Potential Benefits of Navy Dive Computer Use in Ships Husbandry Diving: Analysis of Dives Conducted on the USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN-76)
Abstract
Navy dive computers were used to record 23 of 25 air dives performed for ships husbandry on the aircraft carrier USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN-76) during summer 2004. For each of the 23 dives, decompression status was assessed from the maximum recorded depth and bottom time according to the U.S. Navy (USN) Standard Air Tables and from the recorded dive profile according to the Navy Dive Computer VVAL-18 Thalmann Algorithm (NDC/VVAL-18). Sixteen of the dives were no-stop dives according to both the Standard Air Tables and NDC/VVAL-18, with the NDC/VVAL-18 allowing an average of 37 additional minutes of bottom time more than the Standard Air tables. Another six dives had depth excursions that put the divers on a USN Standard Air schedule that required decompression stops, which were not taken. On these six dives, the NDC still allowed an average of 25 minutes of additional no-stop bottom time. The one dive remaining required decompression stops according to both the Standard Air Tables and NDC/VVAL-18, but none were taken. The NDC would have prescribed a 15-minute stop during this dive, while the USN Standard Air Tables would have mandated a much longer stop than the NDC would have. The performed dives accrued about half the risk of decompression sickness allowed by the NDC at its limits, according to the USN-93 model.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA445818
Entities
People
- Keith A. Gault
Organizations
- United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit