From PIONEERS IN DIVING by Edward C. Cargile 2133 Sorrento Drive Oceanside, CA 92056 Phone/Fax: (760) 722-1205 E-mail: ecargile@cox.net Copyright 2002 Edward C. Cargile All Rights Reserved No Reproduction In Part Or Whole Without Prior Written Permission Of The Author.

Commander Francis Douglas Fane, USN (Ret.) was a member of the U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) during World War II, the Korean War and during the period leading up to the Vietnam War. He was instrumental in the continuation and advancement of UDT following World War II. Cmdr. Fane was one of the recognized leaders in the history of UDT, especially in developing specialized diving equipment and combat operational techniques. He also had a major influence on scientific and sport diving. Fane was born November 16, 1909 in Aberdeen, Scotland, immigrated with his family to the United States in 1911, and became a naturalized U.S. Citizen in Boston, MA, in 1934. He embarked on his seagoing career at the age of 16 by shipping out to sea on a freighter. Working and studying hard, Fane worked his way up through Vessel Navigator and Master in the U.S. Merchant Marine from 1936 to 1940. Realizing that the United States would soon be drug into World War II, he tried to join the U.S. Navy in 1939. However, he was turned down because one of his front teeth was rotated. So he wrote a letter to the Chief of Bureau of Navigation, Captain Chester Nimitz. In his letter he pointed out “I’m not going to be biting the buggers.” Fortunately, Fane was given a waver to join the U.S. Navy in 1940 with a reserve commissioned as a Lt.JG. From 1940 to 1945 Fane served on board a destroyer, cruiser, aircraft carrier, ammunition vessel and amphibious assault ships as Navigator, Damage Control Officer, communications Officer and First Lieutenant and Cargo Officer. He was engaged in the assault bombardment of Kiska Island, Aleutians; made combat amphibious landings in Sicily, the Marshall Islands, the Marianas and New Guinea. After serving 34 months in a combat area in the surface Navy, Lt.JG Fane volunteered for "extra-hazardous duty." This turned out to be with the U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition Team (UDT). However, when he volunteered he had two small problems that would have quickly washed any other man out of the extremely tough UDT Program. First, Lt.JG Fane was well over 30 years old. And second, Fane could not swim! But because he was already an expert with demolitions, had so much sea duty and leadership experience, Lt.JG, Fane was allowed to learn how to swim at a Chicago YMCA during his leave before reporting to the U.S. Navy School of Reconnaissance and Underwater Demolitions in Ft. Pierce, FL. To complicate his challenge, Lt. JG Fane was 33 years old when he went through the tough training. He not only made it through the training in early 1945, but he earned a special respect from those both above and below him, which would become an important part of his future contributions to UDT and diving. His fighting determination to make it into UDT resulted in the nickname, Red Dog Fane, (for his red hair and tough determination). This handle stuck with him throughout his Naval career. Promoted to Lt., Doug Fane was in command of UDT Team 13 in 1945. Team 13 was on a transport ship headed for their first mission in the Pacific when WWII ended. The orders for Lt. Fane and his UDT 13 were immediately changed, and they were the first U.S. forces to land in Japan. Fearing massive resistance to U.S. Forces in Japan, Fane and his men were ordered to conduct harbor shore and underwater searches for explosives. UDT 13 was one of the first U.S. military units to land in Japan, making the operation very dangerous. Fortunately, they found no demolitions. The Japanese commanding officer of the military forces at Sasebo, Japan, offered Lt. Fane his sword. Fane politely refused the sword, stating that the Japanese had already surrendered. Because of Cmdr. Fane's knowledge of oriental philosophy and by showing respect to the honorable Japanese warrior, he probably saved many lives on both sides. The Chief of Naval Operations dispatched Lt. Cmdr. Fane to Europe to investigate underwater diving developments there. He spent considerable time with the former Italian, British and French frogmen. He studied their equipment and operational techniques, and dove with most of