| 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.
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 [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bathyscaphe_Nautile Bathyscaphe Nautile] at Wikimedia Commons