(January 17, 1924 – March 31, 2009) was an American ocean engineer who was principally responsible for developing equipment and many of the current techniques utilized in United States Navy diving and salvage operations.

[3] The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor occurred during his first year at Washington and Lee University prompting a transfer to the US Naval Academy where he graduated in 1945 (Class of 1946).

[1] In 1945, Searle marched with his Naval Academy Company to accompany the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt from Union Station to the White House.

[4][5] Searle then served two years as Chief Engineer on the USS Providence before attending the Command and Staff Course of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1961.

He was also responsible for coordinating the recovery of the H-Bomb lost off Palomares, Spain as a part of Technical Advisory Group (TAG), Chaired by RADM L. V.

[1][8] Searle participated in SEALAB III, working with Dr. John Piña Craven, the U.S. Navy's head of the Deep Submergence Systems Project.

In 1971, Searle served as a special consultant in charge of removing shipwrecks from waterways during United Nations operations in Bangladesh.

[1] The potential for release of PCB in the salvage of the barge Irving Whale prompted the Canadian Government to contact Searle for evaluation of the aft lift cradle in 1996.