their equipment. While in England, Fane stayed with Cdr. Campbell, the British submariner who sank the German battleship, Tirpitz, using an X-craft diver lockout submarine. Belloni, the commander of Italian Mialle boats attached to the Tenth Light Flotilla, had Lt. Cmdr. Fane as his guest in his chateau. And, Capt. Jacques Cousteau invited Fane to Marseille, where he dove with the French diving team. Lt. Cmdr. Fane brought several of the European frogman specialists to the U.S. as consultants to UDT, along with some of their equipment. Within a year after the surrender of Japan, there was a tremendous reduction in all of the U.S. Armed Forces, including the UDT. The UDT strength dropped from over 3,500 men at the end of the War down to about 200 within a year. This was a reduction of over 90 percent in both personnel and equipment. At one point, there were plans to dissolve UDT completely. It was the belief of many high ranking military officers that any future war would be nuclear and would not need the UDT. Fortunately, Lt. Fane remained in the Navy and fought to keep UDT alive during the post-war period. Fane used his leadership and a lot of imagination to overcome tremendous obstacles. He and his Team made many major improvements in UDT operational techniques and developed advanced diving equipment. After the war, vast amounts of the UDT equipment was sold for salvage and surplus. Fane had so little equipment for his men in UDT that he bought six dozen Lambertson Amphibious Respiratory Units (LAURs) at a war surplus store, for almost nothing. The LAUR closed-circuit oxygen rebreathers were developed by Dr. Christian Lambertsen. These rebreathers were used mostly by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor to the CIA. During the late 1940s Lt. Cmdr. Fane led experiments with underwater breathing systems, such as the Jack Brown full-face mask, Parelli oxygen closed-circuit rebreather and LARU. He did much of the in-water testing. These were advanced diving units then, but very crude by today's standards. Neither the Experimental Diving Unit nor the Navy Diving Schools encouraged the development of these devices. Fane went on a search campaign to locate Dr. Lambertsen. He found him working for the Mine Safety Appliances Company in Ohio. Lambertsen was training U.S. Army divers at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Lt. Cmdr. Fane invited Lambertson to the UDT Base at Little Creek, Norfolk, VA. Dr. Lambertson was pleased that UDT was using his LARU oxygen rebreathers. Dr. Lambertsen told Lt. Cmdr. Fane that he also had considerable experience operating the Small Submersible Canoe, the British version of a diver transport vehicle. In his efforts to advance the technological capabilities of the UDT, Fane introduced Dr. Lambertsen to Rear Admiral Fife, Commander of the Atlantic Submarine Force Fleet. Fane was able to get Admiral Fife's approval for UDT to develop diver lock-out and lock-in techniques, and use the British Canoe with U.S. submarines off St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands near Puerto Rico. Fane located and set up the UDT base on St. Thomas. This location offered warm, clear water to train during the very cold winters waters off the UDT base in Norfolk, VA. Fane and Lambertsen collaborated in developing several types of advanced diving equipment for the UDT. During the diving tests off St. Thomas, Lt. Cmdr. Fane was the first and only diver to successfully enter a submarine through a torpedo tube. This frogman recovery technique proved to be too dangerous and impractical to incorporate into the UDT operations. Fane also recruited a remarkable man and underwater still photographer and cinematographer, Lt. Fennimore Johnson. Lt. Johnson was the first diver to film UDT operations with submarines while they were cruising underwater. After leaving the Navy, Johnson established one of the first underwater photography and cinematography manufacturing companies, Fennjohn. In 1947, Lt. Cmdr. Fane worked with others in developing a new tool for UDT. They used the helicopter to drop swimmers in the sea and recover them again. Tests were conducted off Lynhaven Roads, VA. He developed a new team within UDT for diver transport vehicles in 1948. Called Submersible Operations Platoon (SUBOPS), this specialized unit trained for attacks against naval shipping and naval base infiltration. Tests included