REYNOLDS ALUMINAUT In 1964, Reynolds Metals Company launched an extraordinary creation - the Aluminaut,the world's first aluminum submarine. During its career, the Aluminaut set a world record for the deepest dive by a submarine.
Aluminaut was built in 1964 and was the world's first aluminum submarine. The 80-ton, 51 foot manned deep-ocean research submersible was built by Reynolds Metals Company, which was seeking to advertise the utility of aluminum. An experimental vessel, the Aluminaut was based in Miami, Florida, and was operated from 1964 to 1970 by Reynolds Marine Services, doing contract work for the U.S. Navy and other organizations, including marine biologist Jacques Cousteau.
Aluminaut is best known for helping recover a lost unarmed U.S. atomic bomb in 1966 and recovering its smaller fellow Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV), Alvin (DSV-2) in 1969, after Alvin had been lost and sank in the Atlantic Ocean the previous year. After retirement, Aluminaut was donated to the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, where it is on permanent display. Reynolds Metals was a pioneer in research and development of other products using aluminum. These included an aluminum transit bus and other aluminum motor vehicles.[1]
The concept of an aluminum submarine was developed at Reynolds during World War II in 1942 by Executive VP Julian "Louis" Reynolds, a son of the founder. At 34, Louis Reynolds was in charge of the foil division, which accounted for 65% of the company's sales before the war.[2] Reynolds Metals played an active role in the U.S. war effort, however it was 20 years before the aluminum submarine was built.[3][4]
In 1964, Reynolds had the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut build the world's first aluminum submarine. The submersible was operated by subsidiary Reynolds Marine Services based in Miami, Florida. Compared to many deep sea vessels, Aluminaut was large. It weighed 80 tons and could accommodate a crew of 3 and 3-4 scientists. It had four view ports, active and passive sonar, manipulators, side scan sonar, and could hold 6,000 pounds (2,700 kg) of payload.[5]
Reynolds had the Aluminaut designed and built as an experiment. For flexibility, it was outfitted for many types of oceanographic and salvage missions. Time Magazine reported in September 1964 on the unique specifications, reporting that the vessel's 51-foot (16 m) hull consists of eleven forged cylinders. Since aluminum's strength-to-weight ratio exceeds that of steel, the Aluminaut's 6.5 inches (170 mm) thick shell will withstand pressures of 7,500 lbf/in² (52 MPa) at the sub's 17,000 ft (5,200 m) maximum diving range.[3]
The Aluminaut was designed at Woods Hole Marine Station in Massachusetts and first tested in 1956.[citation needed] A full-scale wooden mock-up was built to engineer the interior spaces. The project was classified as top secret at that time.[citation needed] At that time it did not have a conning tower entry and it immediately flooded and sank.[citation needed] The tower entry was designed and added and in the first test turned the submarine upside down.[citation needed] It was thought at that time that the design was impractical and was almost scrapped (Dr. David Guy Harden, personal observation).[citation needed]
A one-sixteenth scale model of the final design was built in 1960 and run through stability and pressure tests.[citation needed
Aluminaut did other work for the U.S. Navy, recovering a 2,100-pound (950 kg) current array torpedo at the Navy's acoustic testing facility in the Bahamas. She helped make movies for Jacques Cousteau and Ivan Tors Studios. Depths up to 6,000 feet (1,800 m) were reached while surveying for the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office.[14]
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