Sub arm deploys a seafloor chamber used to measure respiration.

SHINKAI 2000 operated by Japanese Marine Science, Technology & Education Center.

SHINKAI 6500 is rated to 6500 meters, deepest active sub in the world. .

MANTIS one person sub built by Deep Ocean Exploration.

WASP is a JIM suit with thrusters-- pilot is Graham Hawkes.

French CYANA operates to 3000 meters, less than half the average ocean depth.

Lockheed Corp.'s DEEP QUEST was instrumented more like a space ship than a sub.

MIR prepares to dive to over 6000 meters, second to SHINKAI 6500.

Two MIR subs took underwater footage appearing in the movie "Titanic."

MIR during recovery-- sphere is made of high strength steel made in Finland.

DSV TURTLE is taken aboard Navy support ship Laney Chouest.

PICSES V deployed from submerged launch-retrieval-transport (LRT) barge.

PISCES V transported aboard LRT off Hawaii.

Divers ready to release PISCES V from LRT.

CLELIA, a Perry Oceanographic-built sub, prepares to launch.

Divers secure semi-submersible barge after releasing submersible.

DEEP ROVER is a one person sub with an acryllic sphere.

Deep Ocean Engineering's DEEP ROVER one person sub dives to 300 meters.

JSL prepares to dive-- note dryer hose type suction tube on the arm.

ALVIN in 1978, a year after first exploring hydrothermal vents.

ALVIN is named after engineer Allyn Vine-- not a chipmunk.

ALVIN descends to its maxium depth of 4000 m (mean ocean depth is 3800 m).

ALVIN loaded for sample collection dives in 2500 meters off New Jersey.

ALVIN and its original catamaran support ship, LULU.

NEKTON GAMMA begins descent to sample Bahamian reefs.

DELTA deployed off Oregon to study rockfish habitat.

ALUMINAUT, 51 ft. long, five person sub, more submarine than submersible.

ASHERAH,shallow (200 m), cheap ($25,000) Navy submersible built in 1964.

ALVIN deploys baited traps to attract six gill sharks.

MERMAID deployed from support ship Aloha-- commercial sub leased for science.

WASP pilot trains to do underwater manipulative tasks.

JIM suit recovered through Arctic ice.

JIM is named after Jim Jarrett, Tritonia suit diver and Lusitania explorer.

Dr. Sylvia Earle prepares to dive in a JIM suit.

Clelia submarine on board Harbor Branch's Sea Diver. This submersible dives to 1,000 meters.

Pisces V prepares to dive to 2,000 meters off Hawaii.

Launching the DSV Turtle from the Laney Chouest.

DSV Alvin hovers above deck before diving to 4,000 meters.

DSV Alvin sets a lander basket with tube cores on the bottom.

Kevin McCarthy communicates with the surface while in saturation.

Dr. Sylvia Earle displays samples to aquanaut inside TEKTITE.

Personnel Transfer Capsule (PTC) can mate with habitats and evacuate aquanauts.

EDALHAB was built of salvage materials and similar in design to HYDROLAB.

The main chamber of HELGOLAND was known as the "pregnant elephant."

AEGIR, named for the Norse god of the sea, was designed for depths to 180 m.

NURP's AQUARIUS habitat was first named after George Bond, "Pappa Topside."

Habitat chambers must be routinely stripped and recertified every 4-5 years.

HELOGOLAND's life support buoy provided power and communications.

SEALAB I was the first habitat in the Navy's now defunct man-in-the-sea program.

SEALAB II, resting on an angle off California, was dubbed the "Tilton Hilton."