I just got this from a friend in another forum.  Strike, I thought you might
find this particularly interesting.

Lee

Learned this morning that Cmdr. Francis Douglas Fane (USNR) passed away
last Wednesday, the 13th, from prostate and colon cancer.

Fane was a pioneer in military combat diving, a leader of the U.S. Navy
Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), helped prevent disbanding the UDT,
and developed much of the tech diving equipment and techniques used
today. He saw in combat in the Aleutian Islands, Sicily, the Marshall
Islands, the Marinas, New Guinea and Korea.

Fane led development of UDT diver lockout from submarines, use of diver
transport vehicles, closed-circuit breathing systems, underwater
navigation techniques, trimix and other innovations.

Fane was Senior UDT Officer in Korea during 1951-1952.  He led several
hazardous missions in South Korea, and behind the lines in North Korea
and 60 miles up the Chinese border. Under Fane, UDT perfected their
skills in guerrilla warfare and use of explosives for
sabotage.

During the early 1950s, Fane worked closely with early scientific diving
pioneers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Fane taught them about
various aspects of diving, including the proper use of the new Aqua-Lung
Scuba System.

Fane helped UDT incorporate parachute jumping as another combat
insertion means. Fane and Dr. Robert Fulton developed the Fulton Pickup
for diving boats to recover divers from the water at high speed.

Recognizing the need for qualified diving medical support, Fane added
Dr. Charles Aquadro to his UDT.  Their collaboration greatly advanced
diving with air, oxygen, heliox and trimix.

In 1952, a USAF B-36 bomber crashed off San Diego, CA.  Fane used trimix
to make the 252-foot dive using scuba, and successfully blew up
classified equipment aboard the B-36.

Fane worked with Calvin Congwer, an engineer at Aerojet-General in Los
Angeles, to develop diver transport vehicles including the Swimmer
Propulsion Unit (SPU) and the Minisub MK VII.  Lt. Cmdr. Fane also
worked with Dimitri Rebikoff to incorporate the Rebikoff Pegasus diver
transport vehicle into UDT.

Fane and his UDT divers were involved in the first dives under the
Arctic ice using air scuba during 1953.  This was part of the DEW Line
across North America, to detect missiles launched from the Soviet Union.

In 1956 Fane and Dan Moore wrote an excellent book about the UDT during
World War II and the Korean War, titled The Naked Warriors.

Fane retired in 1960 but his vision was realized with the foundation of
the U.S. Navy SEAL Team, which was formally launched in January 1962 by
President Kennedy.

Fane died three days short of his 93rd birthday.