Submersible
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A submersible is a type of underwater vessel with limited service range which is typically transported to its area of operation by a surface vessel or large submarine. Users of such vessels can include oceanographers and marine scientists. Apart from size, the technical difference between a 'submersible' and a 'submarine' is that submersibles are not totally autonomous. They may rely on a support facility or vessel for charging of batteries, high pressure air, high pressure oxygen replenishment, or all of these. Submersibles may also be relatively small, holding only a small crew.
A submersible vessel has greater mobility than a typical submarine, using propeller screws or pump-jets, which are suspended from a cable and winch-operated from the diving support vessel, instead of submersible chambers (diving chambers or diving bells).
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[edit] Operation
Submersibles differ from submarines in that submersibles typically have shorter range, and operate underwater almost exclusively, having little function at the surface. Many submersibles operate on a "tether" or "umbilical", remaining connected to a tender (a submarine, surface vessel or platform). It can dive over 6 miles (10 km).
[edit] ROVs
Small unmanned submersibles called "marine remotely operated vehicles" or MROVs are widely used today to work in water too deep or too dangerous for divers.
Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) repair offshore petroleum platforms and attach cables to sunken ships to hoist them. Such remotely operated vehicles are attached by a tether (a thick cable providing power and communications) to a control center on a ship. Operators on the ship see video images sent back from the robot and may control its propellers and manipulator arm. The wreck of the Titanic was explored by such a vehicle, as well as by a manned vessel.
Among the most famous submersibles is the deep-submergence research vessel DSV Alvin.
[edit] See also
- Pisces V
- Timeline of underwater technology
- Diving chamber
- Diving bell
- Benthoscope
- Bathyscaphe
- Bathysphere
- Narco submarine
- Underwater Acoustic Positioning System
[edit] Sources
Polmar, Norman. "Bathyscaph." World Book Online Reference Center. 2008. [Place of access.] 26 Jan. 2008 http://worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar049420.
[edit] External links
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Look up submersible in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
