INTRODUCTION 



A deep sea diving program with a vehicle such as the 

 Navy's first true submersible, the bathyscaph TRIESTE, 

 can provide three basic "products": 



1. Scientific information 



2. Technological information 



3. Operational information and techniques 



The quantity and quality of each of these will vary with the 

 design and mission of the particular vehicle. The bathy- 

 scaph TRIESTE is primarily a scientific vessel, and its 

 scientific product has already been covered by various 

 publications many of which are cited in the Bibliography 

 at the end of this report. The major purpose of the present 

 report is to cover the other two products of the TRIESTE 

 program, namely the technical and operational information 

 that the deep sea diving program has yielded. This report 

 deals with the period 1958 to 1961; it includes a technical 

 description of TRIESTE, a summary of the 1960-1961 

 reconstruction, an outline of the personnel organization 

 and support facilities that were found necessary for opera- 

 tion of the vessel and, as appendixes, a chronology of the 

 TRIESTE program and a diving log. 



It is hoped that the information given here, particularly 

 the techniques developed and the lessons learned at sea, 

 will be of help to those charged with developing the next 

 generation of research submersibles, for nothing else can 

 replace the experience obtained while working deep in the 

 ocean in such a craft. 



