Peter Emerson
Scuba wet suits were not taken seriously until World War II and the advent
of Navy Frogmen (SEALs) who became one of America's most effective weapons of
the war. On any kind of measurable basis, costs of operations versus costs of
effectiveness, man-to-man, or overall kill ratios, the SEALs exceeded
expectations on any level. Once recognized, the military put a much time and
money into improving the effectiveness of its frogmen. That meant improving the
design, effectiveness and durability of wet suits.
There is a controversy that developed at the time over whether or not wet suits
had to remain dry. Sounds like a set up for a joke but it's not. All underwater,
rubberized protective outfits are called wetsuits. The controversy was over
whether heat loss from the diver's body could be controlled better if the
wetsuit kept his skin dry or not. It was Hugh Bradner who is credited with the
first wet suit in 1952. Mr. Bradner was actually working as a physicist at UC
Berkeley's radiation laboratory where he was testing the reflections of shock
waves on unicellular material and was invited to attend a Swimmer's Symposium.
His concept was that the diver's skin does not have to stay dry to prevent heat
loss if the thermal insulation used in the wet suit was obtained by air
entrapped in the material of the suit.
With the French invention of the Aqua-Lung, Self Contained Underwater Breathing
Apparatus (SCUBA) was used in the war and afterwards spawned investigative teams
exploring the ocean's many mysteries. As soon as this began, the pressing need
for wetsuits was made painfully obvious by the divers suffering from hypothermia
after only a few dives. The divers tried everything from greased long johns to
leftover Air Force survival suits, and the Bradner wet suit. Bradner was the
first to use a unicellular material similar to the type he was working with in
the radiation laboratory in his wet suit. The material came from a company
called Rubatex and was called Neoprene and the original model for today's
high-tech, three-level wet suit was born.scuba dive gear
About the Author
Wet Suits Info provides detailed
information about triathlon, scuba, and surfing wet suits, as well as wet suits
for kids and infants.
Hawaii has many great snorkeling,
scuba diving, and snuba diving locations.
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