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NAVSEA 00C established the Diving Depot at the Emergency Ship Salvage Material (ESSM) facilities at Williamsburg, VA and Pearl Harbor, HI to provide an option for quality and timely maintenance and repair capabilities for certified DLSS and ancillary diving equipment for the U.S. Navy.  In the past, U.S. Navy dive lockers experienced difficulty in locating local companies with the capability to perform intermediate and depot level maintenance of diver life support systems (DLSS); difficulties included the ability to perform work in accordance with the strict technical requirements as well as the inability to meet operational schedules.  The ESSM Dive Depot facility has the ability to perform almost all required maintenance and repair of fielded DLSS equipment; where the ESSM Dive Depot does not have a needed capability, they have the ability to contract out for the needed work.

Dive Depot support typically involves support to fleet diving operations, maintenance, and training by providing the following services:

  • Planned maintenance and repairs of DLSS and ancillary dive equipment in accordance with USN Maintenance and Material Management (USN 3M); USN O&M manuals and drawings; Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) technical manuals and drawings; the USN General Specification for the Design, Construction, and Repair of Diving and Hyperbaric Equipment; and the U.S. Navy Diving and Manned Hyperbaric Systems Safety Certification Manual.
  • In-house service tasks that may include but are not limited to:
    • Hydrostatic testing in accordance with Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements for cylinders, flasks, and volume tanks
    • Cleaning of DLSS systems and components in accordance with MIL-STD 1330
    • Metrology and Calibration (METCAL) services for air and oxygen gauges and maintenance of an Oxygen Instrumentation Calibration Room (OICR)
    • Overhaul, repair and maintenance of recompression chamber systems; diving breathing apparatus (i.e. surface supplied diving helmets, full face masks, self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) regulators); diver communication boxes; buoyancy compensators; and other ancillary diving equipment used by the USN.
    • Assembly, repair, and testing of piping and piping components, diver umbilicals and DLSS hose assemblies
  • On-site support for Fleet owned DLSS to facilitate operational needs as required
  • Procurement of Diving Life Support Systems (DLSS) and ancillary equipment
  • Maintenance of a small NAVSEA 00C-owned DLSS inventory for emergency issuance/loan

USN and other DoD Activities requiring DLSS maintenance and support via the 00C ESSM Service Contract can submit a ESSM Dive Depot Service Request via the Secure SUPSALV website.  Further inquiries may be directed to SEA 00C3.