a successful strike by the SUBOPS team against the naval base in New Foundland, Canada. The SUBOPS team demonstrated their capabilities to the office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Lt. Cmdr. Fane received approval for the new unit and operation techniques. This increasing development of operational techniques of diver transport vehicles by Lt. Cmdr. Fane and others evolved in later years into the present-day SEAL SDV Teams (SEAL Delivery Vehicle Teams). The December 1948 issue of Science Illustrated has an articles by James Dugan, entitled “The First of the Menfish.” The article was brought to the attention of Lt. Cmdr. Fane. In mid-1949, he made contacted La Spirotechnique about the Aqua-Lung. Co-inventor, engineer Emile Gagnan, was in Canada and brought the first test units to Lt. Cmdr. Fane. Fane and his UDT tested the Aqua-Lung at the Naval Amphibious Base and Chesapeake Bay in Norfolk, VA, and the Navy New London Submarine Escape Tank. During the Thanksgiving Holidays of 1948, Capt. Cousteau stayed at the Fane home in Norfolk, Virginia. It was during this visit that Anna Bell Fane (Doug Fane's wife) was the first American woman to use the new Aqua-Lung in the Norfolk Amphibious Naval Base swimming pool. She also dove using the Aqua-Lung to a depth of 100 feet in the nearby Atlantic Ocean, astounding diving authorities. Fane and his UDT continued testing the Aqua-Lung off Norfolk for several months. He and his UDT men found the Aqua-Lung offered many benefits and considerable freedom for diving operations where telltale breathing bubbles were not a problem. The UDT even found an uncharted shipwreck in Chesapeake Bay using the AquaLung, another first. Because of Lt. Cmdr. Fane's long series of tests off Norfolk, St. Thomas Island and many presentations at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., the AquaLung was finally approved for use by the U.S. Navy UDT in late 1949 and adopted as standard equipment in early 1949. Fane was very involved as a test diver and used his leadership abilities in the development of advanced decompression schedules using air SCUBA. Doug Fane also pioneered the use of diver transport vehicles by UDT. The British Small Submersible Canoe and the Italian submersibles (Seahorse and Trass) were the only diver transport vehicles available at the time. Just three weeks after the Korean War began, UDT was making reconnaissance of beaches, shore and harbor installations. Lt. Cmdr. Fane was right in the thick of these operations as the Senior UDT Officer in Korea (1951-1952). He planned UDT missions in support of U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army assault operations. He led several hazardous missions in South Korea, and behind the North Korean and the Chinese Communist lines to within 60 miles of the Soviet port at Vladivostok, blowing up railroad tunnels and other installations. They also landed up to 50 South Korean guerrillas a night on the east coast of Korea Lt. Cmdr. Fane conducted mine sweeping operations in Wonsam Harbor, trained British Commando Units and U.N. Forces in techniques of sabotage by use of explosives. Doug Fane was an important contributor to the development of using air SCUBA diving techniques in combat during the Korean War. Many of the non-conventional warfare developments from 1947 through 1951 by Fane and others were to be the basis for the future SEAL Teams. These techniques were accepted by Admirals Davis, Kirtland and Settle (who was Chief of Naval Operations). In 1950 a demonstration was held for the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (John Khoeler) and Admiral Momsen (inventor of the submarine escape apparatus) at the Taylor Model Basin and the Amphibious Base in Little Creek, VA. William (Bill) Hamilton had worked under Lt. Cmdr. Fane and they worked diligently on these concepts. Later, Hamilton carried the concepts, which evolved into the SEAL Teams. Lt. Cmdr. Fane returned to San Diego and was assigned to the UDT base in Coronado. Fane continued his research and development of advanced diving equipment for UDT. During this time, Lt. Cmdr. Fane shared his knowledge and experience in diving with two San Diego pioneering diving groups: the Bottom Scratchers (the first diving club in the United States) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The Bottom Scratchers were formed in 1933, diving with nothing