First SEALs by Patrick K. O'Donnell Read Free Book Online

keen on the use of these devices, which could be rolled up into a small portable size when not inflated. “I believe that great use can be made of surfboards,” he stated, “especially for landing through surf which cannot be crossed by any type of boat without serious danger.” Woolley further explained, “The inflatable surfboard . . . will roll into a small package and weigh very little.” At the conclusion of the trials the OSS contracted with the Ohio Chemical and Manufacturing Company to make two full-size prototype boards at a total cost of $500.
    To protect the men’s bodies from hypothermia in the cold waters of the Potomac, the OSS developed and enhanced a wetsuit. One of the first swimmers to wear the suit was John P. Spence, who fondly recalled how the term “frogmen” may have comeabout. He was climbing out of the water one day in his green waterproof suit when someone yelled, “Hey Frogman,” and the name “stuck for all of us.”
    The OSS had also developed a number of kayaks, including two- and eight-man versions that could be broken down and quickly assembled on the deck of a submarine or small boat. In addition they began experimenting with underwater submersible craft, something today’s SEALs often use when they exit submarines to conduct covert operations. The OSS first took a look at an invention known as “the Toy.” During the summer of 1943 a Frenchman named Jean de Valdène contacted the agency about a one-man submersible that he had designed. Both the British Navy and the Italians had constructed underwater submersibles that their combat swimmers utilized. Made of balsa wood in the “shape of a large cigar,” Valdène’s Toy was “steadied by horizontal and vertical fins.” Like the surfboard, it was powered by a silent electric motor, and it could achieve a speed of six knots underwater.
    Commander Woolley immediately saw the possibilities that the Toy offered his swimmers: the ability to enter enemy ports covertly and attach limpet mines to ships. He convinced Donovan to earmark $1,000 for the project. But a string of unfortunate events plagued the development of the device. They trucked a mock-up of the Toy to Area D on July 20. There Duncan and the swimmers participated in tests with the submersible. The craft dipped a few feet beneath the murky Potomac, but once again the dirt and pollution got in the way of finalizing the test. So the Toy was “transferred in great secrecy” to the David Taylor Model Basin at Glen Echo, Maryland, a large U.S. Navy facility used to test ships and smaller craft.
    Ultimately, the Toy proved to be a flop. In final tests in January 1944, the electric motors broke down repeatedly and “other flaws developed.” They abandoned the project and later replaced it with another submersible known as the “Sleeping Beauty.”
    Over the spring and summer of 1943, development of underwater gear proceeded at a breakneck pace: wristwatches with luminous dials, depth gauges, a waterproof swimsuit, and swim fins (“both hand and foot”). The Ohio Chemical and Manufacturing Company once again provided its expertise in manufacturing waterproof flashlights and underwater containers as well as other equipment that would allow swimmers to transport explosive devices without detection. The OSS accordingly created and tested limpet mines that the swimmers could affix magnetically to the metal hulls of enemy ships and then detonate.
    But the polluted Potomac once again became a problem. At one LARU trial, Taylor swam for more than a mile in the river. Visibility was terrible, making the test difficult. Moreover, in combat, either in the Pacific or near Europe, the swimmers and equipment would be in saltwater, and it was unknown how well the unit would perform in the sea. They needed clear water—clear ocean water—to conduct realistic tests. Duncan proposed that