The Bathyscaph Trieste has arrived in San Diego, California after a voyage from Castellamare, Italy via Norfolk, Virginia, for use in research of the ocean depths off the Southern California coast.

The 70-ton diving craft, recently purchased by the Office of Naval Research from renowned Swiss scientists Auguste and Jacques Piccard, has been made available to west coast oceanographers to conduct basic scientific research involving acoustical and biological investigations of Pacific waters in the San Diego area. Long-range objectives of this program are to explore the ocean environment at great depths, and to evaluate the bathyscaph's potentialities both as a research tool and as a deep-diving submarine rescue vessel.

Types of research to be conducted will be planned jointly by the Office of Naval Research and the Navy Electronics Laboratory, who will operate the bathyscaph. The first dives are expected to be made in late fall.

Pilots at the Navy Electronics Laboratory will be trained to operate the bathyscaph during the coming year by Jacques Piccard, who assisted his father, Professor Auguste Piccard, in designing Trieste and building the Trieste. He is a veteran of 46 dives in the Trieste since she was first placed into service. Mr. Giusseppe Buono, of Italy, has also been engaged by U.S. National Research Council, as an expert in the mechanical aspects of operations.

The Bathyscaph is the underwater equivalent of a lighter-than-air craft, much like a blimp operating in reverse. It consists of a 50-foot hull, 12 feet in diameter, filled with gasoline to make it buoyant, since gasoline is lighter than water. Beneath this hull is suspended a sphere 6.5 feet in diameter, which easily holds two men and scientific equipment. It is capable of exploring the ocean to a depth of more than three miles.

ONR selected the San Diego area for the Trieste because it has the best weather on either coast, allowing dives to be made during the greater part of the year. In addition, many oceanographers are in the area, both at NEL and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at La Jolla, California.

Under ONR sponsorship a series of 26 dives were made last year by the Trieste in the Mediterranean, most of them a few miles south of the Isle of Capri. Four different kinds of observations were conducted: optical, geophysical and acoustical measurements, and observations of biological and geological phenomena.

Additionally, scientists studied fish and other kinds of life and penetration of light at various depths and on the sea bottom. The Trieste's motionless stability also made possible the measurement of gravity, taken on the ocean floor. In the past, even in a calm sea there has always been too much movement aboard a surface ship to obtain accurate gravity measurements.

ONR has long been engaged in studying noises made by fish, as well as other noises encountered in the oceans. Such acoustical measurements yielded much information about the sea's background sounds, and will help sonar operators to better distinguish them from ship noises.

Dr. Robert S. Dietz will be the ONR Project Officer for the Trieste's program. During his earlier assignment to the Office of Naval Research Branch Office in London, England, Dr. Dietz participated in last year's dives, thereby gaining valuable experience in preparation for the forthcoming operations off San Diego. Dr. Andreas B. Rechnitzer will be the NEL scientist coordinating NEL activities with the vessel.

Information provided by: http://www.onr.navy.mil