FNRS-3
Encyclopedia
The FNRS-3 or FNRS III is a bathyscaphe
of the French Navy
. It is currently presevered at Toulon
. She set world depth records, competing against a more refined version of her design, the first Bathyscaphe Trieste
. The French Navy eventually replaced her with the bathyscaphe FNRS-4, in the 1960s.
After damage to the FNRS-2
during its sea trials in 1948, FNRS
ran out of funding, and the submersible was sold to the French Navy, in 1950. She was subsequently substantially rebuilt and improved at Toulon naval base, and renamed FNRS-3. She was relaunched in 1953, under the command of Georges Houot.
On 15 February 1954, she made a 4050 metres (13,287.4 ft) dive off Dakar, Senegal, 160 miles off in the Atlantic Ocean, beating Piccard's 1953 record by 900 meters, set by the Bathyscaphe Trieste
(the floor of the Mediterranean off Naples, 10392 feet (3,167.5 m)) This record was not exceeded until a workup dive by Trieste in 1959, working up to the record shattering Challenger Deep dive.
Bathyscaphe
A bathyscaphe is a free-diving self-propelled deep-sea submersible, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a bathysphere, but suspended below a float rather than from a surface cable, as in the classic bathysphere design....
of the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
. It is currently presevered at Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
. She set world depth records, competing against a more refined version of her design, the first Bathyscaphe Trieste
Bathyscaphe Trieste
The Trieste is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe with a crew of two, which reached a record maximum depth of about , in the deepest known part of the Earth's oceans, the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench near Guam, on January 23, 1960, crewed by Jacques Piccard ...
. The French Navy eventually replaced her with the bathyscaphe FNRS-4, in the 1960s.
After damage to the FNRS-2
FNRS-2
The FNRS-2 was the first bathyscaphe. It was created by Auguste Piccard. Work started in 1937 but was interrupted by World War II. The deep-diving submarine was finished in 1948. The bathyscaphe was named after the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique , the funding organization for...
during its sea trials in 1948, FNRS
NFWO
The National Fund for Scientific Research is a government institution in Belgium for supporting scientific research...
ran out of funding, and the submersible was sold to the French Navy, in 1950. She was subsequently substantially rebuilt and improved at Toulon naval base, and renamed FNRS-3. She was relaunched in 1953, under the command of Georges Houot.
On 15 February 1954, she made a 4050 metres (13,287.4 ft) dive off Dakar, Senegal, 160 miles off in the Atlantic Ocean, beating Piccard's 1953 record by 900 meters, set by the Bathyscaphe Trieste
Bathyscaphe Trieste
The Trieste is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe with a crew of two, which reached a record maximum depth of about , in the deepest known part of the Earth's oceans, the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench near Guam, on January 23, 1960, crewed by Jacques Piccard ...
(the floor of the Mediterranean off Naples, 10392 feet (3,167.5 m)) This record was not exceeded until a workup dive by Trieste in 1959, working up to the record shattering Challenger Deep dive.
See also
- DSV-0 Trieste
- DSV-1Bathyscaphe Trieste IITrieste II ' was the successor to Trieste — the United States Navy's first bathyscaphe purchased from its Swiss designers. The original Trieste design was heavily modified by the Naval Electronics Laboratory in San Diego, California and built at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard...
Trieste II - Bathyscaphe Archimede
External links
- Georges Houot at the French Wikipedia