dry deck shelter
{{Short description|Removable submarine module}}
File:US Navy 040719-N-0780F-070 The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Dallas (SSN 700) departs Souda Bay harbor following a brief port visit. Dallas is homported in Groton, Conn., and currently on a routine deployment.jpg departs Souda Bay harbor with dry deck shelter attached in 2004.]]
A dry deck shelter (DDS) is a removable module that can be attached to a submarine to allow divers easy exit and entrance while the boat is submerged. The host submarine must be specially modified to accommodate the DDS, with the appropriate mating hatch configuration, electrical connections, and piping for ventilation,{{cite journal |author1=Lillo, RS |author2=Porter, WR |author3=Caldwell, JM |title=Development of Oxygen Monitoring Capability for the Existing Hyperbaric Carbon Dioxide Analyzer Used in Dry Deck Shelter Operations |journal=US Navy Experimental Diving Unit Technical Report |volume=NEDU-TR-01-01 |year=2001 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/3583 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415194235/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/3583 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=April 15, 2013 |accessdate=2013-03-20 }} divers' air, and draining water. The DDS can be used to deploy a SEAL Delivery Vehicle submersible, Navy divers, or Combat Rubber Raiding Craft (CRRC).
Active and future DDS-capable submarines
Image:USS Archerfish (SSN-678) with DDS.jpgs operate alongside {{USS|Archerfish|SSN-678|6}} during a 1993 exercise. Archerfish has a dry deck shelter attached to its deck.]]
=Royal Navy=
In UK service it is formally named the Special Forces Payload Bay (SFPB) and was procured under ‘Project Chalfont’.{{Cite web|url=https://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/in-focus-royal-navy-submarine-special-forces-delivery-systems/|title = In focus: Royal Navy submarine special forces delivery systems | Navy Lookout| date=23 April 2019 }}
{{cite web|url=http://www.rusi.org/downloads/assets/Willet.pdf |title=Dr Lee Willett, The Astute-Class Submarine, Capabilities and Challenges, RUSI (2004) |accessdate=7 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928105319/http://www.rusi.org/downloads/assets/Willet.pdf |archivedate=28 September 2011 }} Training is conducted at the purpose-built Chalfont Shore Facility (CSF) constructed by BAE Systems at HMNB Clyde. It is used by the {{Sclass|Astute|submarine}}.
=United States Navy=
The United States Navy's DDSs are {{convert|38|ft|m}} long and {{convert|9|ft|m}} high and wide, add about 30 tons to its host submarine's submerged displacement, can be transported by trucks or C-5 Galaxy airplanes, and require one to three days to install and test. They have three HY-80 steel sections within the outer glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) fairing: a spherical hyperbaric chamber at the forward end to treat injured divers; a smaller spherical transfer trunk;{{cite journal |editor1=Butler FK Jr |editor2=Smith DJ |title=Tactical Management of Diving Casualties in Special Operations. 46th Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Workshop. |volume=UHMS Publication Number USSOCOM 3-93. |journal=Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Workshop |year=1997 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4512 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007191316/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4512 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 7, 2008 |accessdate=2013-03-20 }} and a cylindrical hangar with elliptical ends. The hangar can support a SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) submersible, six Navy SEALs to man the SDV, and a crew of Navy Divers to operate the DDS and launch the SDV; or 20 SEALs with four Combat Rubber Raiding Craft (CRRC). The SDV release team consists of 2 officers, 2 enlisted technicians, and 18 divers.{{cite web |last=Pike |first=John |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/dds.htm |title=Dry Deck Shelter |publisher=GlobalSecurity.org }}
File:SEAL Delivery Vehicle loading.jpg
The two SEAL delivery vehicle teams report to Naval Special Warfare Group 3.{{cite web |url=https://www.navsoc.navy.mil/components.htm#cnswg3 |title=HQ and Components |author=Naval Special Warfare Command |access-date=2008-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008054329/http://www.navsoc.navy.mil/components.htm#cnswg3 |archive-date=2008-10-08 |url-status=dead }}
There are currently six portable dry deck shelters in use by the USN, the first one built by Electric Boat. The first, designated DDS-01S ("S" for starboard opening outer door), was completed in 1982. The remaining five, DDS-02P ("P" for port opening), -03P, -04S, -05S, and -06P, were built between 1987 and 1991 and were built by Newport News Shipbuilding.{{cite web |url=http://216.230.103.132/resources/LAclass/ssnlaclass.htm |title=Los Angeles-class Attack Submarine |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute }}{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The shelters are maintained by a combined effort of Navy divers stationed on the teams and workers of the maintenance company Oceaneering International.{{cite web |author=Staff |title=Oceaneering Announces Dry Deck Shelter Planning Yard and Maintenance Contract |date=2006-09-05 |publisher=Oceaneering International |url=http://www.oceaneering.com/2586/oceaneering-announces-dry-deck-shelter-planning-yard-and-maintenance-contract/ |accessdate=2013-11-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102193859/http://www.oceaneering.com/2586/oceaneering-announces-dry-deck-shelter-planning-yard-and-maintenance-contract/ |archivedate=2014-01-02 }}{{cite web |author=Staff |title=Oceaneering to provide maintenance services for dry-deck shelter |date=2013-07-19 |publisher=strategicdefenceintelligence.com |url=http://www.strategicdefenceintelligence.com/article/IjR7u8rneo/2013/07/19/oceaneering_to_provide_maintenance_services_for_dry-deck_she/ |accessdate=2013-11-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102191629/http://www.strategicdefenceintelligence.com/article/IjR7u8rneo/2013/07/19/oceaneering_to_provide_maintenance_services_for_dry-deck_she/ |archivedate=2014-01-02 }} They have expected useful lives of about 40 years each.
