BETHESDA, Md. — College students, high schoolers, even 8-year-olds competed to be named best submarine engineers in the 13th International Submarine Races at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division last week in Bethesda, Maryland.
They design, build, and sometimes pilot the subs themselves. All the submarines are human-powered and all pilots have to wear SCUBA gears and paddle inside the vehicle to drive the subs forward.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, a long-time participant since the very beginning of the ISR, built a side-by-side two-person paddle sub instead of the usual back-to-back design. “We have an interesting gear box,” said Wayne Neu, the Virginia Tech team advisor. “They put the power from each person to a summing gearbox, and then that gearbox drives both of the propellers equally. So hopefully you can go faster with twice the power.”
Florida Atlantic University, another veteran team at the races, focused more on high-fabricated propeller box and had their boat manufactured. Although they used an older boat that has raced at the competition before, the team still had to fix technical problems after they tested it in the water.
“A lot of the work was done prior to arriving, but once they get into the water, there’s another level of complexity,” said Charlie Behrle, president of the Foundation of Underwater Research and Education. “The underwater environment is a very challenging environment. They’ll be well-prepared to get into the industry and learn a lot because of their participation here.” Behrle said the competition gives an opportunity for student engineers to bring their classroom experiences to the real-world problems.