EXTREME SUBMARINE – ANATOMY OF BATHYSCAPHE TRIESTE

Built in 1953, the bathyscaphe Trieste was a triumph of ingenuity and creative thinking. It came from Auguste Piccard’s desire to explore the deep ocean. Technically it was not a submarine, but a submersible, requiring a support ship to operate.

A strange creature, Trieste was the underwater equivalent of a hot air balloon with its enormous buoyant float and underslung ‘gondola’. This was no coincidence – Piccard was a pioneer in high altitude ballooning.

Today, there is no manned submersible in operation that can dive as deep as Bathyscaphe Trieste did in 1960.

Click on parts of the Bathyscaphe Trieste picture above for information about its key components.