1. ALVIN (UNITED STATES)
Length: 7 meters Crew: 3 people
Maximum depth: 4,500 meters
Launch: 1964
1966: Alvin used to locate the 1.45 megaton hydrogen bomb lost in the collision USAF aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea.
1979: Alvin providing views black smokers, first-time visits by researcher. Black smoke was coming from hydrothermal vents on the seafloor that contain high levels of sulfur minerals in the East Pacific Rise.
2015: The latest version of Alvin launched and designed for maximum depth of 6,500 meters.
2. NAUTILE (FRANCE)
Length: 7 meters Crew: 3 people
Maximum depth: 6,000 meters
Launch: 1984
June 2009: Nautile used to find the black box flight 447 Air France plane that crashed in the sea.
3. MIR (RUSSIA)
Crew: 3 people
Maximum depth: 6,000 meters
Launch: 1987
1990: Mir record images for Titanic's film director James Cameron.
2007: Russia's Mir put flags on the Arctic seabed.
4. SHINKAI 6500 (JAPAN)
Length: 9.5 meters Crew: 3 people
Maximum depth: 6,500 meters
Launch: 1989
1989: Shinkai, Japanese submarines that dive up to 6,527 meters.
5. JIAOLONG (CHINA)
Length: 8 meters Crew: 3 people
Maximum depth: 7,000 meters
Launch: 2009
2010: Jiaolong install the Chinese flag at the bottom of the South China Sea.
July 26, 2011: Jiaolong dive to a depth of 5,057 meters.
6. TRIESTE (UNITED STATES)
Length: 18 meters Crew: 2 people
Maximum depth: 10,911 meters
Launch: 1953
World's deepest ocean point contained in the Mariana Trench (10,911 meters).
1960: Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh dived as deep as 10,911 meters to the bottom of Challenger Deep in bathyscape Trieste. This record has not been solved.*** [KORAN TEMPO 3609]
