Dr. Robert G. Williscroft's Page

Robert Williscroft at the Los Angeles Adventurers' Club

Dr. Robert G. Williscroft

Adventurer • Polar Explorer • Deep Sea Diver
Nuclear Submariner • Scientist • Author

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WEDDING BELLS

SHIPBOARD ASSIGNMENTS

On November 19, 2011, Jill Steele Mayer and I were married at the Los Angeles Adventurers’ Club. This was the first ever marriage at this venerable organization. About fifty Club members, friends and Jill’s family members attended on this rainy Saturday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles.

The ceremony was neary flawless, and several members and guests told me afterward that it was the "best" wedding ceremony they had ever witnessed.

Click on the picture for further information and to watch a video of the ceremony.

NOAA Ship Surveyor (S-132)	1978-1980 – Navigator, Diving Officer, Officer-of-the-Deck. I joined Surveyor on her commencement of OCSEAP – Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program. For 2 years, we conducted baseline research throughout the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea, penetrating the ice pack at every opportunity.
NOAA Ship Oceanographer (R-101)	1977-1978 – Officer-of-the-Deck & Diving Officer. I transferred my commission from the Navy to NOAA, and joined the crew of Oceanographer conducting manganese nodule research along the Equator in the Central Pacific.

SOUTH POLE WINTER-OVER 1981-1982

USS Pigeon
(ASR 21)

USS Ortolan
(ASR 22)

1975-1976 – Navigator, Operations Officer, Saturation Diving Officer & First Lieutenant.
I transferred from Ortolan to Pigeon in San Diego, and from there to the Test Operations Group as Officer in Charge, conducting deep ocean surveillance as part of operation Ivy Bells.

1974-1975 – Navigator, Operations Officer, Saturation Diving Officer
I joined the Ortolan commissioning crew in Philadelphia following a year of diver training leading up to my certification as a Saturation Diving Officer. Ortolan was a specially designed catamaran submarine rescue ship and mother ship for the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles.

USS Von Steuben
(SSBN 632)

1970-1972 – (Blue Crew) Communications & Assistant Weapons Officer.
I joined Von Steuben out of Poseidon Weapons Officer School following graduation from University of Washington with a BS in Marine & Atmospheric Physics. After 4 patrols, I departed in 1972 for the Defense Language Institute in El Paso to study Vietnamese.

Spend a year with me at the Geographic South Pole. I was in charge of National Science Foundation atmospheric science projects at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station for thirteen months between 1981 and 1982. Watch a slideshow covering the entire stay, and click here for a photo gallery from the South Pole as it was back then. The South Polar Plateau is endlessly flat and empty. We made a t-shirt that read: "Ski the South Pole...3 inches of powder and 10,000 feet of base." This photo shows that endlessness, with the actual Pole inside the circle of flags.

IN THE HIGH ARCTIC 1978-1980

USS John Marshall
(SSBN 611)

1963-1965 – (Blue Crew) Sub Sonar Tech.
I joined John Marshall out of Enlisted Submarine School in 1963 as a newly minted Submarine Sonar Tech 3rd Class. After 5 patrols, I departed in 1965 for Sonar Class "B" School in Key West, followed by University of Washington under NESEP – the Navy Enlisted Scientific Education Program.

In the Bering Sea Ice Pack
(click for larger photos)

I spent the months between 1978 and 1980 in the Bering Sea conducting research with the Outer Continental Shelf Environment Assessment Program (OCSEAP). Our purpose was to establish a biological and ecological baseline for the region...before the first oil spill, we used to joke. Watch a slideshow of an OCSEAP season in the Bering Sea.

RECENT BOOKS

INTERVIEWS

The Chicken Little Agenda:
Debunking “Experts’” Lies

Starman Jones:
A Relativity Birthday Present

Click here to listen to Robert Williscroft's interviews
(Scroll down to the interview section)

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