DATE: Monday, March 17, 1997                TAG: 9703150069

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Larry Maddry 

                                            LENGTH:   91 lines

NAVY SCUTTLES CONDOM-POWERED SUBMARINE

THE FAMOUS NAVY COMMANDER James Lawrence uttered his immortal phrase about not giving up the ship while aboard the Chesapeake in 1813.

And Calvin Wilkerson, the mini-submarine inventor from Ocracoke, N.C., is not only refusing to give up his vessel, he refuses to change its name.

His craft is named the Condomed Nautilus. And Wilkerson cannot understand why the U.S. Navy refuses to allow the 13-foot-long submarine to enter the International Submarine Races in Solomons, Md. in June.

He has received a letter rejecting his application from the ISR's executive director Nancy R. Hussey.

In the letter Hussey notes the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Carderock Division is host of the event. Hussey writes:

``It is my understanding that as host of the event, their policy is that there can be:

``No display of anything that can be considered illegal, offensive, in bad taste or in violation of Department of Defense or Department of the Navy policy. The Center reserves the exclusive right to determine what fits into this category.''

Wilkerson's Condomed Nautilus participated last summer in the prestigious World Submarine Invitational sponsored by Scripps Institute of Oceanography at La Jolla, Calif. His 3-foot-wide sub is made of of Kevlar tubes and resembles a long barrel.

During the competition in California he powered the flooded craft while laying face down, breathing with scuba gear while using his feet to push pedals linked to rollers.

The rollers squeezed the condoms (42 of them), squirting water to the rear. During the contest he modified the propulsion, using a heavier gauge latex rather than condoms.

He entered his 280-pound submarine in the human-powered sub category for the Solomons races.

But the Navy apparently believes the submarine is either offensive or in bad taste. Wilkerson finds that attitude both disappointing and confounding.

``The military has stated publicly that it is pursuing a policy of safe sex,'' he said. ``I don't know how they can teach it if they are not willing to discuss condoms and are discouraging the use of the word.''

The sub's builder said he does not intend to pass out condoms or written materials at the race.

But Wilkerson concedes his message is just as important as participation in human-powered submarine races.

``I have had friends who died from AIDS,'' he said. ``People's lives depend on discussing condoms and using them.'' He showed me a photo of his infant granddaughter beside the submarine.

One of Wilkerson's admirers is Dr. Martin Gorosh, clinical professor of public health at Columbia University School of Public Health and the Center for Population and Family Health.

Gorosh noted that in May of last year The New York Times had reported a Defense Department survey which found only 40 percent of sexually active unmarried personnel used a condom at their last sexual encounter.

Gorosh said Wilkerson's sub is a design and engineering triumph and ``a clear message on the importance of safe sex.''

Somehow the race sponsors never got the message. And race director Jerry Rovner declined to discuss the reasons behind the application's rejection. He ``The (Hussey) letter speaks for itself,'' he said.

Oddly, one of Wilkerson's advisors for his sub's competitions is retired Navy Capt. Jim Stubstadt, a California resident considered one of the world's leading authorities on human-powered underwater vehicles. Wilkerson has sought Stubstadt's advice on design modifications.

``I believe Calvin's sub meets all of the qualifications for the Solomons races,'' Stubstadt said.

Wilkerson, who currently is managing a construction project at Langley Air Force Base, is a tinkerer. He has invented, among other things, a canteen that can be drunk from while wearing a gas mask, and a boat that can be used as an oil containment boom.

He built the submarine in his back yard at Ocracoke at a cost of about $10,000. Although he could not complete the races in the Scripps Institute contest - the plexiglass nose fell off the craft - he claims he was ahead of the world speed record before that mishap which resulted in his vessel's disqualification.

But he attracted attention at the race and received write-ups in New Scientist Magazine, a British publication, and California newspapers. One writer described the submarine as resembling ``a big, blue sea slug.'' He was also asked to submit a paper and address the San Diego chapter of a society of naval architects and marine engineers.a

Wilkerson noted that the water squeezed from the vessel's condoms pushed it forward in the same way the nautilus - a chambered mollusk - propels itself through water. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Calvin Wilkerson

Above: Calvin Wilkerson with his submarine last March.

B/W photo

LEFT: The sub in a test run.

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