Team

 L. Bruce Jones, CEO

Bruce grew up living on heavy marine construction platforms in the South China Sea and the Persian Gulf. He learned to dive at the age of nine under the jacket of an oil tanker terminal seven miles off of Kuwait. His first jobs were in the marine construction business and usually involved diving or operating a boat. He had the opportunity to travel extensively from a very young age and has visited over 110 countries. Bruce attended high school at Culver Military Academy and it was there that he began sketching submarines and underwater habitats and writing letters to Jacques Cousteau.

Bruce was formerly the President of L. Bruce Jones & Associates, Ltd., the leading technical and business development consulting firm on the tourist submersible industry. The firm published both Passenger Submarines: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Submarine Tour Industry, as well as the periodic newsletter Viewports. The company also developed business plans on a consulting basis for a wide array of marine and undersea leisure related businesses. In 1993 Bruce co-founded U.S. Submarines, Inc. and today U.S. Submarines is the undisputed world leader in its field.

Bruce is an expert in all aspects of manned submersibles and tourist submarines. Over the past 22 years he has consulted for most of the companies active, or interested in, this field and he has evaluated all the major civil submersible and submarine designs and has been responsible for tourist submarine related business development, capital acquisition, and operational start-ups. He has conceived and co-designed several personal luxury submarines as well.

He has carried out extensive site feasibility surveys in the Caribbean, Pacific, Atlantic and the Med. For eight years Bruce was the Chairman of the Manned Submersibles Committee of the Marine Technology Society, and he is a review panel member of the Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers — U.S. Coast Guard Submersible Safety Panel. He is an appointed member to The American Bureau of Shipping’s Special Committee on Underwater Systems & Vehicles.

Bruce holds a degree in Geological Science from Trinity University and he did further graduate work in that field at the University of Washington. He attended the Executive MBA program at St. Mary’s University. He was at one time one of the world’s leading research gemologists and he holds substantial credentials in that field (G.G., F.G.A., DGemG) and he continues gem research and precision gem cutting as avocations. He was formerly the President of Pacific Gemological Services, the Vice President of Research and Education at AGMS and the CEO of Air Shuttle, Inc.

He was recently a member of the Board of Directors of the Aviation Technology Group (www.avtechgroup.com). Bruce is a fixed wing, helicopter and ultralight pilot. He is also an experienced diver and submersible pilot and a former U.S. National Skydiving champion.

Patrick J. Lahey, President

Patrick J. Lahey was recently operations manager for U.S. Submarines, Inc. and was formerly a principal of L. Bruce Jones & Associates, Ltd. He is one of the world’s most experienced submersible pilots.

Prior to joining U.S. Submarines he was employed by Atlantis Research Submersibles (formerly Research Submersibles Limited) and Atlantis Submarines International for six years.  He was responsible for the establishment of deep-diving tourist submersible operations in Rota CNMI, and St. Croix, USVI, and he operated vehicles at these locations as well as in Grand Cayman and Barbados. Additionally, he was involved in the installation, construction and start-up of the Atlantis III operation in St. Thomas, USVI, as well as the testing and calibration of all electrical and electronic systems in both Atlantis IX and Atlantis X during their construction in 1991. He also consulted with Atlantis during the construction of Atlantis XII and Atlantis XIV in 1993.

Prior to his involvement in the tourist submersible industry, he was employed for six years by numerous companies in the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific and the North Sea as a deep submersible pilot. Mr. Lahey has piloted over 20 submersibles and is qualified to operate all Perry-class vehicles, all Atlantis tourist submersibles, all Mantis/Duplus atmospheric diving systems and numerous remotely operated vehicles. He was a participant in the space shuttle Challenger recovery effort while at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute using JSL-I and JSL-II aboard the R/V Seaward Johnson and Edwin Link.

Recently Mr. Lahey has completed constructing the 4-passenger deep submersible aboard the yacht Mystere and was in charge of the ground up reconstruction of the high speed sport yacht Global 1, now owned by Bernie Little. Mr. Lahey was the Project Manager for the reconstruction of the 48-passenger tourist submarine, Looking Glass and he was in charge of the complete refit of two deep submersibles belonging to James Cameron, the Director of Titanic. Mr. Lahey is a fully qualified saturation diver and electronics technician. He has specialized in site development, pilot training and is well versed in all the technical aspects of manned submersibles. He has designed and developed complex submersible systems, authored operation, maintenance and training manuals and was one of the first seven USCG-certified submersible pilots.

At Triton Submarines LLC Mr. Lahey is the senior on site executive and is responsible for day-to-day operations at Triton’s Vero Beach facility where he manages the construction of all Triton submarines.

Paul Moorhouse, Consulting Engineer

Paul P. Moorhouse is Triton Submarines’ principal consulting engineer. Mr. Moorhouse’s career in submarine engineering began at Rolls Royce, where he was involved with the design and construction of nuclear submarines for the British Navy. He left that position to start his own firm, Marlin Engineering.  Marlin Engineering designed, engineered and fully manufactured two diesel electric submarines for the Swedish Navy. These submarines, the Marlin S-101 and Marlin S-102, are two-man vessels that, even today, offer significantly more autonomy than any comparably sized submersible vehicle. Intended principally for anti-submarine warfare operations, they have also been used for archaeological exploration and salvage.

Mr. Moorhouse also completed several other submarines: recently he designed a 4-passenger submersible that operates from a luxury yacht, and he has completed construction of on a 500 meter capable diesel electric submarine for a Portuguese marine science foundation as well as a 1000 foot capable acryic-hulled diesel electric submarine. He has recently completed a series of small, highly advanced and capable military submarines for special forces and advanced surveillance work. He has designed six different submarine models for U.S. Submarines and is, without question, the most experienced designer of civilian diesel electric submarines in the world today.

