Upon graduation in engineering I went to work for a navy laboratory t
hat has had a number of names, including Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUW
C). The roll of the department I worked in at the time was the development
of Underwater Weapons. Systems under development included torpedoes, under
sea missiles, submarine launched missiles (Polaris), and unmanned vehicles.
These various systems were tested off the coast of Southern California o
n ranges near San Clemente Island. Most weapon systems were fitted with bu
oyance systems for recovery after testing. However, frequently the buoyanc
y systems did not work for various reasons. So , out of necessity, the lab
developed the CURV I (Cable-controlled Undersea Recovery Vehicle) to retri
eve those weapons wherein the buoyancy systems did not work or were not use
d. CURV I was the first successful remotely operated undersea vehicle. W
hen a B-52 and it's refueling plane collided over Spain in 1966 four nuclea
r bombs fell to the earth, 3 onto land and one in approximately 3000' of wa
ter. This was a high profile event with negative worldwide publicity. At
the time the CURV was a little know piece of equipment, but it became known
throughout the world when it was successful in recovering the bomb, even t
hough it self destructed in the process due to water depth beyond the CURV
design limits. Discussion would include the history of the CURV, the desig
n of the CURV, and its evolution after this event. At the time I was a jun
ior engineer in the weapons development department, and participated in the
redesign and upgrade of the follow on vehicle (CURV II).