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Helen Hart Momsen, granddaughter of Vice Adm. Momsen was an honored guest and assisted in the ribbon cutting formally opening the new trainer. Momsen was an American pioneer in submarine rescue and invented the underwater escape device called the Momsen Lung, a staple of submarine escape for decades, for which he received the Distinguished Service Medal in 1929. In May 1939, he directed the rescue of the crew of USS Squalus (SS 192).
The Honorable Joe Courtney, Congressman Connecticut Second District, offered in his remarks that "This escape trainer not only teaches submariners how to escape a submarine in the event of the unexpected, but allows them to build up the confidence they need by actually allowing them to do it in a realistic - and safe - environment.
"We all know that the significance of this cannot be overstated - experiencing this kind of training in realistic scenarios can make the difference literally between life and death in an emergency."
And Rear Adm. Paul J. Bushong, Commander, Submarine Group Two, noted to an audience of both local community leaders and waterfront Sailors, "Submarine Escape is a necessary skill that all of us hope to never need and to never need to use, but this facility and its talented staff are our guarantee that should the need arise, tomorrow's Undersea Warriors are ready for any challenge in every environment in which our Submarine Force operates, today and tomorrow.
"It has been a long journey from "Swede" Momsen's diving bell to this facility and the Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment we use today. But it's all part of our relentless dedication to training innovation and excellence in support of the world's finest submarine service."
Construction of the Submarine Escape Trainer began in November 2005. At the core of the eighteen million dollar facility is a 20-foot diameter, 40-foot high, 84,000 gallon pool atop escape trunks called the LOT (Lock-Out Trunk) and the LET (Logistics-Escape Trunk) that simulate conditions a submariner would experience during an escape from a submerged submarine.
Annually about 3,000 Sailors (officer and enlisted) will receive training in the two-day emergency escape course (800 officers and 2,100 enlisted).
Established in 1916, Naval Submarine School is often called "the center of submarine training excellence." Nearly 30,000 officers and enlisted Sailors graduated from 198 courses of instruction, ranging from Basic Enlisted Submarine School through Prospective Command Course, during calendar year 2008.