but their bathing suits and breath-hold diving. Both the Bottom Scratchers and the UDT learned advanced free diving techniques from each other. Some of the early members of the Bottom Scratchers that worked with Lt. Cmdr. Fane included Jack Prodanovich, Wally Potts and Lomar Boren (who later became a world renowned underwater cinematographer). In the early 1950s, Lt. Cmdr. Fane also worked closely with several other pioneers in diving at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He introduced and trained several of the Scripps scientific divers how to use the Aqua-Lung and other types of diving equipment, plus diving techniques for underwater research. Among the early Scripps scientific divers first trained with the Aqua-Lung were Connie Limbaugh, Dr. Andreas Rechnitzer, Willard Bascom and Jim Stewart. All of these individuals went on to contribute greatly to diving and ocean research. Little did Doug Fane know that these scientific divers were to help form and train the first civilian SCUBA diving instructor program, the Los Angeles County Underwater Instructors Association, part of the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation. With the guidance of Limbaugh, Rechnitzer, Bascom and Stewart, the Los Angeles County Underwater Instructors Program was formed in 1954. Lt. Cmdr. Fane had planted the seeds of SCUBA diving into the scientific and sport diving communities. At a black tie gala dinner in Beverly Hills in 1994 to celebrate their 50th Anniversary, Fane received a special award for his valuable contribution to sport diving from the Los Angeles County Underwater Instructors Association. Ed Cargile presented special awards to Cmdr. Fane and Lloyd Bridges (for his work on the television series Sea Hunt). Also in the early 1950s Lt. Cmdr. Fane met Dr. Robert Fulton. He was working on a new parachute retrieval of personnel at the U.S. Navy Station in El Centro, CA. The project was called Sky Hook. A friend told Dr. Fulton he ought to visit Lt. Cmdr. Fane because he had some diver recovery “challenges” that Dr. Fulton might be able to help with. UDT divers were still using the arm hook boat pick up of single swimmers from WWII. Fane wanted to develop a method of picking up groups of swimmers at high speed. With Fane’s expert input, Dr. Fulton was able to come up with a method of using two small rubber boats connected by a line. The rubber boats were full of swimmers. A fast boat would snag the line between the rubber boats and reel them into the back of the pickup boat. Thus was born the “Fulton Pickup,” which is used today. In September 1952, an U.S. Air Force B-36 bomber crashed in the ocean off San Diego, CA. It was too deep for standard hard hat divers to carry out a wide search. Lt. Cmdr. Fane was asked to lead a team to locate the bomber and destroy the classified equipment on board. Using double SCUBA tanks filled with a tri-gas mix of helium-oxygen-nitrogen, Fane found the aircraft in 252 feet of water. This was deepest depth reached by any hard working SCUBA diver to that date. After placing underwater explosives in the bomber, he was directed by the support divers to decompress in the water. Fane was hit with the bends and had to go through a long, painful decompression process in the surface recompression chamber aboard the support ship. Because of this brush with death, in 1953 Lt. Cmdr. Fane began working with Navy Diving Medical Officers and Physiologists in developing mixed-gas diving and decompression schedules for SCUBA. Fane also continued his work with diver transport vehicles. He also began adapting electronics to diving, such as hand held sonar systems, pinger/receiver units and other underwater electronic equipment. In 1953 Lt. Cmdr. Fane was involved in the first dives under the Arctic Ice. He and his UDT developed techniques of diving in freezing water with SCUBA equipment. This was part of the DEW Line installed across the Arctic regions of North America to detect missiles launched from the Soviet Union. Fane helped develop several types of diver transport vehicles, including the modified Italian Seahorse and Trass submersibles. From 1952-1958, Lt. Cmdr. Fane challenged U.S. companies to develop a diver transport vehicle with better performance and capabilities than the British and Italian submersibles. During 1952-1955, Fane guided a gifted engineer (Calvin Congwer) at Aerojet-General in