Trieste-class bathyscaphes ;
FNRS-2 : The first bathyscaphe, developed by Swiss engineer
Auguste Piccard and named after the
Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS), the funding organization for the venture. FNRS also funded the
FNRS-1, a balloon that set a world altitude record, also built by Piccard. This bathyscaphe consisted of a gasoline filled float, 22 feet long and 10 feet wide, and oval shaped. Gasoline being less dense than water, would provide buoyancy for when the bathyscaphe needed to rise to the surface. The ovular float was divided into six tanks for holding gasoline, having a combined total of 6,600 gallons. ; '
DSV-1 X-2 Trieste II
' : An updated bathyscaphe design, it participated in clandestine missions.
Trieste II was retired in 1984.
Alvin-class submersibles Originally designed for operation, and initially built to a similar design, Alvin and her sister submersibles have been subsequently, independently upgraded. Utilizing
syntactic foam, these submersibles were more compact and maneuverable than earlier
bathyscaphes like
Trieste, although not as deep diving. ;
DSV-2 Alvin : Launched in June 1964 with an initial depth capability of ; rebuilt in 1973 to . Owned by the
United States Navy and operated under secondment by the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) where it conducts science-oriented missions funded by the
National Science Foundation (NSF),
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the
Office of Naval Research (ONR).
Alvin operates from
R/V Atlantis, an
AGOR-23 class vessel owned by the ONR and operated by WHOI under a charter party agreement. In 2004, the
National Science Foundation funded a capable replacement for Alvin, however the key components, such as a new titanium personnel hull, and funding were used to substantially rebuild Alvin in 2011 and 2020 instead. In 2022, Alvin was certified for 6,500 m operations. ;
DSV-3 Turtle :
Alvins identical sibling, launched in December 1968 and retired 1998. Owned and operated by the United States Navy. ;
DSV-4 Sea Cliff : Another
Alvin-class DSV sub, launched in December 1968, retired in 1998, and returned to active service in September 2002. Since 1981,
Sea Cliff has a depth capability of , ;
DSV-5 Nemo : Another
Alvin-class DSV sub, launched in June 1970 and retired in 1998. Owned and operated by the United States Navy.
Star-class DSV ;
Star II ;
Star III Both
Star II and
Star III were built by General Dynamics
Electric Boat Division in Groton, Connecticut. Both were launched on May 3, 1966, and were used for civilian research.
NR-1–class DSVN ;
NR-1 : a decommissioned US Navy nuclear powered research and clandestine DSV submarine, which could roll on the seabed using large balloon wheels.
Aluminaut ;
Aluminaut : a DSV made completely of aluminum by the
Reynolds Metals Aluminum Company, for the US Navy, once held the submarine deep diving record. It is no longer operational.
Deepsea Challenger ;
Deepsea Challenger : a DSV made by the Acheron Project Pty Ltd, has reached
Challenger Deep, the world's deepest seabed.
Limiting Factor during sea trials A submersible commissioned by
Caladan Oceanic and designed and built by
Triton Submarines of Sebastian, Florida. On December 19, 2018, it was the first crewed submersible to reach
the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, or 8,376 meters in the
Brownson Deep, thus making it the deepest diving, currently operational submersible. In August 2019, the submersible and its pilot,
Victor Vescovo, completed the "
Five Deeps Expedition" with its support ship, the
DSSV Pressure Drop, becoming the first submersible to visit the bottom of all five of the world's oceans. Earlier that same month, a team of explorers and scientists used Limiting Factor to visit the
wreck of the RMS Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean. On March 31, 2021, Caladan Oceanic announced having re-located, surveyed, and filmed the wreck of the World War II
destroyer , sunk on October 25, 1944, in the
Battle off Samar (in the
Philippine Sea off
Samar Island).
Johnston lies at depth of , making
Limiting Factors expedition the deepest wreck dive in history.
Priz-class DSRV ;
Priz : a DSRV class of five ships built by the USSR and Russia. The
titanium-hulled Priz class are capable of diving to . These mini-submarines can ferry up to 20 people for very brief periods of time (in case of a rescue mission) or operate submerged for two to three days with a regular crew of three to four specialists. In early 2005, the Russian AS-28 Priz vessel was trapped undersea and subsequently freed by a
British ROV in a successful international rescue effort.
Mir ;
Mir : a strictly civilian (research) class of two DSVs which were manufactured in
Finland for the
USSR. These bathyscaphe-derived vessels can carry three people down to depths of . After visiting and filming the
RMS Titanic's wreck, the two
Mir submersibles and their support ship were loaned to a US Pacific trench surveying mission in the late 1990s and made important discoveries concerning sulphuric based life in "
black smokers".
