The landmark test, conducted at the Seneca Lake test facility in New York, revolved around a Virginia-class submarine torpedo tube test fixture. The primary objective was to prove that the medium-class REMUS 620 could autonomously navigate back into a submarine’s tube—a complex maneuver critical for expanding the utility of UUVs in naval missions.
Central to this success was the integration of WHOI’s “Yellow Moray” torpedo tube launch and recovery (TTL&R) technology into the REMUS 620. During the in-water trials, the UUV executed sophisticated autonomous protocols to safely dock with a submerged Shock and Fire Enclosure Capsule (SAFECAP) positioned within the test fixture. This successful recovery was followed by a “reverse swimout,” where the vehicle demonstrated its ability to launch from the tube and achieve safe separation.
Duane Fotheringham, president of the Unmanned Systems group at HII, which builds the REMUS 620, highlighted the collaborative effort. He credited the rapid progress to the close cooperation with WHOI, leveraging three years of their prior TTL&R research and expertise to accelerate development.
Carl Hartsfield of WHOI’s Oceanographic Systems Lab praised the team’s agility in meeting a demanding schedule. He noted that teams conducted rapid test runs, evaluated data, and made substantive vehicle adjustments, calling the effort a “testament to the teamwork and professionalism” between the organizations. Hartsfield also commended the crucial support provided by the NUWC team at Seneca Lake throughout the testing period.
This achievement, realized less than seven months after integrating the new technology, marks a pivotal step toward enabling U.S. Navy submarines to routinely deploy and retrieve autonomous undersea vehicles directly from their torpedo tubes, thereby significantly enhancing their operational capabilities.