Southern California in developing the first U.S. diver transport vehicle, called Swimmer Propulsion Unit (SPU). Lt. Cmdr. Fane continued working with Congwer in developing a much more advanced submersible, the Minisub MK VII. Lt. Cmdr. Fane also worked with the renowned photographic engineer and diver, Demitri Rebikoff. They had originally met in France in 1947 when Rebikoff worked for Cousteau. After Rebikoff moved to the U.S., Fane helped Rebikoff develop the Pegasus diver transport vehicle for UDT operations. Fane helped Rebikoff in developing some very sophisticated underwater still photo and cinematography systems for hand-held shooting and submersible operation by mounting them on the Pegasus. Doug Fane was promoted to full Commander in 1953 and became the Commanding Officer of UDT 1 in Coronado, CA. He continued his development program of advanced diving equipment and operational procedures. In 1954, Fane took a UDT Team to Formosa (now Taiwan) to train the Nationalist Chinese frogman teams, and fought with them in the battle on Kinmen and Matsu Islands against the Communist Chinese. Lt. Cmdr. Fane received several decorations from the Republic of China for his training, leadership and bravery in combat. In 1954 Cmdr. Fane also did research and underwater cinematography of sharks near Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands. On one dive, Fane swam out of the shark cage to rip open a malfunctioning plastic bag that was supposed to release controlled amounts of pig blood. Within minutes, underwater still and cinematographers documented 115 sharks around Cmdr. Fane, which were counted on film. After the feeding frenzy was over, Fane was able to swim away as the sharks dispersed. During 1954-1958, Cmdr. Fane was Technical Advisor to motion picture producers for feature films involving the U.S. Navy. These films included Take Her Down (starring Ronald Reagan) and Francis Joins The Navy (starring Donald O’Connor). In 1956 he wrote and narrated television scripts for the films Assignment America and Kingdom of the Sea. Cmdr. Fane and Dan Moore wrote an excellent book about the UDT and his career, titled The Naked Warriors. The classic book was published in 1956 and was a great contribution to the documentation of the skillful and brave men of UDT during WWII and the Korean War. It also relates the development of advanced diving equipment under Cmdr. Fane's leadership. In 1957, MGM produced a feature movie based on Fane's book, called The Underwater Warriors. The movie starred Dan Dailey, (playing the role of Cmdr. Fane) and Zale Parry (Cmdr. Fane's wife in the film). Cmdr. Fane was Technical Consultant and played a small part in the film. Lt. Jon Lindbergh (the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and an officer in UDT 1 under Cmdr. Fane) and Alex Fane (Cmdr. Fane's son) also played in the film. This docudrama feature film was about the adventures of Cmdr. Doug Fane and the men of UDT during World War II and the Korean War. Ironically, Lamar Boren (from the Bottom Scratchers) was the underwater cinematographer on this and many other feature films about diving and the ocean. Doug Fane assisted Producer Ivan Tors in 1958 during the pilot of the television series for Sea Hunt. Fane provided script ideas, set layout, diving technology and prop design for the series. In 1958, Cmdr. Fane was Military Intelligence Advisor to the Republic of China. The Philadelphia Franklin Museum of Science produced a film documentary, SUBOPS, about the underwater photography and cinematography developed by Cmdr. Fane and Lt. Cmdr. Johnson. During his leadership in the U.S. Navy UDT, Cmdr. Fane had several individuals under his command who went on to become leaders in their own right within diving. Dick Bonin (co-founder and President of Scubapro and the Diving Equipment Manufacturing Association) and Jon Lindbergh (a renowned deep diver and ocean aquaculture expert) were both UDT officers with Cmdr. Fane. After a long, distinguished career in the U.S. Navy, Cmdr. Doug Fane retired from the U.S. Navy in 1960. Fane spent considerable time in Southeast Asia before and during the Vietnam War. As a correspondent for the Uchida Rokakuho Publishing House (1960-1968), Mutual Broadcasting Company (1968-1972), and The Mecklenburg Times covering Tokyo and the Far East, Cmdr. Fane gained considerable first-hand insight into the problems there. He was