USOS Seaview
 USOS Seaview was a fictitious privately owned nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. | |
| Nelson Institute of Marine Research (NIMR) | Career |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 1970 |
| Laid down: | 1970 |
| Launched: | 1973 |
| In Service: | 1973 |
| Decommissioned: | |
| Fate: | |
| Homeport: | Santa Barbara, California |
| Stricken: | |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 16500 tons (estimated) |
| Length: | 172.93 m (567 feet 2 inches) (from scale model) |
| Beam: | 12.19 m (42 feet 1 inches) (from scale model) |
| Height, keel to sail: | 18.9 m (62 feet) (from scale model) |
| Propulsion: | one nuclear reactor, two pump-jet propulsors |
| Speed: | 45 knots (estimated) |
| Complement: | 90–125 civilian sailors and technicians (estimated) |
| Armament: | 16 Polaris missiles, torpedoes, bow laser |
| Aircraft: | one FS-1 flying sub |
| Motto: | |
| USOS Seaview The USOS Seaview arrives in New York Harbor, as Admiral Nelson & Commodore Emery are about to present their plan to extinguish the fire & global warming of the burning Van Allen belt at a United Nations emergency conference. | |
Seaview, a fictitious privately owned nuclear submarine, was the setting for the 1961 movie, starring Walter Pidgeon, and 1964-to-1968 ABC television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. For the motion picture, Nelson was the designer/builder of the Seaview, paid for by his family fortune & government funding, and operated under the auspices of the Bureau of Marine Exploration, US Dept of Science (per art director Herman Blumenthal). The Seaview was in many ways similar to an early 1960's James Madison-class SSBN, though longer and wider to accommodate special exploration gear. In the context of the series, the Seaview was one of two experimental submarines designed by retired Admiral Harriman Nelson (Richard Basehart), Director of the Nelson Institute of Marine Research, a top-secret government complex located in Santa Barbara, California, in the then-future years between 1973 and 1983. Seaview had a sister ship, the Polidor (attack sub design), which was destroyed in the third episode of the series.
The Seaview was prefixed "USOS" only in the 1961 movie. In the television series, it was prefixed "SSRN".
In the United States Navy, "SSRN" would indicate a nuclear-powered radar picket submarine, but while Seaview was nuclear, no indication was ever given that she was equipped for radar picket missions. The prefix "USOS," is spoken in a news report during the first minutes of the 1961 movie. Later writings explained that "SSRN" stood for Nuclear Submarine (SSN), Research (R) or SSRN and "USOS" stood for United States Oceanographic Survey.
The first captain of the "Seaview" was John Phillips. He was killed in the first episode of the series entitled "Eleven Days To Zero".
Seaview’s second captain was Commander Lee Crane (David Hedison) on loan from the US Navy, executive officer Lt Commander Chip Morton (Robert Dowdell); & her crew included Chief Curley Jones (Henry Kulky) (first season) and Chief Sharkey (Terry Becker) (Season 2, 3 and 4). Crewman Kowalkski was played by (Del Monroe), who played a similar character, ' Kowski ' in the feature film.
Seaview’s hull was designed to withstand a depth of 3600 feet (1 km), and in one episode survived a depth excursion approaching 5000 feet (1.5 km). The transparent-hull "window-section" bow of Seaview was not rounded like a traditional submarine but was faired into a pair of manta wing-like, stationary bow planes (in addition to her more conventional sail planes). In emergencies, a pair of sliding metal collision doors shut across the face of the bow's observation deck to protect the four-window transparent surface (TV series, second season). Theodore Sturgeon, the author of the novelization of the movie, explained the incredible strength of the boat's enormous hullplate/windows (eight in the movie, TV series first season) by revealing that they were formed from "X-tempered Herculite, a top secret process developed by Admiral Nelson."
Seaview’s interior was considerably more spacious and comfortable than any military submarine, even the 18,000-ton Ohio-class "Trident" submarines, including among other facilities a "shark aquarium" that could hold large marine animals. (The pool was only seen in the movie, and was never referred to in the television series.) Her volume did not hinder her maneuverability; Seaview routinely broached in a manner referred to as "emergency surfacing" by military submariners, and at a more nearly vertical angle — as high as 60° — than any military submarine has achieved and survived (except perhaps USS Chopper (SS-342)). In one episode, Admiral Nelson expressly stated that the Seaview did not use propellers[citation needed]. Although her actual mode of propulsion was never stated, it was implied several times that Seaview used some kind of aquatic jet engine, which might possibly explain her speed (very fast for a sub) and her penchant for dramatic emergency surfacings.
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Seaview attaining dramatic 60° up-bubble angle surfacing, at beginning of film.
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Her up-bubble decreased to 45° by the time half her length was above the water.
The Submarine was extensively overhauled and re-fitted between the first and second seasons. The number of bow windows was reduced from 8 (Two rows of four) to 4 (in one row), the Control Room, previously located amidships directly beneath the conning tower, was moved forward to connect directly with the Observation Room, and a large hangar bay was added to the bow, beneath the Observation Room/Control Room combination. This hangar held a fairly large flying submersible aptly called the "Flying Sub" or "FS-1," implying that there were several more back at the base, which would have to be the case since several Flying Subs were lost to mishaps or combat during the run of the show. (Promotional materials published between the first and second seasons referred to it as the Flying Fish, but the name was evidently dropped prior to the start of filming and was never used in the show.) It was deployed through bomb-bay like doors. As it neared the ocean's surface, its engines could generate enough thrust for the vehicle to take off and fly at supersonic speeds. The Flying Sub was also nuclear powered.
Three models of Seaview — four, eight & a half, and 17 feet (1.2, 2.4 and 5.5 m) long — were built (8-window nose in the motion picture, & first tv season - 4-window version thereafter). The four foot wooden pattern/model was often seen as set decoration on a shelf in the observation nose, and behind Nelson's desk in his cabin. The eight foot model housed a nine inch Flying Sub, while a more detailed 18 inch Flying Sub was held within the larger Seaview. For close-ups, a three foot Flying Sub was produced and was also used in the aerial sequences. All three Seaview models were built for a total 1961 price of US$200,000 by Herb Cheeks model shop at Fox and was filmed by L.B. Abbott who won two Emmy Awards for special effects in the series. Later for the TV series a very poorly rendered two-foot model was built. The fates of the three original models vary; the original eight window wooden four foot display model was at the home of Irwin Allen (now deceased) for many years and is now in a private collection, the eight foot model was extensively changed (bow cut off) for use in the short lived 1978 series "The Return of Captain Nemo" and has probably been destroyed, and the 17-foot model (after an extensive restoration by famed model maker David Merriman and others) is currently on display at the "Museum Of Science Fiction" located in Seattle, Washington.