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the Depths in Trieste
The deep-diving research bathyscaphe Trieste was first launched in 1953 near Naples, Italy, by the Swiss scientist who designed her, Auguste Piccard. After several years of operations in the Mediterranean, she was purchased by the U.S. Navy and transported to San Diego, California. On October 2, 1959, the Trieste was loaded onto the freighter Santa Maria for transport to the Mariana Islands for a series of deep-submergence operations in the Pacific Ocean. On January 23, 1960 — the day of the Trieste's historic dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench — the waves were 5 to 6 feet high in the ocean when Jacques Piccard (Auguste's son), and Navy Lt. Donald Walsh boarded Trieste from a rubber raft. The intrepid divers were housed in the 6-foot-diameter white sphere that was attached to the bottom of the buoyant tank, which reached a length of over 50 feet. The tank was filled with floats containing some 70 tons of gasoline (gasoline is lighter than water) to allow the bathyscaphe to float on the surface before beginning the dive. The Trieste had weights (9 tons of iron shot) to help it descend to the deepest point on the seafloor. The bathyscaphe's air tanks also were flooded with seawater to help make it sink. The nearly 7-mile descent to the deepest known point on Earth took less than five hours. At this depth, the pressure is crushing, exceeding 16,000 pounds per square inch (more than a thousand times greater than the pressure at sea level). The divers released the iron shot to begin their ascent to the surface. And when they surfaced, they officially entered the world record books. In 1963, Trieste went to the Atlantic Ocean to search for the lost submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593). Trieste was taken out of service soon after completing that mission and is now on exhibit at the Navy Museum, at the Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC.
These men were among the team responsible for the Trieste's design and operation. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy |
