SEAVIEW Fictional submarine

[aukepalmhof]

From Peter Crichton I got the following additional info on this submarine.

It is a fictional sub used on a television series called 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'.

Check out the following links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_to_ ... of_the_Sea

http://www.vttbots.com/photo_gallery_central.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057798/

Then wikipedia gives on this submarine
Ordered and laid down in 1970.
Launched and in service 1973.
Displacement 16,500 tons estimate, dim. 172.93 x 12.19m.
Powered by a nuclear reactor, two pump-jet propulsions, speed 40+ knots estimate
Crew 90 – 125 estimates.
Armament: 16 vertical launch missiles. Regular & experimental torpedoes. Bow laser. Electrical charged hull.
Seaview, a fictitious privately owned nuclear submarine, was the setting for the 1961 motion picture Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, starring Walter Pidgeon, and later for the 1964 – 1968 ABC television series of the same title.
It is possible that the U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS TRITON (SSRN-586) and the SSBN GEORGE WASHINGTON inspired the SEAVIEW. In 1960, during production of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, USS TRITON became the first submarine to circumnavigate the globe underwater and the first ballistic nuclear submarine GEORGE WASHINGTON was just entering service. The SEAVIEW is similar in mass and length to the SSBN GEORGE WASHINGTON with the supposed identical 32 foot diameter or "beam."
For the motion picture version, scientist Admiral Harriman Nelson (USN-Ret) (Walter Pidgeon) was the designer/builder of the SEAVIEW, operated under the auspices of the Bureau of Marine Exploration, US Dept. of Science (per art director Herman Blumenthal).
In the context of the television series, the SEAVIEW was one of several experimental submarines designed by Admiral 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 two sister ships depicted in the television series, the NEPTUNE (a variant of the same class as the SEAVIEW destroyed late in the first season), and the virtually-identical ANGLER (featured in the episode The Enemies). The POLIDOR, which was a prototype attack sub, was destroyed in the third episode of the series.
SEAVIEW was prefixed "USOS" only in the 1961 film. The prefix "USOS" is spoken in a news report about the ship during the first minutes of the film, and when the ship's radio operator tries calling Washington, D.C. In Theodore Sturgeon's novelization of the film, "USOS" stood for United States Oceanographic Survey.
In the television series, the name SEAVIEW was usually prefixed "S.S.R.N." (see below). Later writings explained that “SSRN” stood for Nuclear Submarine (SSN), Research (R) or SSRN, and were referred to by Admiral Nelson in at least one episode as S.S.N.R. SEAVIEW. However, in the pilot episode, "Eleven Days to Zero" (see below), SEAVIEW 's new commanding officer opens sealed orders addressed to "Commander Lee B. Crane, U.S.S. SEAVIEW
In the United States Navy, the hull classification symbol "SSRN" (without periods) would indicate a nuclear-powered radar picket submarine. SEAVIEW was nuclear-powered, but no indication was ever given that she was equipped for radar picket missions. The hull classification symbol of a U.S. Navy ship is never written with periods after the letters. For example, the hull number of USS TRITON (the only nuclear-powered radar picket submarine ever built for the United States Navy) is always written "SSRN-586", never "S.S.R.N.-586." There are at least four episodes of the series that show "S.S.R.N." written with the periods:
• In "The Ghost of Moby Dick" (season 1, episode 14), S.S.R.N. SEAVIEW appears in two places in the Observation Room: a name plate on the starboard bulkhead and a plan of the ship on the port bulkhead.
• In "The Creature" (season 1 episode 28), S.S.R.N. SEAVIEW appears in the Observation Room, over guest star Leslie Nielsen's shoulder.
• In "The Deadly Dolls" (season 4, episode 2); Professor Multiple (Vincent Price) studies the "Specifications of the S.S.R.N. SEAVIEW in Admiral Nelson's cabin, as he prepares to take over the ship.
• In "Man of Many Faces" (season 4, episode 6), a crate addressed to "S.S.R.N. SEAVIEW is lowered by a crane into the Missile Room.
In the motion picture, Lee Crane (originally the role was intended for David Hedison, who turned it down, yet later accepted the television role) was the only Captain of the SEAVIEW from its launch as "Nelson's Folly", as Congressman Llewellyn Parker (Howard McNear) described it. In the series, the first Captain of the SEAVIEW was Commander John Phillips (portrayed by William Hudson). He was killed in "Eleven Days To Zero", which was the pilot episode of the series. Commander Lee Crane (David Hedison), on loan from the US NAVY was picked to replace him. (Crane's rank was Commander, but he was usually addressed as "Captain" because he was the Commanding Officer of the ship.) Other crew included Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander Chip Morton (Robert Dowdell), 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 winglike, stationary bow planes (in addition to her more conventional sail planes). This