ARCHIMEDE 



LENGTH: 69 ft 



BEAM; 13*' 



HEIGHT: 26Vi ft 



DRAFT: I^l *« 



WEIGHT (DRY): 61 tons 



OPERATING DEPTH: 36,000ft 



COLLAPSE DEPTH: 100,000 ft 



LAUNCH DATE: 1961 



HATCH DIAMETER: 17.7 in. 



LIFE SUPPORT (MAX): 108 man-hr 



TOTAL POWER: 100 kWh 



SPEED (KNOTS): CRUISE '/i/IOhr 



MAX 2'/i/3 hr 



CREW: PILOTS 1 



OBSERVERS 2 



PAYLOAD: 6,000 lb 



PRESSURE HULL: Spherical shape. Two, bolted hemispheres of Ni-Cr-Mo steel 5.9 in. thick, 6-ft 7-in. ID. Total weight is approximately 15 tons. 



BALLAST/BUOYANCY: Positive buoyancy is provided by 45,000 gal of hexane within a thin, iron alloy float. Iron shot (16'/j tons) ts released to 



ascend. A 26-ft-long, 1 32-lb cable is dragged on the bottom for fine buoyancy control. 



PROPULSION/CONTROL: Main propulsion is from a reversible, 20-hp motor. A horizontal and vertical thruster of 5 hp each are mounted forward 



and topside, respectively. 



TRIM: No systems available. 



POWER SOURCE: Lead-acid batteries, externally located: Two 24V, 160-amp-hr, one 28-V, 52-amp-hr; one 1 10-V, B60-amp-hr. 



LIFE SUPPORT: Four O2 tanks at 1 50 kg/cm^ pressure. COt removed by two soda lime cannisters. Silica gel used to reduce humidity. 



VIEWING: Three plastic viewports. One is on the longitudinal plane of symmetry; two are on each side and look forward and down at 20 from the 



horizontal. Viewports are 44 mm thick, 1 10-mm OD, 21 -mm ID. A binocular telescope in each viewport produces a 58° field of view. 



OPERATING/SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT: Vertical/horizontal speed monitor, deep (0-36,000 ft) and shallow (0-1,200 ft) echo sounders, obstacle 



avoidance sonar, UQC, TV, three 35-mm still cameras, temperature (water) sensor, gyrocompass, sound velocimeter, pH meter, differential pressure 



gage. Environmental data is recorded on magnetic tape at 10-sec intervals. 



MANIPULATORS: One mounted forward of the pressure sphere capable of 5-ft extension, 200-lb lift. 



SAFETY FEATURES: Iron shot automatically dropped in the event of power failure. An extra 5.5 tons of iron/lead ballast is carried which may be 



dropped to compensate for leak in sphere or in largest hexane tank. Closed circuit O2 rebreathers are carried for each occupant of sphere. 



SURFACE SUPPORT: Towed to dive site. 



OWNER: Owned by French Navy, operated by Centre National Pour L'E xploitation des Oceans (CNEXO), Toulon. 



BUILDER Frency Navy. 



REMARKS: Operational. This is presently the world's deepest-diving vehicle. 



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