A submersible is an underwater vehicle which needs to be transported and supported by a larger watercraft or platform. This distinguishes submersibles from submarines, which are self-supporting and capable of prolonged independent operation at sea.
A diver propulsion vehicle (DPV), also known as an underwater propulsion vehicle, sea scooter, underwater scooter, or swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV) by armed forces, is an item of diving equipment used by scuba divers to increase range underwater. Range is restricted by the amount of breathing gas that can be carried, the rate at which that breathing gas is consumed, and the battery power of the DPV. Time limits imposed on the diver by decompression requirements may also limit safe range in practice. DPVs have recreational, scientific and military applications.
A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, from which they are launched and recovered and which provide living accommodation for the crew and support staff.
Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of diver propulsion vehicle on which the diver rides, generally in a seated position behind a fairing. They were used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic concept is still in use.
A deep-submergence vehicle (DSV) is a deep-diving crewed submersible that is self-propelled. Several navies operate vehicles that can be accurately described as DSVs. DSVs are commonly divided into two types: research DSVs, which are used for exploration and surveying, and DSRVs, which are intended to be used for rescuing the crew of a sunken navy submarine, clandestine (espionage) missions, or both. DSRVs are equipped with docking chambers to allow personnel ingress and egress via a manhole.
Mir was a class of two self-propelled deep-submergence vehicles. The project was initially developed by the USSR Academy of Sciences along with Lazurit Central Design Bureau, and two vehicles were ordered from Finland. The Mir-1 and Mir-2, delivered in 1987, were designed and built by the Finnish company Rauma-Repola's Oceanics subsidiary. The project was carried out under the supervision of constructors and engineers of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology.
DSV-4 is a 25-ton, crewed deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy, now known only by its hull number, not by its former name.
The Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) was a midget submarine operated by the United States Navy and United States Special Operations Command. It provided stealthy submerged transportation for United States Navy SEALs from the decks of nuclear submarines for use as an insertion platform for covert and clandestine special operations missions. The ASDS was canceled in 2009 due to cost overruns and reliability issues, after the prototype was destroyed in a fire in 2008. As of 2019, the Navy plans to replace the ASDS with the Dry Combat Submersible, a similar midget submarine being developed by Lockheed Martin.
A personal submarine is a submarine, usually privately funded and constructed, which is usually primarily intended for recreational use.
The Motorised Submersible Canoe (MSC), nicknamed Sleeping Beauty, was built by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War as an underwater vehicle for a single frogman to perform clandestine reconnaissance, such as the SAS, or attacks against enemy vessel.
Cheyenne, formerly known as PlayStation is a large catamaran created for the 2000 around the world race known as The Race. Like its competitors, Cheyenne was created for sheer speed, pushing the state of the art in materials, construction, and operation. PlayStation was skippered and owned by Steve Fossett. It is owned by and operated by Virgin Oceanic's co-founder Chris Welsh.
Pisces-class submersibles are three-person research deep-submergence vehicles designed and built by Hyco International Hydrodynamics of North Vancouver in British Columbia with a maximum operating depth of 2,000 m (6,560 ft). The vehicles have multiple view ports and sample collecting, environmental sensing, and instrument placement capabilities. The pressure hull has a 7 ft (2.1 m) inside diameter and is made of HY-100 steel with three forward-looking acrylic windows, 6 in (15 cm) in diameter. Designed by Allan Trice, the Pisces series of submersibles were representative of crewed submersibles built in the late 1960s and were proven workhorses in offshore exploration and oceanographic research. Pisces II was the first production model of the design and was completed in 1968, with nine more Pisces submarines built before the manufacturer went out of business in the late 1970s.
The DeepFlight Super Falcon is a personal submarine designed by Graham Hawkes, a former civilian ocean engineer. It was hoped that the technology used in this submersible would allow travel to the deepest parts of the ocean.
Graham Hawkes is a London-born marine engineer and submarine designer. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Hawkes designed 70% of the crewed submersibles produced in those two decades. As late as 2007, he held the world solo dive record of 910 metres (2,990 ft) in the submarine Deep Rover.
Deep Diver was the name of a deep-sea scientific research submersible designed by Edwin Albert Link. Deep Diver was the first small submersible designed for lockout diving, allowing divers to leave and enter the craft while underwater. It was first launched in January 1966.
The Johnson Sea Link accident was a June 1973 incident that claimed the lives of two divers. During a seemingly routine dive off Key West, the submersible Johnson Sea Link was trapped for over 24 hours in the wreckage of the destroyer USS Fred T. Berry, which had been sunk to create an artificial reef. Although the submersible was eventually recovered by the rescue vessel A.B. Wood II, two of the four occupants died of carbon dioxide poisoning: 31-year-old Edwin Clayton Link and 51-year-old diver Albert Dennison Stover. The submersible's pilot, Archibald "Jock" Menzies, and ichthyologist Robert Meek survived. Over the next two years, Edwin Link designed an unmanned Cabled Observation and Rescue Device (CORD) that could free a trapped submersible.
OceanGate Inc. is an American privately owned company based in Everett, Washington, that provided crewed submersibles for tourism, industry, research, and exploration. The company was founded in 2009 by Stockton Rush and Guillermo Söhnlein.
MV Odyssey is a 56-meter research and exploration vessel that facilitates a wide range of diving, submersible and aerial operations. The ship has recently been used by OCEEF, under the name Alucia and was previously utilized by initiative OceanX for ocean exploration, research and filming missions. She is now on Charter to the InkFish group and going into refit shortly.
The Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) is a midget submarine delivered to USSOCOM by Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin were nominated as the prime contractor with Submergence Group as the sub contractor. DCS is designed for use by the United States Navy SEALs for insertion on special operations missions. It will replace the canceled Advanced SEAL Delivery System and will serve alongside the Shallow Water Combat Submersible.
Titan, previously named Cyclops 2, was a submersible created and operated by the American underwater-tourism company OceanGate. It was the first privately-owned submersible with a claimed maximum depth of 4,000 m (13,000 ft), and the first completed crewed submersible with a hull constructed of titanium and carbon fiber composite materials.
OceanGate, Inc. 