Capabilities of Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle Mystic (DSRV 1)

By JO3 Wes Eplen, USN

Designed to rescue the crew of a submarine immobilized on the ocean floor, the U.S. Navy’s Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle Mystic (DSRV 1) can operate independently of surface conditions or under ice for rapid response to an accident anywhere in the world. As the U.S. Navy’s only operational DSRV, Mystic is always ready for transport by truck, aircraft, surface ship, or submarine. Mystic can reach a disabled submarine anywhere.

"Because we have to be ‘rescue ready’ if something breaks, we go all out until it’s fixed," said U.S. Navy Machinist Mate 1st Class Bill Smith, mechanic, quality assurance supervisor, and copilot of Mystic. "Everyone works as long as it takes, because if we aren’t rescue ready, there are submarines that can’t come out of dry-dock, can’t go on alpha-trials, and can’t do sea trials. We have to be there for them."

In an inherently dangerous business, the DSRV provides a safety net should things go wrong, much like an ejection seat on a fighter jet or a lifeboat aboard a ship.

Operating with foreign submarines presents many new challenges to the Mystic crew, but being the only vehicle of its kind, its crew takes each challenge with a can do attitude. "Impossible" is not in the vocabulary of this crew, as the crew is accustomed to operating under experimental conditions and each new situation is an opportunity to learn. "Different layouts present different challenges. That’s what we look for," said Chief Submarine Sonar Technician CPO Todd Litke, the leading Chief Petty Officer for Mystic. "It’s great training because we could be called at any time to work with submarines that we’ve never seen before."

Mystic’s outer hull is about 50 feet (15.24 meters) long and 8 feet (2.44 meters) in diameter. A shock-mitigated system allows it to mate with the rescue seat on a submarine’s rescue/escape trunk. It can attach to a submarine in the forward, aft, or in a perpendicular direction, and a skirt allows a watertight seal between the DSRV and submarine. After making the seal, the crew opens the submarine’s upper access hatch to evacuate the stranded submariners.

Manned by a pilot and copilot and two-life support personnel who provide care to rescued personnel, Mystic can transport 24 submariners at a time from a disabled submarine to rescue support ships.

Eight U.S. submarines can carry the DSRV. Transported by a mother submarine brings Mystic to the immediate vicinity of a disabled submarine fast. >From there, Mystic deploys and operates quickly to conduct a rescue.

"To man our DSRV, break away from the mother submarine, locate and mate to a disabled submarine, transfer all personnel, and come back should take only from four to five hours," said CPO Litke.

Since its construction nearly 30 years ago, Mystic has undergone extensive upgrades and is the most sophisticated submersible vehicle in the world. It stands ready every day to support the submarine rescue needs of the U.S. Navy and its allies. o