In case you've never heard of him, Charles "Swede" Momsen was a US Navy officer and early pioneer in submarine safety precautions, underwater salvage operations and underwater vehicle tech.
Among other things, in the late 1930s, Momsen constructed :
- a simple rebreather device to help stranded US Navy submarine crews abandon a sinking sub and swin to the surface without having to hold their breaths
- a special crewed diving bell for rescuing crews of stranded US Navy subs (the airlock located in its bottom section had a docking ring that could envelope a submarine hatch and allow the crew to board the diving bell and be evacuated)
Despite this, Momsen's ideas were shunned by the US Navy.
In the summer of 1939, the new US Navy sub USS Squalus had some technical problems off the coast of New Hampshire and lost all electric batteries aboard, sinking to the bottom of the sea. However, it remained airtight and wasn't too deep down, so there was still a sliver of hope of saving the sailors aboard. The problem was the fact that no crew of a sunken sub had ever been rescued up until then. It seemed the crew of 33 would be done for, but under media and public pressure, the Navy decided to give Momsen's already built diving belt a try. And it worked, with the recovery teams eventually bringing all 33 stranded sailors back to the surface alive. It was the first succesful undersea rescue in history and paved the way to Momsen's designs becoming adopted by the navies of the US and at least a dozen other countries and being further improved upon during the naval campaigns of WWII and the early Cold War.
Momsen's son continued his fathers efforts and was one of the pioneers of practical modern minisubs. Among other things, he introduced the world to the now-celebrated Alvin series of minisubs and their upgrades during the 60s and 70s. All in all, our current underwater tech owes a lot to these two inventors.
But... What if fate had been more cruel to father and son than in OTL ?
The POD choices are rather simple :
1.) Momsen's contributions are dismissed even during the OTL disaster and the Navy doesn't allow him to try out a rescue operation via his diving bell. The crew of the USS Squalus die of suffocation and hypothermia. No effective improvements in submarine safety standards or crew-rescuing tech happen during WWII or maybe years to come. Could this be a distinct possibility ? How could it affect the War in the Pacific and elsewhere ?
2.) Momsen is given the go-ahead, but on the fourth and last dive, a technical problem strands the bell with the last batch of the rescued sailors. Notably, this almost happened in OTL. One of the support cables became stuck and had to be cut, but the remaining cable almost snapped. The crew of the bell then improvised and rescued the operation by manipulating the pressure in the bell to make it more buoyant - this allowed the divers and surface crews to pull the bell up to the surface more easily, preventing disaster. But what if the crew hadn't thought of this MacGyver ploy or the cable had snapped and the crew and survivors had all drowned at the bottom of the sea ? Would the Navy dismiss any future rescue attempts with Momsen's device ?
So, any thoughts, guys and gals ?
Among other things, in the late 1930s, Momsen constructed :
- a simple rebreather device to help stranded US Navy submarine crews abandon a sinking sub and swin to the surface without having to hold their breaths
- a special crewed diving bell for rescuing crews of stranded US Navy subs (the airlock located in its bottom section had a docking ring that could envelope a submarine hatch and allow the crew to board the diving bell and be evacuated)
Despite this, Momsen's ideas were shunned by the US Navy.
In the summer of 1939, the new US Navy sub USS Squalus had some technical problems off the coast of New Hampshire and lost all electric batteries aboard, sinking to the bottom of the sea. However, it remained airtight and wasn't too deep down, so there was still a sliver of hope of saving the sailors aboard. The problem was the fact that no crew of a sunken sub had ever been rescued up until then. It seemed the crew of 33 would be done for, but under media and public pressure, the Navy decided to give Momsen's already built diving belt a try. And it worked, with the recovery teams eventually bringing all 33 stranded sailors back to the surface alive. It was the first succesful undersea rescue in history and paved the way to Momsen's designs becoming adopted by the navies of the US and at least a dozen other countries and being further improved upon during the naval campaigns of WWII and the early Cold War.
Momsen's son continued his fathers efforts and was one of the pioneers of practical modern minisubs. Among other things, he introduced the world to the now-celebrated Alvin series of minisubs and their upgrades during the 60s and 70s. All in all, our current underwater tech owes a lot to these two inventors.
But... What if fate had been more cruel to father and son than in OTL ?
The POD choices are rather simple :
1.) Momsen's contributions are dismissed even during the OTL disaster and the Navy doesn't allow him to try out a rescue operation via his diving bell. The crew of the USS Squalus die of suffocation and hypothermia. No effective improvements in submarine safety standards or crew-rescuing tech happen during WWII or maybe years to come. Could this be a distinct possibility ? How could it affect the War in the Pacific and elsewhere ?
2.) Momsen is given the go-ahead, but on the fourth and last dive, a technical problem strands the bell with the last batch of the rescued sailors. Notably, this almost happened in OTL. One of the support cables became stuck and had to be cut, but the remaining cable almost snapped. The crew of the bell then improvised and rescued the operation by manipulating the pressure in the bell to make it more buoyant - this allowed the divers and surface crews to pull the bell up to the surface more easily, preventing disaster. But what if the crew hadn't thought of this MacGyver ploy or the cable had snapped and the crew and survivors had all drowned at the bottom of the sea ? Would the Navy dismiss any future rescue attempts with Momsen's device ?
So, any thoughts, guys and gals ?
