The man who built the LR5

The LR2, the first of the LR series of submersibles

By Paul Sussman, CNN.com writer

One man who is watching the Kursk submarine drama with particular interest is Englishman Gordon Robertson.

A mechanical engineer from London, Robertson has a unique connection with the events currently unfolding in the Barents Sea -- it was he who designed the LR5 submersible on which the entire rescue operation may now come to depend.

"There were a lot of people involved in the process," he says. "These things are never just a one-man job. Ultimately, however, I was the one with overall responsibility for the design."

Unique vessels

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Robertson, 60, is currently the managing director of Remote Marine Systems in Malton, North Yorkshire.

Thirty years ago, however, he was working as a mechanical engineer for York-based Slingsby Ltd., the company that developed and built the LR series of which the LR5 is the most recent.

The LR submersibles are unique in that they use Glass Reinforced Polyester (GRP) for the craft's shell rather than steel.

The original idea for this came from Sir Leonard Redshaw, the former chairman of Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering (hence the title LR). It was Robertson, however, who was responsible for turning that idea into reality.

"It was my first project for Slingsby," he recalls, "I felt very privileged to be involved. As an engineer you don't often get the chance to work on something entirely new like that."

The first of the series, the LR2, took almost three years to develop, at a cost of £640,000.

"The idea first came up in 1971," says Robertson, "But it wasn't until 1974 that the final version was certified by Lloyds."

During that time scale models of the vehicle were designed and built, then full-scale models were subjected to exhaustive fatigue tests in a special pressure chamber.

"It was exciting work," he recalls. "Synthetic materials like GRP had never been used for submersibles before and there were no standard design procedures for manufacturing pressure hulls from such complex substances. We were doing something entirely new."

The LR2 was subsequently followed by an LR3, LR4 and, in 1978, an LR5, all masterminded by Robertson.

"The focus was always commercial," he says. "They were designed for work in the North Sea oil and gas fields, although the LR4 and LR5 had a central chamber that could be adapted for undersea rescue operations. We always rather hoped the situation would never arise in which it had to be used for that purpose."

Thinking of the trapped sailors

Robertson has been following the Kursk rescue operation closely.

"All of us who were involved in developing the LR5 have been watching every bit of news to see what's happening," he says. "We feel very close to it."

He is confident that if any craft can succeed in docking with the stricken Russian submarine it is the LR5.

"Provided the tidal currents aren't too strong they should be able to lock on," he says. "They've done mates with submarines hundreds of times before, and the whole procedure is practised and understood."

He is not, however, convinced the operation will have a happy outcome.

"My gut feeling is that they're going to get there too late," he sighs. "I'm very disappointed in the politicians. They've wasted a lot of time mucking around with their own agendas. It's tragic."

And if the LR5 team do find men alive on the Kursk? How will he feel?

"Very, very proud."

Sir Leonard Redshaw
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Perry Slingsby Systems

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