Welcome to

USS SQUALUS

Commemorative

U.S. Navy Helium Helmet website

Last revised November 4, 2008

About USS Squalus About the diving operations Manufacturing the helmets

Part machining & finishing Sub-assembly fabrication Final Assembly

HDS Limited Edition DESCO U.S. Navy Mark V Helium Helmets

DESCO has been commissioned by the Historical Diving Society USA to produce 26 U.S. Navy Mark V Helium Helmets to commemorate the successful salvage of the USS Squalus and honor the 26 souls lost in the vessel.

This salvage operation was the first practical use of Helium Oxygen diving, and was the culmination of years of research by the US Navy and civilian experimenters. The 26 helmets also commemorate the 24 crewmen and 2 civilians who were lost when USS Squalus sank during a training dive May 23, 1939.

These helmets are the third commemorative series produced for the HDS. Each helmet in the issue will bear a special USS Squalus Commemoration tag, and will be numbered 01-26 to 26-26. The tag will also bear the dates 9/13/39 - 9/13/09. The USS Squalus was successfully raised on September 13, 1939, and the recorded date of manufacture for the 26 Helium helmets will be September 13, 2009, the 70th anniversary. The production run will be offered first to HDS members who were purchasers of previous commemorative helmets issued by HDS. Any helmets not claimed by the previous commemorative helmet purchasers will be offered to general HDS members.

Sample tag

Numbering will actually read 01/26.

Photos by Torgny & Co. Jewelers Thousand Oaks CA.

5/14/08

The new and improved tag

This site exists to showcase the construction of 26 U.S. Navy Helium Diving Helmets commissioned by the Historical Diving Society from DESCO Corporation. As work progresses photos will be posted here of the manufacturing process. Most of the pages in this website contain numerous photographs. While the size of the photos are kept to a minimum it will still take some time for those pages to download. This site will follow the construction of the helmets from raw castings and material to the finished product.

You can contact DESCO Corporation at

240 N. Milwaukee Street

Milwaukee, WI 53202

414-272-2371

414-272-2373 FAX

diveq@execpc.com

Hours are Monday to Friday 6am to 3:00pm Central Time.

To contact the website administrator e-mail to:

descocorp@sbcglobal.net