Editing SEALAB (section)

==SEALAB III==
With naval research funding constrained by [[Vietnam War]] combat requirements,<ref name=sul/> it was four years later before SEALAB III used the refurbished SEALAB II habitat placed in water three times deeper. Five teams of nine [[underwater diving|divers]] were scheduled to spend 12 days each in the habitat, testing new salvage techniques and conducting [[oceanography|oceanographic]] and [[fishery]] studies.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=J. W. |last1=Kuling |first2=J. K. |last2=Summitt |title=Saturation Dives, with Excursions, for the Development of a Decompression Schedule for Use during SEALAB III |journal=US Navy Experimental Diving Unit Technical Report |volume=NEDU-RR-9-70 |year=1970 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/3444 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701133623/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/3444 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 1, 2012 |access-date=July 8, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=R. W. |last1=Crowley |first2=J. K. |last2=Summitt |title=Report of Experimental Dives for SEALAB III Surface Support Decompression Schedules |journal=US Navy Experimental Diving Unit Technical Report |volume=NEDU-RR-15-70 |year=1970 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/3441 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100306165208/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/3441 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 6, 2010 |access-date=July 8, 2008}}</ref> Preparations for such a deep dive were extensive. In addition to many [[Biomedicine|biomedical]] studies, work-up dives were conducted at the U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit at the [[Washington, D.C.]], Navy Yard. These “dives” were not done in the open sea, but in a special [[Diving chamber#Hyperbaric chamber|hyperbaric chamber]] that could recreate the pressures at depths as great as {{convert|1025|ft}} of sea water.

[[File:SEALAB III.jpg|right|thumb|SEALAB III, artist's impression]]

According to [[John P. Craven|John Piña Craven]], the U.S. Navy's head of the [[Deep Submergence Systems Project]] of which SEALAB was a part, SEALAB III "was plagued with strange failures at the very start of operations".<ref name="Craven">{{cite book |author-link=John P. Craven |last=Craven |first=John Piña |year=2001 |title=The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=0-684-87213-7}}</ref> USS ''Elk River'' (IX-509) was specially fitted as a SEALAB operations support ship to replace ''Berkone''; but the project was 18 months late and three million dollars over budget when SEALAB III was lowered to {{convert|610|feet}} off [[San Clemente Island]], California, on 15 February 1969. SEALAB team members were tense and frustrated by these delays, and began taking risks to make things work. When a poorly sized neoprene seal caused helium to leak from the habitat at an unacceptable rate, four divers volunteered to repair the leak in place rather than lifting the habitat to the surface. Their first attempt was unsuccessful, and the divers had been awake for twenty hours using [[amphetamine]]s to stay alert for a second attempt,<ref name=sul/> during which [[aquanaut]] [[Berry L. Cannon]] died.<ref name=Time1969>{{cite magazine |title=Oceanography: Death in the Depths |date=February 28, 1969 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900698,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214154058/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900698,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 14, 2008 |access-date=February 18, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Schwartz |first=John |title=Robert Barth, a Pioneer of Deep-Sea Diving, Dies at 89 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/science/robert-barth-dead.html |access-date=1 June 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=7 April 2020}}</ref> A U.S. Navy Board of Inquiry found that Cannon's [[rebreather]] was missing [[baralyme]], the chemical necessary to remove [[carbon dioxide]].<ref name=Time1969/><ref name="Hardy">{{cite magazine |last=Hardy |first=Kevin |title=SEALAB III (1969): The Divers' Story |magazine=InDEPTH |department=History |date=September 4, 2024 |access-date=January 12, 2025 |url=https://indepthmag.com/sealab-1969-divers-story/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241222190642/https://indepthmag.com/sealab-1969-divers-story/ |archive-date=December 22, 2024}}</ref> Surgeon commander [[John Rawlins (Royal Navy officer)|John Rawlins]], a Royal Navy medical officer assigned to the project, also suggested that [[hypothermia]] during the dive was a contributing factor to the problem not being recognized by the diver.<ref name=RRR6248>{{cite journal |first=Michael |last=Davis |title=Immersion hypothermia in scuba diving |journal=South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal |volume=9 |issue=2 |year=1979 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6248 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113112650/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6248 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=January 13, 2013 |access-date=July 29, 2011}}</ref>

According to Craven, while the other divers were undergoing the week-long [[Decompression (diving)|decompression]], repeated attempts were made to sabotage their air supply by someone aboard the command barge. Eventually, a guard was posted on the decompression chamber and the men were recovered safely. A potentially unstable suspect was identified by the staff psychiatrist, but the culprit was never prosecuted. Craven suggests this may have been done to spare the Navy bad press so soon after the {{USS|Pueblo|AGER-2}} incident.<ref name="Craven"/>

After reinvestigating Cannon's death, ocean engineer Kevin Hardy concluded in a 2024 article that "There is greater evidence that Berry Cannon died from [[electrocution]] than {{chem2|CO2}} poisoning."<ref name="Hardy"/>

The SEALAB program came to a halt, and although the SEALAB III habitat was retrieved,<ref name="Craven"/> it was eventually scrapped. Aspects of the research continued,<ref name=sealab3>{{cite journal |title=Test procedures for supervisor of salvage sponsored work projects for Sealab III |first=Willard Franklyn |last=Searle |publisher=Deep Submergence Systems, Office of Naval Research |year=1969 |author-link=Willard Franklyn Searle}}</ref> but no new habitats were built.

NCEL (now a part of [[Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center]]) of [[Port Hueneme, California]], was responsible for the handling of several contracts involving life support systems used on SEALAB III.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=John J. |last1=Bayles |first2=Douglas |last2=Taylor |name-list-style=amp |title=Aquanauts Composite Life Support Umbilicals - SEALAB III. (2005) l |url=http://en.scientificcommons.org/19855357 |access-date=August 27, 2008}}</ref>

A model of SEALAB III can be found at the [[Man in the Sea Museum]] in [[Panama City Beach, Florida]].<ref name=":1" />