The Bathyscape Trieste, funded by the US Navy, reached the Challenger Deep, the deepest point in the ocean, at 10,916 meters. The pressure sphere was attached to petrol floats and iron shot for weight. The Soviet submarine K-278 Komsomolets had a titanium hull and could dive up to 1300 meters, while America’s Seawolf-class nuclear submarines have a crush depth of approximately 2400 feet.
A small submarine, the Bathyscape Trieste, arrived 10,916 meters (35,813 feet) below sea level at the deepest point in the ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, a few hundred miles east of the Philippines. This part of the ocean is 11,034 m (36,200 ft) deep, so it appears that a submarine could go as deep as theoretically possible. The water pressure at this depth is over 1000 atmospheres. Life exists here, as does a carpet of diatomaceous earth covering all the ocean floors of the world.
Trieste was manned by two people and funded by the US Navy. The pressure sphere used was 2.16 m (6.5 ft) in diameter, with steel walls 12.7 cm (5 in) thick, capable of withstanding 1.25 tons per cm2 (110 MPa) of pressure. The Trieste pressure sphere, which weighed 8 tons in water, was not neutrally buoyant because the steel had to be so thick for a sphere 2 m that deep to resist the pressure that it would sink like a rock on its own. Therefore the Trieste pressure sphere had to be attached to a series of petrol floats, accompanied by iron shot for weight.
Initially weighing slightly more than water, the vessel descended 10.9 km (6.77 miles) below sea level. At the bottom, the pellets were ejected and the floating petrol floats carried Trieste back to the top. This feat has never been replicated by a manned vessel, although several unmanned submersibles have since explored the Challenger Deep.
The deepest large military-style submarine was the Soviet submarine K-278 Komsomolets, with a titanium hull, making it very expensive, but capable of withstanding significantly deeper dives than the best high-grade steel subs, such as American nuclear submarines. The Komsomolets was a nuclear-powered submarine specially designed to make trips up to 1300 meters (4265 feet) below sea level, much less than the Trieste, but very significant because the Komsomolets had to “defend” a much larger air bubble against the encroaching pressure of the surrounding ocean.
Compared to America’s best Seawolf-class nuclear submarines, the Komsomolets had about 78 percent better diving capabilities. Seawolf submarines have an estimated crush depth of approximately 2400 feet (730m). Seawolf submarines are built with a high quality steel called HY-100, capable of withstanding 100 atmospheres of pressure. As a general rule, the pressure increases by one atmosphere for every 10m of descent.
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