reported killed during the battle of Khe Sahn. But Red Dog Fane was far from dead. His energy level didn't allow him to idle his time. Doug Fane became Editor of The Asian Oceanologist (based in Japan), which reported on trade, political and military influences in the Far East. He was also a Consultant with Pacific Business Associates, Ltd., based in Japan and publisher of The Asian Oceanologist. His research and insight had a major influence with governments and companies around the world. While living in Japan, Cmdr. Fane taught at the Yokohama Gaigo Business College and became Dean of Faculty (1976-1978). Fane lectured throughout Japan. Cmdr. Fane has continued his writing about military combat diving operations. He has also been a military and political consultant for many years. Concurrently, he was Director of the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean Section of World Life Research (1962-1982). Doug Fane has ten children and a growing number of grand children and great grand children. A historic milestone in diving history occurred in November 1993. The UDT/SEAL Team 50th Anniversary celebrated at the UDT/SEAL Museum in Ft. Pierce, FL, site of the first U.S. Navy frogman training. The Anniversary festivities brought together some of the original members of the first frogman teams trained at Ft. Pierce in 1943, the Naval Combat Demolition Team and the early Underwater Demolition Teams. Many of Cmdr. Fane's old shipmates were there. Diving researchers Dr. Christen Lambertsen, Dimitri Rebikoff, Dr. Charlie Aquadro (the second UDT Diving Medical Officer), Ed Cargile and others attended the very special reunion. Many former and current members of the Navy SEAL Team were also present. The experiences shared by the Navy frogmen and the support research specialists was impressive. Another remarkable experience was bringing together Cmdr. Doug Fane, Zale Parry, Dick Bonin, Lloyd Bridges, Jean- Michel Cousteau, Chuck Blakeslee (co-founder of Skin Diver Magazine) and others at the DEMA 1994 Trade Show in New Orleans. During his long years of contributions to diving and the UDT, Cmdr. Doug Fane received many commendations and medals, including: Presidential Unit Citation (1944); Navy Unit Citation (1945); European Medal (1 star) (1945); Mediterranean Theater Medal (1 star) (1945); Asiatic-Pacific Medal (3 stars) (1945); Commendation For Bravery by Commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet (1948); Naval Commendation Medal (1956); Combat Service Medals with Stars for European, Pacific and Korean Wars; plus many other honors. Cmdr. Fane was awarded Commended by the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet for development of underwater techniques and bravery (1949); President of the Korean Veterans Association (1958); the Ambassador For Peace by General Con Hwan Kim (1982); Life Time Contribution Award from the Los Angeles County Underwater Instructors Association 40th Anniversary Celebration (1994); U.S. Special Operations Command Award from the U.S. Navy (2000); and others. As a civilian, Doug Fane has received numerous awards of recognition for his work. He is a 32nd-Degree Mason. Cmdr. Fane was an active member of numerous professional organizations: the Mensa Society, The Explorers Club, the American Defense Preparedness Society, the Union of Concerned Scientists, The American Film Society, the Military Order of the World Wars, Toastmasters International, Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, the National Research Council, U.S.A., the U.S. Navy Historical Society, the American Academy for Advancement of Science, and the U.S. Naval Institute. He has done extensive lecturing, including at the National War College, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, M.I.T., Stanford University, Columbia University, and California Technical Institute. Cmdr. Fane has written many articles and presented scientific papers at technical conferences. Cmdr. Fane continued his education for many years, including: Masters, Mates & Pilots School of Navigation (1936-1939); Peary School of Creative Literature, Coronado, CA (1948-1951); University of Maryland (1952-1960); a Doctorate in Political Science from Union University in Los Angeles, CA (1982); and others. Cmdr. Francis Douglas Fane (USNR) passed away peacefully on November 13, 2002, following complications from prostrate and column cancer.