U.S. Navy

Submarine Rescue Vessels (ASR)

Ships built for the mission nobody wanted to think about — rescuing crews trapped in sunken submarines. The story begins with the 1939 Squalus disaster, where the McCann Rescue Chamber saved 33 men from 240 feet and proved that submarine rescue was possible. It continues through the Chanticleer-class ASRs of WWII, the devastating loss of Thresher in 1963 that killed 129 men and exposed the limits of existing rescue capability, and the Pigeon-class catamaran ASRs built to carry the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle. Today the dedicated ASR ship is gone, replaced by the air-transportable SRDRS that can reach any ocean in 72 hours. The technology evolved. The promise to the men who go down in submarines never changed.

Origins — The Birth of Submarine Rescue 1926 - 1939

USS Squalus Rescue

The Dive That Changed Everything — 1939

On May 23, 1939, USS Squalus sank during a test dive off the Isle of Shoals, New Hampshire, when a main induction valve failed. Twenty-six men in the flooded aft compartments died instantly. Thirty-three men in the forward sections survived in an air pocket at 240 feet. The newly invented McCann Rescue Chamber — an enclosed diving bell that could mate with a submarine's escape hatch — was rushed to the scene aboard USS Falcon. Over thirteen hours, the chamber made four trips to the bottom and brought up all thirty-three survivors. It was the first successful use of the McCann chamber, and it proved that men trapped in a sunken submarine could be saved. Read more

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ASR-1 — First Designated Submarine Rescue Vessel

Widgeon was a converted minesweeper and the first ship to carry the ASR designation — Submarine Rescue Vessel. Before the ASR concept, submarine rescue was improvised with whatever ship happened to be nearby. Widgeon changed that by establishing a dedicated ship type whose sole purpose was standing ready to rescue crews from sunken submarines. She carried the McCann Rescue Chamber and the diving equipment needed to locate and mate with a downed boat's escape hatch. The designation she inaugurated would persist for decades. Read more

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World War II — Chanticleer-class 1942 - 1946

USS Chanticleer

ASR-7 — Lead Ship, Chanticleer-class

Lead ship of the WWII-era submarine rescue class, named for birds — a tradition that reflected the rescue mission: birds that could dive beneath the surface and return. Chanticleer and her sisters were purpose-built to carry the McCann Rescue Chamber, maintain a trained diving crew, and deploy to wherever submarines operated. In the Pacific, where American submarines fought their longest and most dangerous campaign, these ships stood ready at forward bases to respond if a boat went down. The hope was you would never need them. The reality was that you always might. Read more

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ASR-8 — Chanticleer-class

Named for the coucal, a tropical bird — continuing the avian naming convention for submarine rescue ships. Coucal carried the same McCann Rescue Chamber as her sisters, along with the heavy mooring equipment needed to hold position directly over a sunken submarine in open ocean. Rescue operations required the ASR to anchor precisely above the downed boat, lower the chamber to mate with the escape hatch, and cycle survivors to the surface. Every minute counted, because the air supply in a sunken submarine was finite and measurable. Read more

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ASR-9 — Chanticleer-class

Named for the florikan, an Indian bustard — the bird names were getting increasingly obscure by this point in the class, but the mission remained deadly serious. Florikan deployed to the Pacific where U.S. submarines conducted their silent war against Japanese shipping. Every submarine that sortied from Pearl Harbor, Midway, or Australia knew that an ASR ship was supposed to be standing by if something went wrong at depth. Whether that promise could be kept in the vastness of the Pacific was another question entirely. Read more

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ASR-10 — Chanticleer-class

Greenlet served with the Atlantic Fleet, standing ready at submarine bases along the East Coast. The Cold War made submarine rescue more urgent than ever — nuclear submarines operated deeper and longer than their diesel predecessors, and the consequences of a casualty at depth were catastrophic. The McCann chamber had limitations, chief among them a maximum operating depth that submarines were beginning to exceed. Greenlet and her sisters represented the best the Navy had, even as planners recognized that something better was needed. Read more

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ASR-12 — Chanticleer-class

Last of the wartime Chanticleer-class, Penguin entered service as the war ended and served through the early Cold War. Named for the bird most associated with diving — appropriate for a submarine rescue vessel. Penguin and the other ASRs conducted regular rescue exercises with submarine crews, drilling the procedures that would be needed if a boat went down. The exercises were realistic, difficult, and sometimes dangerous, because the alternative was discovering what didn't work during an actual rescue. Read more

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The Thresher Disaster — Catalyst for Change 1963

USS Thresher (SSN-593)

Lost April 10, 1963 — 129 Souls

Program Created

On April 10, 1963, the nuclear submarine USS Thresher broke apart and sank during deep-dive tests 220 miles east of Cape Cod, killing all 129 men aboard. She imploded at a depth beyond any rescue capability. The disaster exposed a brutal truth: the Navy could build submarines that operated at depths where no rescue was possible. Thresher's loss drove two massive programs — SUBSAFE, which overhauled submarine construction and maintenance standards, and the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle program, which aimed to build a rescue system that could reach crews at the depths where modern submarines actually operated. The 129 men of Thresher did not die for nothing, but the price of the lesson was staggering. Read more

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DSRV Era — Pigeon-class 1970 - 2001

ASR-21 — Lead Ship, Pigeon-class

Built specifically to carry the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle — the answer to Thresher's unanswerable question. Pigeon was a catamaran-hulled vessel designed around the DSRV mission, with a well deck between her twin hulls for launching and recovering the rescue submersible. The DSRV could dive to 5,000 feet, mate with a disabled submarine's escape hatch, and bring up 24 survivors per trip. Pigeon represented a quantum leap in submarine rescue capability, from the McCann chamber's few-hundred-foot limit to genuine deep-ocean rescue. Named for the bird — maintaining the ASR tradition — but this pigeon dove deeper than any bird ever could. Read more

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ASR-22 — Pigeon-class

Named for a European bunting, Ortolan was the second and final Pigeon-class ASR. With one ship in the Pacific and one in the Atlantic, the Navy maintained DSRV-capable rescue coverage across both oceans. The catamaran hull gave Ortolan exceptional stability for launching and recovering the 50-ton DSRV in open ocean conditions. Ortolan and Pigeon trained constantly with submarine crews, conducting rescue exercises that tested every link in the chain — from initial distress notification to final survivor recovery. The exercises were the only way to prove the system worked, because a real deep-ocean submarine disaster was the one scenario where failure meant total loss. Read more

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Modern Era — Flyable Rescue 2008 - Present

Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System

Air Transportable

The modern successor to the dedicated ASR ships and DSRVs. The Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System is a modular, air-transportable rescue system that can be flown anywhere in the world aboard C-17 aircraft and installed on any suitable vessel of opportunity within 72 hours. The system includes a remotely operated rescue vehicle, a decompression chamber, and all the support equipment needed for a deep-ocean rescue. No more waiting for a dedicated rescue ship to steam across an ocean — SRDRS brings the rescue capability to whatever ship is closest to the downed submarine. The Pigeon-class ASRs are gone, but the rescue mission endures in a form that Thresher's crew would recognize as the fulfillment of a sixty-year promise. Read more

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10+

ASR Ships

33

Saved from Squalus

5,000

Feet DSRV Depth

129

Lost on Thresher