The first submarine to have an operational dry deck shelter was the {{USS|Cavalla|SSN-684|6}}, which was fitted with the DDS in 1982 and first deployed with it in 1983.{{cite journal |last1=Klose |first1=John |title=SDV Units in Great Demand as Speed, Range Improve |journal=Seapower |date=July 2003 |url=http://www.navyleague.org/sea_power/jul_03_24.php |accessdate=5 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906052703/http://www.navyleague.org/sea_power/jul_03_24.php |archive-date=6 September 2018 |url-status=dead }} It is deployed on the {{Sclass|Virginia|submarine}},{{cite web|last=Southard |first=Steve |url=https://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/docs/990100-drydeck.htm |title=Dry Deck Shelters—Deploying Special Operations Forces from Submarines |date=February 1999 |accessdate=19 April 2014 |website=Federation of American Scientists}} the {{Sclass|Los Angeles|submarine}},{{Cite book| edition = Kindle| publisher = Potomac Books Inc.| isbn = 1-57488-530-8| last1 = Polmar| first1 = Norman| last2 = Moore| first2 = K. J.| title = Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, 1945-2001| date = 2003-11-30| page=263}} the {{Sclass|Seawolf|submarine}}:,{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/programs/ssp/man/uswpns/navy/submarines/ssn21_seawolf.html |title=Seawolf-class nuclear-powered attack submarine |accessdate=19 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419195730/http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/man/uswpns/navy/submarines/ssn21_seawolf.html |archivedate=19 April 2014 }} and the
{{Sclass|Ohio|submarine}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.public.navy.mil/subfor/hq/Pages/SSGNConversion.aspx |title=SSGN, A Transformational Force for the U.S. Navy |accessdate=19 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126061601/http://www.public.navy.mil/subfor/hq/Pages/SSGNConversion.aspx |archivedate=26 November 2015 }} The Ohio-class SSGNs are capable of supporting dual dry deck shelters.
= French Navy ''(Marine nationale)'' =
Suffren-class submarine, a nuclear attack submarines designed by the French shipbuilder Naval Group, integrate a removable dry deck shelter. It can deploy a dozen combat swimmers and embark the new PSM3G swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV).{{Cite web |last=Vavasseur |first=Xavier |date=2024-04-06 |title=France’s 2nd Suffren-class Nuclear Powered Submarine Enters Service |url=https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2024/04/frances-2nd-suffren-class-nuclear-powered-submarine-enters-service/ |access-date=2024-11-09 |website=Naval News |language=en-US}}
Former DDS-capable submarines
Former US Navy DDS-capable submarines include:
{{Sclass|Ethan Allen|submarine}}:{{cite web |last1=Pike |first1=John |title=Dry Deck Shelter |url=https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/dds.htm |website=Military Analysis Network |publisher=Federation of American Scientists |accessdate=5 September 2018 |date=2 January 2000}}
- {{USS|John Marshall|SSN-611|6}}
- {{USS|Sam Houston|SSN-609|6}}
{{Sclass|Sturgeon|submarine}}:
- {{USS|Silversides|SSN-679|6}}
- {{USS|Archerfish|SSN-678|6}}
- {{USS|L. Mendel Rivers|SSN-686|6}}
- {{USS|Cavalla|SSN-684|6}}
- {{USS|Tunny|SSN-682|6}}
- {{USS|William H. Bates|SSN-680|6}}
{{Sclass|Benjamin Franklin|submarine}}:
- {{USS|Kamehameha|SSBN-642|6}}
- {{USS|James K. Polk|SSBN-645|6}}
Note: The Benjamin Franklin-class special operations attack submarines were capable of supporting dual dry deck shelters.{{cite book |editor1-last=Gardiner |editor1-first=Robert |editor2-last=Chumbley |editor2-first=Stephen |title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995 |date=1995 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, MD |isbn=1-55750-132-7 |page=612}}
Five {{Sclass|Permit|submarine}}s were also fitted to carry the DDS.