Willard Franklyn Searle

Capt. Willard Franklyn "Bill" Searle Jr. USN (ret.) (January 17, 1924 – March 31, 2009) was an American ocean engineer who was principally responsible for developing equipment and many of the current techniques utilized in United States Navy diving and salvage operations.

Background Searle was born January 17, 1924, in Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from Bexley High School in 1941 and received the school's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1992. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor occurred during his first year at Washington and Lee University prompting a transfer to the US Naval Academy where he graduated in 1945 (Class of 1946).

Searle then served two years as Chief Engineer on the USS Providence before attending the Command and Staff Course of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1961. Speaking on the H-bomb recovery, Searle noted that "When you think about what we did, it had never been done before".

In 1968, Searle co-authored the first National Oil and Hazardous Materials Pollution Contingency Plan.

Searle participated in SEALAB III, working with Dr. John Piña Craven, the U.S. Navy's head of the Deep Submergence Systems Project.

The Legion of Merit was awarded to Searle on February 24, 1970, by RADM Maurice H. Rindskopf with a citation that states "... CAPT Searle contributed more than any other individual since World War II to the high state of readiness which now exists in the Navy's salvage and diving organization.".

Civilian career Following his retirement in 1970, Searle founded a consulting firm, Searle Consortium Int. In 1971, Searle served as a special consultant in charge of removing shipwrecks from waterways during United Nations operations in Bangladesh.

Searle was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society of Naval Engineers, the Marine Technology Society, the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, and the Society of American Military Engineers. Searle helped found the American Institute of Nautical Archaeology. He also chaired the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Committee to develop a standard addressing pressure vessels for human occupancy.

Searle became a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1982.

The Harold E. Saunders Award was presented to Searle by the American Society of Naval Engineers in 1985.

Searle was awarded the 1986 Lockheed Martin Award for Ocean Science and Engineering by the Marine Technology Society.

In 1988, Special Recognition was awarded by the Undersea Medical Society for his continuing support of physiological and medical research in undersea development.

Death Searle died March 31, 2009, at his home in Alexandria, Virginia, of complications from Parkinson's disease.