Dry deck shelter explained

A dry deck shelter (DDS) is a removable module that can be attached to a submarine to allow divers easy exit and entrance while the boat is submerged. The host submarine must be specially modified to accommodate the DDS, with the appropriate mating hatch configuration, electrical connections, and piping for ventilation,[1] divers' air, and draining water. The DDS can be used to deploy a SEAL Delivery Vehicle submersible, Navy divers, or Combat Rubber Raiding Craft (CRRC).

Active and future DDS-capable submarines

Royal Navy

In UK service it is formally named the Special Forces Payload Bay (SFPB) and was procured under ‘Project Chalfont’.[2] [3] Training is conducted at the purpose-built Chalfont Shore Facility (CSF) constructed by BAE Systems at HMNB Clyde. It is used by the .

United States Navy

The United States Navy's DDSs are 38feet long and 9feet high and wide, add about 30 tons to its host submarine's submerged displacement, can be transported by trucks or C-5 Galaxy airplanes, and require one to three days to install and test. They have three HY-80 steel sections within the outer glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) fairing: a spherical hyperbaric chamber at the forward end to treat injured divers; a smaller spherical transfer trunk;[4] and a cylindrical hangar with elliptical ends. The hangar can support a SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) submersible, six Navy SEALs to man the SDV, and a crew of Navy Divers to operate the DDS and launch the SDV; or 20 SEALs with four Combat Rubber Raiding Craft (CRRC). The SDV release team consists of 2 officers, 2 enlisted technicians, and 18 divers.[5]

The two SEAL delivery vehicle teams report to Naval Special Warfare Group 3.[6]

There are currently six portable dry deck shelters in use by the USN, the first one built by Electric Boat. The first, designated DDS-01S ("S" for starboard opening outer door), was completed in 1982. The remaining five, DDS-02P ("P" for port opening), -03P, -04S, -05S, and -06P, were built between 1987 and 1991 and were built by Newport News Shipbuilding.[7] The shelters are maintained by a combined effort of Navy divers stationed on the teams and workers of the maintenance company Oceaneering International.[8] [9] They have expected useful lives of about 40 years each.

The first submarine to have an operational dry deck shelter was the, which was fitted with the DDS in 1982 and first deployed with it in 1983.[10] It is deployed on the,[11] the,[12] the :,[13] and the.[14] The Ohio-class SSGNs are capable of supporting dual dry deck shelters.[14]

Marine nationale

Barracuda-class submarine (France)

Former DDS-capable submarines

Former US Navy DDS-capable submarines include:

[15]

Note: The Benjamin Franklin-class special operations attack submarines were capable of supporting dual dry deck shelters.[16]

Five s were also fitted to carry the DDS.

Notes and References

  1. Lillo, RS . Porter, WR . Caldwell, JM . Development of Oxygen Monitoring Capability for the Existing Hyperbaric Carbon Dioxide Analyzer Used in Dry Deck Shelter Operations . . NEDU-TR-01-01 . 2001 . https://archive.today/20130415194235/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/3583 . usurped . April 15, 2013 . 2013-03-20 .
  2. Web site: In focus: Royal Navy submarine special forces delivery systems | Navy Lookout. 23 April 2019 .
  3. Web site: Dr Lee Willett, The Astute-Class Submarine, Capabilities and Challenges, RUSI (2004) . 7 November 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110928105319/http://www.rusi.org/downloads/assets/Willet.pdf . 28 September 2011 .
  4. Butler FK Jr . Smith DJ . Tactical Management of Diving Casualties in Special Operations. 46th Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Workshop. . UHMS Publication Number USSOCOM 3-93. . Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Workshop . 1997 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081007191316/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4512 . usurped . October 7, 2008 . 2013-03-20 .
  5. Web site: Pike . John . Dry Deck Shelter . GlobalSecurity.org .
  6. Web site: HQ and Components . Naval Special Warfare Command . 2008-09-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081008054329/http://www.navsoc.navy.mil/components.htm#cnswg3 . 2008-10-08 . dead .
  7. Web site: Los Angeles-class Attack Submarine . U.S. Naval Institute .
  8. Web site: Staff . Oceaneering Announces Dry Deck Shelter Planning Yard and Maintenance Contract . 2006-09-05 . . 2013-11-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140102193859/http://www.oceaneering.com/2586/oceaneering-announces-dry-deck-shelter-planning-yard-and-maintenance-contract/ . 2014-01-02 .
  9. Web site: Staff . Oceaneering to provide maintenance services for dry-deck shelter . 2013-07-19 . strategicdefenceintelligence.com . 2013-11-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140102191629/http://www.strategicdefenceintelligence.com/article/IjR7u8rneo/2013/07/19/oceaneering_to_provide_maintenance_services_for_dry-deck_she/ . 2014-01-02 .
  10. Klose . John . SDV Units in Great Demand as Speed, Range Improve . Seapower . July 2003 . 5 September 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180906052703/http://www.navyleague.org/sea_power/jul_03_24.php . 6 September 2018 . dead .
  11. Web site: Southard . Steve . Dry Deck Shelters—Deploying Special Operations Forces from Submarines . February 1999 . 19 April 2014 . Federation of American Scientists.
  12. Book: Kindle. Potomac Books Inc.. 1-57488-530-8. Polmar. Norman. Moore. K. J.. Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, 1945-2001. 2003-11-30. 263.
  13. Web site: Seawolf-class nuclear-powered attack submarine . 19 April 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140419195730/http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/man/uswpns/navy/submarines/ssn21_seawolf.html . 19 April 2014 .
  14. Web site: SSGN, A Transformational Force for the U.S. Navy . 19 April 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151126061601/http://www.public.navy.mil/subfor/hq/Pages/SSGNConversion.aspx . 26 November 2015 .
  15. Web site: Pike . John . Dry Deck Shelter . Military Analysis Network . Federation of American Scientists . 5 September 2018 . 2 January 2000.
  16. Book: Gardiner . Robert . Chumbley . Stephen . Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995 . 1995 . Naval Institute Press . Annapolis, MD . 1-55750-132-7 . 612.

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