Albert Williams Scientist Emeritus - ALVIN Submersible, Deep Housings, Titan Implosion - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

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Albert J. Williams 3rd IEEE Life Fellow, Scientist Emeritus, Woods Hold Oceanographic Institute

 "I have designed, built, and tested underwater housings for my studies of deep-sea turbulence and mixing and in some cases I have suffered housing failures during tests so when I was asked by Greg Gdowski if I would give a talk about ALVIN and Titan’s loss, I felt I might provide background information that would be interesting to an audience in Region 1 of IEEE."

Many of us became very interested in what happened on June 18, 2023, to the deep-diving submersible, Titan.  It was 3500 m deep when it lost communication with the support vessel on the surface and still had 300 m to go to the wreck of Titanic.  What little I was able to discover at the time indicated to me that the loss of communication preceded a catastrophic implosion that killed the pilot and four other persons instantly.  But my knowledge of pressure housings I have designed and built gave me some understanding of what the hazards are to deep submersibles.  And my recent effort to obtain an IEEE Milestone for the Woods Hole Oceanographic institution submersible, ALVIN, presented the opportunity to discuss a successful, well tested, and inspected vehicle.  I want to describe a little the exploits of ALVIN and then the design and testing of my own deep instrument housings before presenting some of the journalistic reports about Titan.

  In October 2022, an IEEE Milestone for the ALVIN Submersible was presented to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in recognition of its contribution to the exploration of the deep-sea.  In 1979 I was an observer in ALVIN on a dive to the Galapagos hydrothermal vent where my role was to measure the flow of hot water from the vent with my newly developed acoustic velocity sensor.

  In 2021 the company OceanGate began taking paid passengers to the Titanic shipwreck in a specially built five-person submersible Cyclops II, renamed Titan, and on that day in June, lost communication with the support ship and subsequent analysis strongly suggests that Titan imploded, crushing all within it.  Some debris has been found in the vicinity of Titanic but thus far, no human remains or pieces large enough to determine the exact fatal cause of the implosion have been found.  

  I have designed, built, and tested underwater housings for my studies of deep-sea turbulence and mixing and in some cases I have suffered housing failures during tests so when I was asked by Greg Gdowski if I would give a talk about ALVIN and Titan’s loss, I felt I might provide background information that would be interesting to an audience in Region 1 of IEEE.

Albert J. Williams 3rd

Born 10/17/1940

Educated Germantown Friends School, Swarthmore College -AB Physics 1962,

John’s Hopkins University -PhD Physics 1969. 

Employment - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution -1969 to present: PostDoctoral Investigator, Assistant Scientist, Associate Scientist, Senior Scientist, Scientist Emeritus. 

IEEE Life Fellow 2005,  OCEANS 2000 Distinguished Technical Achievement Award, OVEANS 2021 Distinguished Service Award. 

Research and discoveries: Ocean mixing via Salt Fingers-1972, Breaking Internal Waves-1975, Surface Boundery Layer Turnulence-1981, Bottom Boundary Layer Sediment Transport-1985. Instrumentation: BASS (Benthic Acoustic Stress Sensor) acoustic current meter array-1974, Acoustic Vorticity Meter-1999, MAVS (Modular Acoustic Velocity Sensor)-2002.

Businesses: Oceanographic Instrument Systems, Inc. - 1984 to present, Nobska Development Inc. - 1997 to present. Products include Timed Release Pingers, Bottom Finder Pingers, Acoustic Command Releases, Acoustic Current Meters, Wave Measuring and Reporting Sensors. Positions held-Founder, VP Engineering, Presidents of each. 

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Introduction: Albert J Williams 3rd IEEE Life Fellow Scientist Emeritus

Woods Hold Oceanographic

Presentation: ALVIN Submersible, Deep Housings, Titan Implosion

Discussion

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Albert J Williams 3rd IEEE Life Fellow Scientist Emeritus - ALVIN Submersible, Deep Housings, Titan Implosion - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

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