USOS Seaview - History

History

For the motion picture version, scientist Admiral Harriman Nelson (USN-Ret) (Walter Pidgeon) was the designer/builder of the Seaview, operated under the auspices of the Bureau of Marine Exploration, US Dept. of Science (per art director Herman Blumenthal).

In the context of the television series, the Seaview was one of several experimental submarines designed by Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart), Director of the Nelson Institute of Marine Research, a top-secret government complex located in Santa Barbara, California, in the then-future years between 1973 and 1983. Seaview had two sister ships depicted in the television series, the Neptune (a variant of the same class as the Seaview destroyed late in the first season), and the virtually identical Angler (featured in the episode The Enemies). The Polidor, which was a prototype attack sub, was destroyed in the third episode of the series.

Seaview was prefixed "USOS" only in the 1961 film. The prefix "USOS" is spoken in a news report about the ship during the first minutes of the film, and when the ship's radio operator tries calling Washington, D.C. In Theodore Sturgeon's novelization of the film, "USOS" stood for United States Oceanographic Survey.

In the television series, the name Seaview was usually prefixed "S.S.R.N." (see below). Later writings explained that "SSRN" stood for Nuclear Submarine (SSN), Research (R) or SSRN, and was referred to by Admiral Nelson in at least one episode as "S.S.N.R. Seaview." However, in the pilot episode, "Eleven Days to Zero" (see below), Seaview's new commanding officer opens sealed orders addressed to "Commander Lee B. Crane, U.S.S. Seaview".

In the United States Navy, the hull classification symbol "SSRN" (without periods) would indicate a nuclear-powered radar picket submarine. Seaview was nuclear-powered, but no indication was ever given that she was equipped for radar picket missions. The hull classification symbol of a U.S. Navy ship is never written with periods after the letters. For example, the hull number of USS Triton (the only nuclear-powered radar picket submarine ever built for the United States Navy) is always written "SSRN-586", never "S.S.R.N.-586." There are at least four episodes of the series that show "S.S.R.N." written with the periods:

• In "The Ghost of Moby Dick" (season 1, episode 14), "S.S.R.N. Seaview" appears in two places in the Observation Room: a name plate on the starboard bulkhead and a plan of the ship on the port bulkhead.
• In "Cradle of the Deep" season 1, episode 25) the name plate appears again showing "S.S.R.N. Seaview". In addition, the plate indicates that her keel was laid on September 15 (year uncertain), and that she was commissioned on July 26, 1973.
• In "The Creature" (season 1 episode 28), "S.S.R.N. Seaview" appears in the Observation Room, over guest star Leslie Nielsen's shoulder.
• In "Deadly Waters" (season 3, episode 7) we see the plaque yet again very clearly which clarifies the year her keel was laid and gives us a good view of the "ship's motto".
• In "The Deadly Dolls" (season 4, episode 2), Professor Multiple (Vincent Price) studies the "Specifications of the S.S.R.N. Seaview" in Admiral Nelson's cabin, as he prepares to take over the ship.
• In "Man of Many Faces" (season 4, episode 6), a crate addressed to "S.S.R.N. Seaview" is lowered by a crane into the Missile Room.

In the motion picture, Lee Crane (originally the role was intended for David Hedison, who turned it down, yet later accepted the television role) was the only Captain of the Seaview from its launch as "Nelson's Folly", as Congressman Llewellyn Parker (Howard McNear) described it. In the series, the first Captain of the Seaview was Commander John Phillips (portrayed by William Hudson). He was killed in "Eleven Days To Zero", which was the pilot episode of the series. Commander Lee Crane (David Hedison), on loan from the US Navy, was picked to replace him. (Crane's rank was Commander, but he was usually addressed as "Captain" because he was the Commanding Officer of the ship.) Other crew included Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander Chip Morton (Robert Dowdell), Chief "Curley" Jones (Henry Kulky) (first season) and Chief Sharkey (Terry Becker) (Season 2, 3 and 4). Crewman Kowalkski was played by Del Monroe, who played a similar character, "Kowski" in the feature film.