Unusual 1959 Navy Harness

[Tusker]

A friend sent me this great image of three U.S. Navy divers who were taking part in the testing of the Aluminaut deep-water submersible in July, 1959.

Outside of the fact that they have some incredible gear — including DA Aquamasters with the new-for-’59 yellow hoses — they’re using the strangest twin harness I’ve ever seen, just look at those rings! 

Anyone have any experience with these?

Jacob

[scubalawyer]

I have seen those harnesses before. Still no backplate but more comfortable than the old 1" webbing. That looks like a Rolleimarin housing and flash. I've always wanted one of those. M

[SeaRat]

I think these may be Navy EDU divers, checking out the equipment. They are diving twin 72s, and I do like their harness. Twin 72s are much more comfortable, in my opinion, with the older 1 inch harness on the bands (I call it the “military harness”) than the later backpacks. Those backpacks placed a lot of pressure on parts of my back I didn’t like it, like the spine. The twin tanks sitting on the back muscles was much more comortable.

I think those may be Mistral regulators, as in 1959, I think, the Navy got approval to use Mistrals rather than the DA Aquamaster, as the Mistral actually out-performed the DA Aquamaster in U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit tests, especially at depth.

John

[nikeajax]

What's that dingus in the foreground, perhaps a scale model of the submersible?

JB

[SeaRat]

May 17, 2024 16:39:08 GMT -8 Tusker said:

A friend sent me this great image of three U.S. Navy divers who were taking part in the testing of the Aluminaut deep-water submersible in July, 1959.

Outside of the fact that they have some incredible gear — including DA Aquamasters with the new-for-’59 yellow hoses — they’re using the strangest twin harness I’ve ever seen, just look at those rings! 

Anyone have any experience with these?

Jacob

I have no idea what that model in the foreground represents. If anyone else has ideas, Please state them.

Now, I just looked at that model up-close (imported it into my iPhotos and magnified it), and noted something else interesting about th twin tanks the divers are wearing. At least two of the three have the manifold reversed, like I do with mine (when possible), so that the J-valve is pointed toward the shoulder rather than out where it can be banged. It shows that this is something that has been around a long, long time. Below you can see my twin 45s with the reversed manifold.

IMG_1456 by John Ratliff, on Flickr

John

[Tusker]

Mark, I'd love a Rolleimarin too! I saw one online with the flash a little while ago but the price was far too steep for my blood. I'd like to find an old metal camera housing at some point though. 

John, they could be! The photo was taken at Naval Ordnance Laboratory White Oak in Maryland. The reason I say Aquamaster is the label — luckily, the image is a massive TIF and I can zoom in far enough to see this:




The crown and darker color made me think Aquamaster over Mistral. I'd love to read the NEDU Evaluation comparing the two!

JB, that's a model of the Aluminaut, the first aluminum submarine. It's a great story!

Jacob

[SeaRat]

Tusker,

Here's the breathing curve of the Mistral, which is much better at depth than the Aquamaster's.

USD Mistral (new cover) by John Ratliff, on Flickr
This is the Mistral curves.

Now for the Aquamaster:

Royal Aquamaster Breathing Characteristics by John Ratliff, on Flickr
Ignore the exhalation resistance, as they are nearly the same for both regulators, but you can see that the Mistral curves at depth are much better than the Aquamaster's curves for breathing.

I'll try to find the original NEDU study too (which I think I have).

John

[nikeajax]

OK, here ya go:

navsource.org/archives/08/08508.htm

JB

[SeaRat]

I’ve been searching the internet for the U.S. Naval EDU evaluation of the Mistral, without success. But I did find a Historical Diving Society publication which goes over the entire history of U.S. Divers Company and the development of the Aqualung:

aquadocs.org/bitstream/handle/1834/30927/Historical_Diver_42_2005.pdf?sequence=1

John

PS, I just put the Royal Aquamaster breathing curves into the post above with the Mistral breathing curves.

[Tusker]

May 19, 2024 21:30:16 GMT -8 SeaRat said:

I’ve been searching the internet for the U.S. Naval EDU evaluation of the Mistral, without success. But I did find a Historical Diving Society publication which goes over the entire history of U.S. Divers Company and the development of the Aqualung:

aquadocs.org/bitstream/handle/1834/30927/Historical_Diver_42_2005.pdf?sequence=1

John

PS, I just put the Royal Aquamaster breathing curves into the post above with the Mistral breathing curves.

I've read that several times, it was very helpful when I was trying to understand the Broxtons and date mine. Phil Nuyyten did a great job on it! 

I see what you mean on those curves — that's a sign that I need to get around to rebuilding my Mistral. I need to finish adjusting my Gold Label first though . . . 

Jacob