reorganization
challenges that you can share lessons
learned with the whole diving Navy?
Take the time to push those lessons to
FACEPLATE so we can gain from your
successes and don’t have to repeat the mistakes.
Has your Dive Locker led a unique
diving operation? Share it with your fellow
Divers via FACEPLATE so that other
Navy Divers and the Navy can benefit.
The NAVSEA 00C Master Divers listed
in the column to the left are your enablers
to get your Dive Locker’s innovations and
experiences into print. Share those experiences
in a long email with a few pictures
attached to our Master Divers and it will
be in the next issue. A great example of
this type of community knowledge sharing
appears in this issue from Pearl Har-
Captain Rich Hooper
Navy Chief Sets Record ................................ 8
The Revolution in Navy Diver Training .......... 9
Is Certification Necessary? .......................... 10
Bits & Pieces ................................................ 11
NAVSEA UWSH Reference Website ........... 12
NDSTC Update ............................................ 13
Command in the Spotlight: PHNSY ............. 14
bor Naval Shipyard and the story of ship
maintenance diving locker regionalization
courtesy of CWO MacDonald.
His story shows that every one
of us can use that sole constant
of CHANGE and use it to make
our lockers stronger. Whether
you are stationed at a maintenance
center or at a “pointy end
of the spear” command, there are
lessons of leadership in CWO
MacDonald’s story that may apply
to your diving organization.
What are my objectives as I take the
helm at SUPSALV?
The goal that trumps all others is to
enable the ongoing Navy diving safety
record for performing diving missions
without a diving accident or death.
SUPSALV’s role in this essential endeavor
is to provide procedures and policy to the
Diving Navy that enables our high success
rate for safe diving. Since my arrival
in October 2006, SUPSALV has promulgated
changes to the Diving Systems Certification
Manual or “MAN-10.” Before
the next issue of FACEPLATE goes to
print, a significant revision to the Navy
Diving Manual with revised diving recompression
tables to lower the risk of decompression
incidents based on lessons
learned from Fleet diving experience. Of
course the most visible SUPSALV enabling
technique for proactive diving
safety is the visits by our certification division
to Navy Diving Lockers. These visits
are an opportunity for diving commands
to take advantage of the experience of the
SUPSALV certification team which represents
an extraordinary reservoir of diving
knowledge including highly experienced
engineers and “retired” Master
Divers who continue their service by trans-
(“SUPSALV Sends” continued on p. 13 )
From The Managing Editor .......................... 16
Charity Golf Classic Update ........................ 16
American Salvage Association Membership 17
The Old Master ............................................ 18
37 Years Ago in Faceplate ........................... 19
The IRON MEN ............................................ 19
From SUPDIVE ............................................ 20
Cover photo: USNS Grapple (T-ARS 53). Illustration and design by Otto Adams, III.
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