Kalitka-class DSVN ;
AS-12 : a Russian counterpart to the American
NR-1 clandestine nuclear DSV, is a relatively large, deep-diving nuclear submarine of 2,000 tons submerged displacement that is intended for oceanographic research and clandestine missions. It has a
titanium pressure hull
consisting of several conjoined spheres and able to withstand tremendous pressure — during the 2012 research mission it routinely dove to , with maximum depth being said to be approximately . Despite the three-month mission time allowed by its nuclear reactor and ample food stores it usually operates in conjunction with a specialized tender, a refurbished
Delta III-class submarine BS-136 Orenburg, which has its missile shafts removed and fitted with a special docking cradle on its bottom.
Konsul-class DSV ;
Konsul : a class of Russian military DSVs currently deployed onboard the Russian oceanographic research ship
Yantar. It is reported that the submersible and its sister sub
Rus are used to conduct seafloor surveillance of marine communications cables and western underwater surveillance devices. They are somewhat smaller than the
Mirs, accommodating a crew of two instead of three, but are purely domestically produced vessels and have a higher maximum depth due to their
titanium pressure hulls: during the tests the original
Konsul dove to .
Nautile ;
Nautile : a DSV owned by Ifremer, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea. The
titanium-hulled
Nautile is capable of diving to .
Shinkai ;
DSV Shinkai :
JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) operated a DSV series called
Shinkai ("Deep Sea"). The latest DSV is
Shinkai 6500 which could submerge to with three crew members. JAMSTEC was operating a
ROV called
Kaikō, which was able to submerge to , but was lost at sea in May 2003.
Sea Pole-class bathyscaphe Bathyscaphe series designed by the
People's Republic of China, and there are three derivatives known to exist by 2010: ;
Sea Pole-class bathyscaphe : 1 built, 2nd unit developed into Jiaolong (Described below) ;
Jiaolong-class bathyscaphe : Subclass of
Sea Pole class, 1 built. ;
Harmony-class bathyscaphe: Subclass of
Jiaolong class, 1 built.
Fendouzhe DSV ;
Fendouzhe, or
Striver-class: a Chinese DSV that dove to an estimated depth of 10,909 meters in the
Mariana Trench on November 10, 2020, the deepest ever for a Chinese submersible. It was supported by its mother ship, the
Tansuo-1 (
Exploration-1) and its development began in 2016. The chief designer of the sub, Liu Yeyao, and two other Chinese oceanauts made the descent in what was the first three-person, welded titanium capsule to venture to full ocean depth.
Deep Sea Warrior bathyscaphe ;
Deep sea warrior or "
Shen-Hai Yong-Shi": developed by
China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation in 2017 and capable of diving up to a depth of 4,500 meters.
Ictineu 3 '' inside a
warehouse in
Sant Feliu de Llobregat,
Catalonia,
Spain. ;
Ictineu 3 : a three-person crewed DSV. The hull is made of
inox steel and it has a large semi-spheric
acrylic glass viewport. It is designed to reach depths of , thus being the ninth-deepest submersible, and it is capable of diving during 10 hours using
li-ion batteries.
Matsya 6000 ;
Matsya 6000 DSV : an Indian under-development crewed deep-submergence vehicle intended to be utilised for deep sea exploration of rare minerals in the
Indian Ocean. It is capable of diving down to a depth of 6,000 m. First uncrewed trial was conducted on 27 October 2021 where the 'personnel sphere' was lowered to a depth of 600 m, off the coast of
Chennai.
Titan ;
Titan Titan, previously called
Cyclops 2, was an experimental
submersible that imploded while transporting tourists to visit the wreckage of the
Titanic in 2023. The submersible was created and operated by
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. After testing with dives to its maximum intended depth in 2018 and 2019, the original composite hull of
Titan developed
fatigue damage and was replaced by 2021. In that year, OceanGate began transporting paying customers to the
wreck of the Titanic, completing several dives to the wreck site in 2021 and 2022. On June 18, 2023,
Titan imploded during a dive to the
Titanic. All five occupants of the submersible were killed. OceanGate had lost contact with
Titan and contacted authorities later that day after the submersible was overdue for return. A massive international
search and rescue operation ensued and ended on June 22, when debris from
Titan was discovered about 1,600 feet (500 metres) from the bow of the
Titanic.
Other DSV bathyscaphes ;
Bathyscaphe Archimède : French-made bathyscaphe, operated around the time of the
Trieste. ;
FNRS-4 ==Deepest explorers==