[PSUBS-MAILIST] publicity

[Jon Wallace via Personal_Submersibles]

Nice history lesson Vance.  We need you to write a book.  Regarding 
K600, it was tested to 380 psi at Annapolis, so 850-877 feet depending 
upon salt or fresh water. I've got the placards that were attached to 
the sub, a photo of them at SUBDB.INFO.  Easy to understand why George 
felt he could get to 900+ feet with it.  I've got all the documentation 
regarding the K600 build including calcs, notes, and communications.  My 
impression is that the K600 fabrication ended with lots of animosity 
between Kittredge and the buyer, both not trusting the other.  Kittredge 
was suppose to build additional K600's for the company but because of 
their mutual "issues", both parties agreed to end their business 
agreement and so only one was ever built.  I know that the engineer for 
the company required Kittredge to install thicker end caps, and also 
required thru-hull penetrator cables for main batteries rather than the 
K-350 design.  I've got the invoice as well, final cost of the certified 
K600 in 1979 was $101,000.

Jon


On 6/17/2020 2:15 PM, via Personal_Submersibles wrote:
> True in parts. George tested an early K-250 in the Navy test tank in 
> Annapolis. His buddy the Admiral was a structural design engineer of 
> Navy subs, and had done the figures on the little sub's hull. The boys 
> at the shop in Maryland didn't take them seriously. They figured the 
> whole thing would implode at about twenty feet. George knew better. He 
> told them the first thing to go would be the acrylic dome, and he 
> figured that would happen at 800 feet or thereabouts. Which is exactly 
> what happened. After the factory was built in Maine and he started on 
> K-350s, he bought some 5' hemispheres and planned to build his own 
> tank test facility for the shop. This was never completed. Almost 
> every sub was drop tested in a 500 foot hole off the mouth of the 
> Weskeag River. A couple of them were built for operatibns to 500 feet, 
> and were tested in deeper water out in Penobscot Bay. The K-600 was 
> built to Lloyd's spec had to be tank tested with an inspector present. 
> So, back to Annapolis. I think they tested it to 750 feet per Lloyd's 
> instructions for certification to 600 feet. Later on, George 
> reacquired the K600 and was on board with some other guys to buy a 
> boat and take the whole package to Columbia for a treasure hunt in 900 
> feet of water. He was confident the 600 would do that handily. They 
> actually bought the old Coast Guard coastal tug the 'Snohomish', but 
> the Colombians ended up saying sure, you can dive for treasure, but 
> whatever you find belongs to the Colombian people, and you have to 
> give it all to us. Which pretty much killed the profit margin on that 
> particular pipe dream. If that hadn't happened, the K600 would have 
> become a K900. Or so the story goes. Then George and I collaborated on 
> the design for a K1000. I've got the initial prints, but that one was 
> never built, either. Too bad.
>
> Vance

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