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History | |
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Name | Trieste II |
Builder | Mare Island Naval Shipyard |
Completed | 1964 |
In service | 1 September 1969 |
Out of service | 1980 |
Reclassified |
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Fate | Preserved at the Naval Undersea Museum |
General characteristics | |
Type | Deep-submergence vehicle |
Displacement | 46 long tons (47 t) |
Length | 67 ft (20 m) |
Beam | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
Draft | 12 ft 5 in (3.78 m) |
Test depth | 20,000 ft (6,100 m) |
Complement | 2 |
Trieste II(DSV-1) was the United States Navy's first bathyscaphe purchased from its Swiss designers, and the successor to Trieste.
The original Trieste design was heavily modified by the Naval Electronics Laboratory in San Diego, California and built at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Trieste II incorporated the original Terni, Italian-built sphere used in Trieste, after it was made redundant by the new high-pressure sphere cast by the German Krupp Steelworks. The Trieste sphere was suspended from an entirely new float, more seaworthy and streamlined than the original, but operating on identical principles. Completed in early 1964, Trieste II was placed on board USNS Francis X. McGraw (T-AK241) and shipped, via the Panama Canal, to Boston. [1]
Commanded by Lt Comdr. John B. Mooney Jr., with co-pilot Lt. John H. Howland and Capt. Frank Andrews, Trieste II conducted dives in the vicinity of the loss site of Thresher – operations commenced by the first Trieste the year before. She recovered bits of wreckage, positively fixing the remains as that of the lost Thresher, in September 1964.
Between September 1965 and May 1966, Trieste II again underwent extensive modification and conversion at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, but there is no clear record that she was ever operated in that new configuration, i.e., the addition of skegs or outriggers on both sides of the sphere.
During that same time period, work was under way on a third configuration of the bathyscaphe. This work resulted in yet a new appearance for the Trieste II, and included the installation of a new pressure sphere, designed for operation to 20,000 feet (6,100 m).
As the bathyscaphe continued her operations as a test vehicle for the deep submergence program, she qualified four officers as "hydronauts" – the beginning of a burgeoning oceanographic operation. Trieste II's valuable experience in deep submergence operations has helped in the design and construction of other deep-diving submersibles which could be used in rescuing crews and recovering objects from submarines in distress below levels reachable by conventional methods.
This unique craft was listed only as "equipment" in the Navy inventory until the autumn of 1969. On 1 September 1969, Trieste II was placed in service, with the hull number X-1. She was reclassified as a deep submergence vehicle (DSV) on 1 June 1971.
On 25 April 1972, Trieste II recovered a satellite package called a "bucket" weighing several hundred pounds from a depth of greater than 16,000 feet (4,900 m), a record at the time. [2] Trieste II (DSV-1) continued her active service in the Pacific Fleet into 1980.
The Trieste class DSV were replaced by the Alvin class DSV, as exemplified by the famous Alvin (DSV-2). The Alvins are more capable, more maneuverable, less fragile, but also can not dive as deep, reaching only a maximum of 20,000 feet (6,100 m) (for the Sea Cliff (DSV-4)).[ citation needed ]
Trieste II is now preserved as a museum ship at the Naval Undersea Museum, Keyport, Washington.
Trieste is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe. In 1960, it became the first crewed vessel to reach the bottom of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in Earth's seabed. The mission was the final goal for Project Nekton, a series of dives conducted by the United States Navy in the Pacific Ocean near Guam. The vessel was piloted by Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh. They reached a depth of about 10,916 metres (35,814 ft).
Alvin (DSV-2) is a crewed deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The original vehicle was built by General Mills' Electronics Group in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Named to honor the prime mover and creative inspiration for the vehicle, Allyn Vine, Alvin was commissioned on June 5, 1964.
USS Thresher (SSN-593) was the lead boat of her class of nuclear-powered attack submarines in the United States Navy. She was the U.S. Navy's second submarine to be named after the thresher shark.
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The Deep Submergence Insignia is a uniform breast pin worn by officers, both men and women of the United States Navy's submarine service who are qualified in submarines and have completed one year of regular assignment to a crewed or uncrewed deep submersible. The badge was first approved on 6 April 1981.
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A deep-submergence rescue vehicle (DSRV) is a type of deep-submergence vehicle used for rescue of personnel from disabled submarines and submersibles. While DSRV is the term most often used by the United States Navy, other nations have different designations for their equivalent vehicles.
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DSRV-1Mystic is a deep-submergence rescue vehicle that is rated to dive up to 5,000 feet. It was built by Lockheed for the US Navy at a construction cost of $41 million and launched 24 January 1970. It was declared fully operational in 1977 and named Mystic. The Mystic or the Avalon could be deployed to rescue survivors of a disabled submarine.
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