In a Navy research pool usually reserved for model ship testing, human-powered submarines recently competed in the 15thInternational Submarine Races at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division in Bethesda, Md. Sixteen college teams from the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, and England entered the event, sponsored by the Foundation for Underwater Research and Education. The weeklong event challenges emerging engineers’ skills and exposes them to government scientists and engineers and private-sector recruiters.
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Matt Criss, a 6-foot-2 Virginia Tech student, tests out on land how it feels to be in the one-person submarine. The first-time pilot said his goal was not to crash into the wall. Subs breaching the surface or hitting the walls are common at the beginning of the week as teams get to know their boats and tweak the mechanics.
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Virginia Tech’s team races two submarines and has 35 active members. Many colleges can do only minimal testing before the event in campus swimming pools, but Virginia Tech takes its underwater craft to a quarry in Blacksburg, Va., for trial runs.
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Dedicated in 1940, the David Taylor Model Basin was built near Washington, D.C., to be close to Navy commanders. The location near the Potomac River also provides access to fresh water and features a solid bedrock foundation to minimize vibration.
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U. of Washington team members move their submarine into position to be lowered into the water. Several students are charged with getting the sub to the starting line, where the pilot will enter the vessel underwater.
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Naval Surface Warfare Center
A member of Polytechnique Montréal slides out of “Archimede VIII” as the team makes adjustments near the starting line. The contest is for “wet” subs, meaning they are filled with water and the driver wears scuba equipment. One of the design challenges is to have the pilot’s air bubbles exit the craft so it does not become buoyant.
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Texas A&M’s two-person entry, the “12th Manatee,” heads to the staging area, where the pilots, Jamee Mascorro and Daniel Toerner, are waiting. Mascorro says the marine biologist and explorer Sylvia Earle was one of her inspirations to study ocean engineering.
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“I’m going to hit the bottom and just chill and wait for the Navy to come save me.” – Virginia Tech pilot Gillian Hersh.
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The water in the 22-foot-deep tow basin is 62 degrees.
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Sarah Kemp is happy with her run as pilot of the U. of Warwick’s submarine. Navy divers, positioned along the course from start to finish, volunteer hundreds of hours of dive time.
See more on the races and the results here.
