At the bottom of the seafloor within Naval Base Ventura County Wharf 5 lies a fabricated shipping container strategically placed and equipped for search and salvage simulations. Part of the five-month annual Advanced Naval Technology Exercise and Coastal Trident Port and Maritime Security Program (ANTX/CT21), the simulations are geared to incorporate a “whole of government” focus, recognizing the importance of non-Department of Defense, federal, state, and local government partners in sustaining Navy forces and responding to port and coastal water incidents.
Spanning over eight hours a day for five days, ANTX/CT21 brought together first responders and divers nationwide to participate in simulations and other various training exercises to address threats to port and maritime security, including industrial accidents, natural disasters, and acts of terrorism.
Exercise participants included the U.S. Coast Guard’s Regional Dive Locker-West, the Los Angeles Port Police Dive Team, the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Ventura County Sheriff Department, the Santa Barbara Sheriff Office, Navy Supervisor of Salvage, Navy Supervisor of Diving, Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia, Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Sentinel Safety, Numerus, Video Ray, Coda Octopus, and divers from the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC) Dive Locker.
Over the course of a week prior to the exercise, Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Ault, NAVFAC EXWC Dive Locker Project Supervisor, with oversight from Senior Chief Petty Officer James McVicar, NAVFAC EXWC Master Diver, designed and built the container simulation. Inside the container were two rooms, each filled with bunks, furniture and training mannequins. A camera system was additionally set up inside the container to allow topside personnel to view the divers performing tasks during the simulation.
“Use of the underwater container allowed multi-agency divers to gain valuable experience diving into a simulated sunken vessel. Divers experienced what it actually feels like to dive into and search inside submerged compartments,” said Ault. “The entirety of the exercise allowed dive teams to conduct real-time realistic dive operation enabling professionals from a wide breadth of agencies to operate as one team.”
Two times a day for up to two hours a day, divers from NAVFAC EXWC and U.S. Coast Guard Regional Dive Locker-West dove 40 feet into a 20-foot shipping container outfitted to replicate a sunken berthing vessel that caught on fire.
During the exercise, participants used an Echoscope Sonar System (real-time three-dimensional sonar) and handheld LiDAR (three-dimensional scanner) to scan the shipping container. One sonar system was placed in a stationary position, while another sonar system was connected to a research vessel where topside participants viewed the landscape of the exercise from top-down. The stationary sonar system conducted a scan that created a 3-dimensional topographic map of the simulation area, gathered data from the scan, processed the information, and provided relevant data to the diver completing the simulation—the data was specifically useful to help divers navigate through low visibility conditions.
New to the exercise was the use of the Diver Augmented Vision Display (DAVD) System. During each diving simulation, the DAVD System provided divers the ability to view images and data via a heads-up display inside their helmet. Simultaneously, the dive locker used a berthing container rigged with lights and cameras to watch the divers and remotely operated vehicles to explore the simulation—in a real-world environment, the DAVD system allows topside personnel to communicate with divers by transmitting instructions, messages, and a breadth of other important data a diver may need to perform their mission.
“We have a responsibility to render assistance to civil authorities in the event of a disaster,” said SCPO James McVicar, NAVFAC EXWC Master Diver. “[The CT21] partnership has been exercised across the country to reduce loss of life and suffering. The complex nature of diving and the unique mission areas assigned to diver make coming together in a time of crisis difficult. Having events like [CT21] allow agencies to conduct and rehearse realistic co-located diving operations so that when the need arises, the teams can coordinate for the benefit of their community.”
McVicar added the simulation the NAVFAC EXWC Dive Locker developed incorporated aspects of the recent tragic Conception Dive Charter disaster, and scenarios from the USS McCain collision. All of the divers involved in the simulation either knew someone, or participated themselves in recoveries from both events.
The Navy and Coast Guard divers who attended the exercise were generally all very experienced divers. Other event participants ranged from well experienced to highly seasoned divers. Only a very small segment of divers participating in the event had limited diving experience, of which, focused on training to perform enclosed space diving and other types of less egregious missions.
“This exercise is another example of how dedicated the Navy is to developing technology for the warfighter, and the deep respect we have for our communities and the first responders that keep out families safe when we deploy,” said McVicar. “We were able to conduct cutting edge research, development, testing and evaluation to benefit our Sailors and facilitate a realistic training environment for public safety divers.”
McVicar commented that each component added to the exercise furthered the planning complexity of the event, but lead to outcomes that far surpassed the expectations of both the event planners and attendees.
Next month, the NAVFAC EXWC Dive Locker will participate in an additional exercise involving the assessment of a partially submerged structure using a drone that can fly, land on water, submerge itself, and be controlled while sub-surface and send visual data back to the drone operator. NAVFAC EXWC will also be present for the closing event of ANTX/21, scheduled for Sept. 22-23, where they will present on environmental containment recovery technologies and demonstrate atmospheric water extraction technologies.
About Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC): NAVFAC EXWC is a command of more than 1,300 dedicated federal employees, contractors, and military personnel who provide science, research, development, testing, evaluation, specialized engineering, and mobile logistics capabilities to deliver sustainable facility and pragmatic expeditionary solutions to the warfighter.
For more news from NAVFAC EXWC, please visit https://www.navfac.navy.mil/ or visit us on Facebook @NAVFACEXWC
| Date Taken: | 07.13.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 07.13.2021 13:25 |
| Story ID: | 400800 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CA, US |
| Hometown: | PORT HUENEME, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 209 |
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