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The FNRS-2 was the first ever bathyscaphe built. It was created by Auguste Piccard. Work started in 1937 but was interrupted by World War II. The deep diving submarine was finished by 1948. The bathyscaphe was named after the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS), the funding organization for the venture. FNRS also funded the FNRS-1 which was a balloon that set a world altitude record, also built by Piccard. The FNRS-2 set world diving records, besting those of the bathyspheres, as no unwieldy cable was required for diving. It was in turn bested by a more refined version of itself, the Bathyscaphe Trieste.
FNRS-2 was sold to the French Navy when FNRS funding ran low. The French rebaptised her FNRS-3. She was eventually replaced by the FNRS-4.
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