was added after the original B 29 -like front with twelve pairs of windows, on two levels was modified for "Freudian anatomically analogous issues." In exterior shots, SEAVIEW 's bow had eight windows in the film and the first season of the television series, and four windows in seasons two through four of the series. The interior shots always showed only four windows although it did indeed infer two levels in the feature's scene with the giant octopus attack. Also in seasons two through four of the TV version, for emergencies, a pair of sliding metal "crash doors" shut across the face of the bow's observation deck to protect the four-window transparent surface. In Theodore Sturgeon's novelization of the film, the windows are described as "... oversized hull plates which happen to be transparent." They are incredibly strong because they are made of "X-tempered herculite", a top secret process developed by Nelson. The stern had unconventional, lengthy, V-shape planes above the twin engine area.
In both the film and the series, SEAVIEW was armed with torpedoes and ballistic missiles She was also capable of electrifying the outer hull, to repel attacking sea life that were trying to destroy the ship. In the episode "Mutiny" (season 1, episode 18), Crane ordered the "Attack Generators" made ready to use this capability on a giant jellyfish. The series added anti-aircraft missiles to SEAVIEW’s armory. They were called "interceptor missiles" in the pilot episode, and "sea to air missiles" in the episode "Terror" (season 4, episode 10). In seasons two through four of the series, the forward search light also housed a laser beam that could be used against hostile sea life or enemy vessels. To avoid a claustrophobic feeling during viewing of the 1961 feature film, SEAVIEW’s interior was considerably more spacious and comfortable than any real military submarine. This was further enlarged when the Flying Sub was added to the miniatures with an even more open set for the control room interior.
On the original SEAVIEW design, a single, central skeg rudder was specified as well as trailing edge control surfaces on the twin "V" "Beachcraft Bonanza" tail fins. But on the filmed miniatures, the 8½ foot (203") miniature had three rudders: one behind each nacelle and on the rear most portion of the skeg (see "The Ghost of Moby Dick"). This functional skeg rudder was only fitted to the 203" miniature and non-operationally inferred on the 51½" miniature and not at all on the 206" version which had a fixed single piece skeg.
Between the TV version's first and second seasons, the SEAVIEW miniatures were extensively revised. Dated May 1965 the drawings penned by William Creber (who also designed the Flying Sub itself) stated "modifications to be applied to all miniatures." The number of bow windows was reduced from eight on two levels of four each to a single row of four (actually two with a dividing girder.) This then matched the interior set with the exterior miniatures but with the added detrimental affects of a more bulbous frontal appearance and a reduction in apparent overall size of the vessel. The Control Room, previously located on an upper level, was moved forward on a lower level ahead of the conning tower, 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 the 36 foot wide and long, 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 broke the 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— 4 (51½"), 8.5 (102"), and 17 feet (206") (1.2, 2.4 and 5.5 m) long — were built (eight-window nose in the motion picture and first television season, four-window version thereafter). The four-foot wood and steel tube approval/pattern model was extensively seen in the feature and on the TV series used as set decoration on a shelf in the observation nose, and behind Nelson's desk in his cabin. The eight-foot model had external doors for a not fitted 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, which 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 were filmed by L. B. Abbott who won two Emmy Awards for special effects in the series. For the television series a very poorly rendered two-foot model was built. The fates of the three original models vary; the original eight-window wood and steel four-foot display model was damaged in an altercation between a well known Science Fiction author and an ABC Television executive and now after a full restoration resides in a private collection. The eight-foot model was extensively modified; (bow cut off) for use in the short lived 1978 series "The Return of Captain Nemo" and is believed to have been destroyed. The 17-foot model after a partial restoration by numerous individuals, is currently on display at the "Museum Of Science Fiction" located in Seattle, Washington.
Both the SEAVIEW and Flying Sub have had several model kits created of them. Both were originally offered by Aurora Model Co. back in the 1960s during the run of the show, and have been re-released several times. Moebius Models have recently issued versions of both the SEAVIEW and Flying Sub, each in two differing scales. Superior to the original kits from the 60's, these are still not entirely faithful to the contours and dimensions of the original miniatures.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USOS_Seaview