USOS Seaview

"Seaview", a fictitious privately owned nuclear submarine, was the setting for the 1961 movie "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", starring Walter Pidgeon, and later for the 1964 – 1968 ABC television series of the same title.

History

For the motion picture version, scientist Admiral Harriman Nelson (USN-Ret) was the designer/builder of the "Seaview", paid for by his family fortune and government funding, operated under the auspices of the Bureau of Marine Exploration, US Dept of Science (per art director Herman Blumenthal). It is similar in mass & length to the SSBN sub "USS James Madison".

In the context of the series, the "Seaview" was one of two experimental submarines designed by Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart), Director of the Nelson Institute of Marine Research, a top-secret government complex located in Santa Barbara, California, in the then-future years between 1973 and 1983. "Seaview" had two sister ships in the Nelson fleet, the "Neptune", which was a variant of the the same class as the "Seaview", which was destroyed late in the first season, and the "Polidor" which was a prototype attack sub which was destroyed in the third episode of the series.

The Seaview was prefixed "USOS" only in the 1961 movie. In the television series, it was prefixed "SSRN".

In the United States Navy, "SSRN" would indicate a nuclear-powered radar picket submarine, but while "Seaview" was nuclear, no indication was ever given that she was equipped for radar picket missions. The prefix "USOS," is spoken in a news report during the first minutes of the 1961 movie, as well as when the radio operator tries calling Washington D.C. Later writings explained that "SSRN" stood for "Nuclear Submarine (SSN), Research (R) or SSRN" and in Theodore Sturgeon's novel of the film, "USOS" stood for "United States Oceanographic Survey".

In the motion picture, Lee Crane was the only captain of the Seaview from its launch as "Nelson's folly", as Congress described it. In the series, the first captain of the "Seaview" was John Phillips (portrayed by William Hudson). He was killed in the first episode of the series entitled "Eleven Days To Zero." Commander Lee Crane (David Hedison) on loan from the US Navy, was picked to replace him. Other crew included executive officer Lt. Commander Chip Morton (Robert Dowdell), Chief "Curley" Jones (Henry Kulky) (first season) and Chief Sharkey (Terry Becker) (Season 2, 3 and 4). Crewman Kowalkski was played by (Del Monroe), who played a similar character, "Kowski" in the feature film.

"Seaview"’s hull was designed to withstand a depth of 3600 feet (1 km), and in one episode survived a depth excursion approaching 5000 feet (1.5 km). The transparent-hull "window-section" bow of "Seaview" was not rounded like a traditional submarine but was faired into a pair of manta winglike, stationary bow planes (in addition to her more conventional sail planes). The aft had unconventional, lengthy, V-shape planes above the twin engine area. In the TV version's second season, for emergencies, a pair of sliding metal "crash doors" shut across the face of the bow's observation deck to protect the four-window transparent surface. Theodore Sturgeon described that the incredible strength of the enormous hullplate/windows (eight in the movie, & the TV series' first season), was based on a top secret process, "X-tempered Herculite", developed by Admiral Nelson.

"Seaview"’s interior was considerably more spacious and comfortable than any military submarine, even the 18,000-ton "Ohio"-class "Trident" submarines, including among other facilities a "shark aquarium" that could hold large marine animals (It was only seen in the movie, & never in the series). Her volume did not hinder her maneuverability; "Seaview" routinely broached in a manner referred to as "emergency surfacing" by military submariners, and at a more nearly vertical angle — as high as 60° — than any military submarine has achieved and survived (except perhaps USS "Chopper" (SS-342)). In one episode, Nelson expressly stated that the Seaview did not use propellersFact|date=February 2007. Although never stated, it was implied that "Seaview" used some kind of aquatic jet engine, which might possibly explain her speed (very fast for a submarine) and her penchant for dramatic emergency surfacing.

Refit and the "The Flying Sub"

Between the TV version's first & second seasons, the "Seaview" was extensively overhauled and re-fitted The number of bow windows was reduced from eight in two rows of four to a single row of four. The Control Room, previously located amidships directly beneath the conning tower, was moved forward to connect directly with the Observation Room, and a large hangar bay was added to the bow, beneath the Observation Room/Control Room combination. This hangar held a fairly large flying submersible, aptly called the "Flying Sub" or "FS-1", implying that there were several more back at the base, which would have to be the case since several Flying Subs were lost to mishaps or combat during the run of the show. (Promotional materials published between the first and second seasons referred to it as the "Flying Fish", but the name was evidently dropped prior to the start of filming and was never used in the show.) It was deployed through bomb-bay like doors. As it broke the surface, its engines could generate enough thrust for the vehicle to take off and fly at supersonic speeds. The Flying Sub was also nuclear powered.

It should be noted that SSRN Triton, a real US nuclear submarine might have been the influence for the SSRN Seaview. Please see wikipedia on SSRN Triton. This submarine was the first to circumnavigate the world underwater.

Production background

Three models of "Seaview" — 4, 8.5, and 17 feet (1.2, 2.4 and 5.5 m) long — were built (eight-window nose in the motion picture and first television season, four-window version thereafter). The four-foot wooden pattern/model was often seen as set decoration on a shelf in the observation nose, and behind Nelson's desk in his cabin. The eight-foot model housed a nine-inch Flying Sub, while a more detailed 18-inch Flying Sub was held within the larger "Seaview". For close-ups, a three-foot Flying Sub was produced, which was also used in the aerial sequences. All three Seaview models were built for a total 1961 price of US$200,000 by Herb Cheeks' model shop at Fox, and was filmed by L.B. Abbott who won two Emmy Awards for special effects in the series. Later for the television series a very poorly rendered two-foot model was built. The fates of the three original models vary; the original eight-window wooden four-foot display model was at the home of Irwin Allen (now deceased) for many years and is now in a private collection, the eight-foot model was extensively changed (bow cut off) for use in the short lived 1978 series "The Return of Captain Nemo" and has probably been destroyed, and the 17-foot model (after an [http://www.caswellplating.com/models/Seaviewreview.pdf extensive restoration] by famed model maker David Merriman and others) is currently on display at the "Museum Of Science Fiction" located in Seattle, Washington.

ee also

*List of fictional ships

External links

* [http://www.blastfromyourpast.com/index.html SSRN Seaview Aurora Model Kit instructions from 1966 and 1975]