Nautile
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| Career |  France |
|---|---|
| Name: | Nautile |
| In service: | 1984 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Deep-submergence vehicle |
| Length: | 8.0 m (26.2 ft) |
| Beam: | 2.7 m (8.9 ft) |
| Draft: | 3.81 m (12.5 ft) |
| Installed power: | electric motor |
| Speed: | 1.5kn |
| Range: | 7.5km |
| Endurance: | 120h |
| Test depth: | 6,000 m (20,000 ft) |
| Complement: | 3 |
The Nautile is a manned submersible owned by Ifremer, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea. Commissioned in 1984, the submersible can be operated at depths of up to 6 km (3.7 mi).
The Nautile is a miniature submarine, based on the bathyscaphe design, and capable of housing just three people. It has a length of 8 m, still imaging cameras, two colour video cameras, and a number of flood lights. It is fitted with two robotic arms to allow remote manipulation. The nautile can stay under water for up to eight hours at a time. Two ships can act as mothership to the Atalante: the Pourquoi Pas? and the Atalante. In its early days the Nautile was launched from RV Nadir.
The vessel has been used to examine the wreck of the RMS Titanic and in the search for the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from the ill-fated Air France Flight 447[1]
Media related to External links and references
- Nautile — specification from Ifremer website
- Nautile: miniature submarine — BBC news article
- Submarine to examine sunken oil tanker — New Scientist article
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