Mr. Moorhouse’s experience in practical engineering that considers construction, operation and maintenance as well as his innovative approach to submersible design makes him one of the world’s most successful submarine designers. Mr. Moorhouse holds an HND degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Derby College of Technology.

John Ramsay, Principal Engineer

With a background in Mechanical Engineering, John Ramsay was introduced to submersibles working as a design engineer for the UK Submarine Rescue Team. Using a combination of advanced 3D CAD and traditional engineering methodologies, John has since worked as a senior design engineer on several submersibles, generating concepts and undertaking their development through design, engineering & class certification.

Jarl Stromer, Engineering Manager

Jarl is responsible for managing processes and documentation related to the design, engineering, research, and development activities of the company. Previously employed by the American Bureau of Shipping as senior engineer in charge of underwater systems and vehicles, he now also has the task of dealing with all classification, certification, and regulatory issues.

Dave Norquist, Pilot, Fluid and Mechanical Systems Specialist

Upon graduation form the University of Hawaii Dave Norquist went to work for the Naval Undersea Research Laboratory. In 1980 he began a six-year stint at University of Hawaii where he operated the deep submersible Makalii. In 1986 he began work as a pilot and technician on the deep submersibles Johnson SeaLink I&II as well as former PC-1204, Clelia. He has worked on the rebuilds of a wide range of tourist submarines and deep submersibles of all types and is instrumental in the completion of each Triton build.

Greg Kennedy, Electrical and Electronics Engineer

Gregory Kennedy is the Electrical Systems Engineer for Triton. Greg’s 30+ years experience in the Oceanographic Industry offers a broad range of capabilities in the realm of submersibles.

During his 27 year employment at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Inc., located in Fort Pierce, Florida, Greg was instrumental in the research, design and development of numerous electronic systems for propulsion, instrumentation, robotics and telemetry. He has contributed to several technical publications, presented papers at regional Oceans Conferences and holds 2 U.S. Patents related to electronic motor control. Greg also offers experience in the semi-conductor, aerospace and cable television industry.

Mike Camp, Mechanical Engineer

Mike Camp began his career working as a welder and machinist on Navy fleet submarines in Groton, CT and then went on to earn a degree in Ocean Engineering. He subsequently joined the submersible operations department at Harbor Branch where he worked on the Johnson SeaLinks and after five years he transferred to the engineering department. Mike has worked on a wide array of tourist submarines and deep submersibles and spent significant time on the Deep Rovers used to shoot “Aliens of the Deep.”

Jim Harris, Operations, Pilot and Electrical/Electronic Systems Specialist

Jim Harris has been in the marine industry over 25 years. He is a career Captain, marine electrician and submersible pilot. He spent nine years with Atlantis Adventures, Oahu where he logged over 4500 dives on tourist subs. He also participated in the construction of seven submersibles, TS XIV (64 passenger), TS XI (48 passenger) “Pagoo” (1200’ 10 person sub), two Triton 3300/3’s and two Triton 1000/2s. Jim is a licensed Master 500 grt with USCG, MCA, and Cayman Islands. He also holds the USCG Master of Submersible license.

Marc Deppe, Vice President Sales and Marketing

Marc has a background in sales, real estate investment and portfolio management.  He has considerable experience in financial modeling and in capitalizing start up and growth phase companies.

Troy Engen, Operations, Pilot and Mechanical Systems Specialist

Troy is one of the most experienced submersible pilots in the world.  With over 10,000 dives completed, he may well THE most experienced.  Troy has extensive experience in submersible design, manufacture and maintenance.  He is the shop foreman at Triton.

Margaret Gergen, Office Manager

Margaret is Triton’s accountant and lead administrator.  She has an extensive background in bookkeeping and accounting as well as electronics prototyping.

Jim Sullivan, Electrical/Electronic Technician and Subsea Tooling Specialist

Jim Sullivan grew up in and on the water in South Florida, and has been involved in undersea projects for almost his entire life. He specializes in installing and maintaining electronic systems on underwater vehicles, such as communcations, navigation, video, and sampling systems. He has worked on several manned subs, ROV systems, and AUV systems. The bulk of his career has been spent helping oceanographic research scientists collect information using state of the art undersea tools.

Dave “Sparky” Ahlgreen, Electrical/Electronic Technician

Prior to coming to Triton, Dave was residential and commercial electrician.

John Englehardt, Mechanical Technician

John used to be a land developer until the real estate collapse.  He assists in general duties in the shop and handles transportation for the company.

Colin Quigley, Mechanical Technician

Colin performs a variety of duties at Triton including assisting in assembly and operations.  Prior to joining Triton, Colin had been a residential and commercial painter for over 20 years.

Matt Youney, Electrical/Electronic Engineer and Software Development Specialist

Matt is a designer of control and monitoring systems and related hardware and software.  He also designs electric and hybrid vehicle control systems and battery systems as well as automated machine control systems.  Matt has worked as a senior controls engineer as well as a robotics engineer for some of the most largest automation companies in the world, designing some of the most advanced machinery.  Has has owned and operated a successful business designing custom machine and vehicle control systems since 1998.  Matt has been designing the control and monitoring systems for Triton since 2008.

Ed Hoefing, Pilot and Electrical/Electronic Specialist

Ed has worked on over a dozen submersible projects as a pilot, technician, certification consultant and operations consultant.  Ed is also a seasoned commercial/technical diver and has training and experience with submersible robotics.

Tony Norris, Mechanical Technician

Tony is a veteran of the US Army where he served as a combat engineer specializing in demolitions.  After leaving the armed forces, Tony returned to Port St. Lucie and began installing irrigation systems.  Tony joined the Triton team in 2011 and is a capable and welcome addition.