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Coast Guard, Navy Show Off Underwater Bomb Snooper

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By STEVEN GIRARDI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 28, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - The underwater bomb seekers that Coast Guard and Navy officials say will keep Tampa Bay safe from explosives were on display today at the Port of St. Petersburg.

"It's imperative that Tampa Bay be secure," U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian Rocks Beach, said at a morning news conference. "This is exciting. This will be the test bed for the nation."

Young and others gathered to praise a recent underwater experiment that used remote underwater equipment to find and identify bombs planted near bridge pilings, including the Sunshine Skyway.

The Autonomous Undersea Vehicle, a yellow, 8-foot-long device that resembles a torpedo, found all the mines, "not to mention a few lobsters and road tires," said Steve Smith, of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Pensacola.

It also picked up the serial numbers on the bombs and fingerprints that were matched to a member of the experiment team.

It was a result Capt. Tim Close, commander of the St. Petersburg Coast Guard station, deemed impressive.

The underwater vehicle scanned the bottom of Tampa Bay and delivered photographs, including 3-D images. "We know what's down there now," Close said.

The information is vitally important, he said, to allow the Coast Guard and Navy to identify new or potentially threatening devices in the Bay and to keep ports, bridges and waterways safe.

The electrically powered exploration device is programmed to search an area and can be controlled remotely, said Celeste Hansel, of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. It can run up to 15 hours and dive to 600 feet, traveling at a little less than 6 mph, she said.

When its mission is complete, it returns to a pickup point, and the information it has collected is downloaded.

The homeland security experiment was coordinated by SRI, a Silicon valley-based company that opened offices in St. Petersburg to research issues such as port security and energy.

Young said the technology will help secure ports nationwide from terrorist attacks, along with MacDill Air Force Base, which sits along the Bay in Tampa.

"So much commerce goes through the Gulf of Mexico and ports on the west coast of Florida," he said. "It's imperative that Tampa Bay be secure."

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, several city council members and county commissioners also came to see the display.

Reporter Steven Girardi may be reached at (727) 451-2333 or sgirardi@tampatrib.com.

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