CURV

CURV-III was the fourth generation of the United States Navy Cable-controlled Undersea Recovery Vehicle (CURV).

It was initially designed to recover test ordnance lost off San Clemente Island at depths as great as 2,000 feet (610 m).

[5] The CURV-III carried: [T]wo Vidicon television cameras, four mercury-vapor headlights, two mercury-vapor spotlights, and a 35-millimeter camera with a 500 frame color film capacity and strobe light ... mounted on two independent pan-and-tilt units, each with 360 degrees of lateral and 180 degrees of vertical movement.

The bomb was located, at a depth of 2,900 feet (880 m), by the United States Navy submersible DSV Alvin after a 2½ month search.

[7] Pisces III, a Canadian commercial submersible, was used to lay transatlantic telephone cable on the sea bottom off Ireland in 1973.

Through an international effort of the United States, Canada, and England, CURV-III was deployed within 24 hours 6,000 miles from its home base.

Rapid repairs were made when CURV-III's gyroscope failed and electronics shorted-out after green water came aboard the Cabot.

Its mother ship was USCGC Woodrush and logistics support was provided by USCG Point Steel.

An independent researcher was contracted to review the survey results and produce the sketches of the wreck used in the United States Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board investigation reports.