Is Andrea Doria worth it?

[USMC CPL.]

This is the most recent authoritative study I know of:
Submarine team explores Andrea Doria shipwreck, finds it to be ‘just a mess’

I have to know. What is it like looking into Gimbels Hole.

 

[Akimbo]

I have to know. What is it like looking into Gimbels Hole.

It wasn't Gimbel's Hole until years later when Oceaneering enlarged the double hull doors we removed. This thread talks about it: Setting the Hook: A Diver's Return to the Andrea Doria, Post #77.

Mostly the First Class Foyer looked fantastically... disappointing. You have to remember the context. We had spent the last two years working every available minute and raising money from friends and neighbors to recover the safes. Nearly all the labor was for a percentage of the recovery and the entire crew were friends and shipmates. The whole space was a jungle of collapsed partition bulkheads and false overhead, much of it suspended by the electrical wiring that went through it. All that money and work was gone and we were in debt.

Oceaneering enlarged the hole in order to pull all that debris out so they could safely work inside and remove one of the safes. There were nine different safes as I recall.

 

[USMC CPL.]

It wasn't Gimbel's Hole until years later when Oceaneering enlarged the double hull doors we removed. This thread talks about it: Setting the Hook: A Diver's Return to the Andrea Doria, Post #77.

Mostly the First Class Foyer looked fantastically... disappointing. You have to remember the context. We had spent the last two year working every available minute and raising money from friends and neighbors to recover the safes. Nearly all the labor was for a percentage of the recovery and the entire crew were friends and shipmates. The whole space was a jungle of collapsed partition bulkheads and false overhead, much of it suspended by the electrical wiring that went through it. All that money and work was gone and we were in debt.

Oceaneering enlarged the hole in order to pull all that debris out so they could safely inside and remove one of the safes. There were nine different safes as I recall.

Love the reply. I only ask because of the way it was described in dark descent. Has to be overwhelming being 200 feet down and looking into that blackness.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

This is the most recent authoritative study I know of:
Submarine team explores Andrea Doria shipwreck, finds it to be ‘just a mess’

Firstly, many thanks for all the information on this thread.

Secondly, if it is in the shape that they have described, it should still be a good dive due to the following reasons:

a) The hull and bulkhead appears intact so it should still offer some penetration opportunities. Unless it can cave in and collapse on you any minute. In that case it would be best to swim around.

b) Superstructure has collapsed and looks like a debris field. Could this mean that a lot of artifacts for which divers like John Chatterton would be risking deep penetration are now lying scattered?

Once again, many thanks for contributing such thoughtful first hand insights.

 

[100days-a-year]

Worth it in what way?
Effort and expense is high due to distance offshore,depth and conditions but it is unique in it's composition,age and how it came to rest there.
I make money diving for the most part,so spending cash to dive a wreck and maybe get a bauble or souvenir isn't worth it,to some the experience is worth it.All subjective.

 

[Sam Miller III]

This is a very interesting thread -especially the first hand account of @Akimbo.

I have never had a desire to dive it since was have a number of ship wrecks of SoCal, However I have had a relationship with the wreck

When the accident occurred I was in the USAF - My room mate's girl friend was on the Isle De France, the rescue ship - . The reports radio & TV were very sketchy and for a number of hours we were unsure who had struck who - who was sinking and who was the recue ship. When she arrived home she had a number of interesting storied to tell - an experience of a life time!

In the 1950s diving was very small tribe concentrated in SoCal and that is probably the reason Gimble chose expeiced SoCal divers to accompany him on that 1956 dive.
I knew Ramsey Parks as a social friend, he only dove at that time for Abalone. Sadly Ramsey passed away at age 39 of a massive heart attack.
I also did several recreational dives with Bob Dill so many years ago - Bob is also on that big reef in the sky

I was also a social friend of the late Jack Mc Kinney who was on a early Andra Doria dive which was featured in Skin Diver magazine--Now I am a social friend with his son John and grand son Jackson

Is it worth diving ? Heck Yes ! Especially with all the modern diving equipment -- When Gimble & SoCal crew first dove the equipment was very new and quite crude, Fins Mask Snorkel, Wet suit and Weight belt comprised their entire diving armentarium. No gauges, ( SPG, Depth, Compass, etc) No flotation and the w=Wet suit was only 2 years old

Sam Miller, III..

 

[Marie13]

Why so determined to get stuff off a wreck?

Perhaps my response is partially to being a minimalist when it comes to stuff and the fact that Great Lakes wrecks are protected by both state and federal law. You're not going to be legally taking anything off a wreck around here.

Pictures are my souvenir and proof I've done a particular wreck.

 

[Lorenzoid]

There's that whole argument about recovery versus archaeology.

 

[Akimbo]

... I only ask because of the way it was described in dark descent. Has to be overwhelming being 200 feet down and looking into that blackness.

Al Giddings described the Doria as a "high voltage" dive, and it is when bounce-diving on Scuba. No doubt it was very demanding for us but it was a lot safer in saturation, for a lot of reasons:

• It is the shallowest sat dive I have made. Our holding depth was about 150' (where the bottom hatch of the habitat was moored about 10' above the hull). That is legal air diving range in most commercial diving operations.
• We had a double-lock decompression chamber onboard, a US Navy Master Diver to run it, and a Diving Medical Officer... which we used on surface support dives (on Scuba) for Sur-D-O2 and treating DCS.
• We were on HeO2 during the deeper penetrations and in the habitat.
• Divers are tethered by their umbilical. Sure it restricts mobility but it also means you can find your way out and divers can find you.
• Divers have hardwire audio communications between each other and to the supervisor on deck. Sat divers today have TV cameras and lights mounted to their hats and (often) a ROV watching them and helping to light the worksite. In many ways, the dive super has better situational awareness than the diver.
• Gas supplies are effectively unlimited with several backup supplies beyond our bailout bottles
• No bottom time constraints... sat divers only decompress once, not after every lockout.
• We were in hot water heated wetsuits... 2½ gallons/minute of salt water at 110° F
• We (divers and support crew) were well trained and experienced working in black water and penetrating wrecks

This image is of Jack McKinney exiting the chamber after a DCS treatment. Jack was on the surface/Scuba-based photo team run by Bob Hollis.

Sorry for the hijack.

 

[Sam Miller III]

@Marie13

Some wrecks are protected - look no take
My post from "Police Divers" a few weeks ago

"The big bust was on the wreck of the Winfield Scott which was declared a national historic site and absolutely no touch - no take zone.

There was a charter (as I recall on Glen Millers boat) to the WS. On board was a number of the members of the recently formed California Wreck Divers Club and the usual assortment of sport divers, including a number of federal officers.

After the first dive all the wreck divers held up their loot for pictures and discussion, which was taped recorded. After their "show and tell" the federal officers identified themselves and stated "You are under arrest, take off your equipment stack it in the corner and set over there " and began writing tickets.

As I recall after all these years the fines were rather substantial and all violators were unceremoniously discharged from the club. '

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SDM