SERVICE: Navy
DESCRIPTION: Surface support ships for underwater rescue operations.
FEATURES:
ASR 21 class vehicles serve as surface support ships for deep submergence rescue vehicles (DSRV's) during submarine rescue operations. They conduct these operations using the McCann rescue chamber, and also support deep sea diving operations. These ships can transport, service, lower and raise two Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles and support diving operations to depths of 850 feet. They can support divers indefinitely, lowering them to the ocean floor in pressurized transfer chambers for open-sea work periods. These vessels also serve as operational control ships to conduct deep-sea salvage operations. No new ASRs are included in the Navy's long range shipbuilding plans.BACKGROUND:
The two Pigeon class ships are the first in the world to be built specifically for the submarine rescue mission and, except for one Military Sealift Command ship, are the first catamaran hull ships built for the Navy since Robert Fulton's Demologos in 1812.
