FNRS BATHYSCAPHE
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 8:33 pm
Comparing photo’s on the internet the submersible depict is the FNRS-3 ex FNRS 2 which came by the French Navy in service 1953
Dim. 6.9 x 3.2 x 6m (draft)
Powered by one 1kW electric motor, speed 0.5 knots.
Endurance 24 hours.
Test depth 4,000 metre.
Crew 2.
She was built in Belgium as the FNRS-2 and completed in 1948.
Wikipedia give on this submersible:
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 (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 built during 1946-1948. She was damaged during sea trials in 1948, off the Cape Verde Islands FNRS-2 was sold to the French Navy when FNRS funding ran low, in 1948. The French rebuilt and rebaptised her FNRS-3. She was eventually replaced by the FNRS-4. In February 1954 the FNRS-3 reached a depth of 4,050 metres (13,290 ft) in the Atlantic, 160 miles off Dakar, beating Piccard's 1953 record by 900 meters.[2]
FNRS-2 went for sea trials accompanied by the 3500t Belgian ship SCALDIS, as her tender. However SCALDIS crane was not strong enough to lift FNRS-2 while her float was filled. This proved to be the detail that would end FNRS-2's career. FNRS-2 on an unmanned test dive to 4,600 feet (1,400 m), which was successfully completed, but due to technical problems, the support crew were unable to empty her float of gasoline, that was used for buoyancy. SCALDIS attempted to tow FNRS-2 back to port, but she was battered by ocean waves, and sprung a gasoline leak. After detecting the leak, the gasoline was dumped into the sea, and FNRS-2 was raised. However, there was no reserve of gasoline for replacement, nor funding to fix the float.
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 4,050 metres (13,290 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, 10,392 feet (3,167 m)) This record was not exceeded until a workup dive by Trieste in 1959, working up to the record shattering Challenger Deep dive.
Palau 1995 sg913, scott372n
Dim. 6.9 x 3.2 x 6m (draft)
Powered by one 1kW electric motor, speed 0.5 knots.
Endurance 24 hours.
Test depth 4,000 metre.
Crew 2.
She was built in Belgium as the FNRS-2 and completed in 1948.
Wikipedia give on this submersible:
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 (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 built during 1946-1948. She was damaged during sea trials in 1948, off the Cape Verde Islands FNRS-2 was sold to the French Navy when FNRS funding ran low, in 1948. The French rebuilt and rebaptised her FNRS-3. She was eventually replaced by the FNRS-4. In February 1954 the FNRS-3 reached a depth of 4,050 metres (13,290 ft) in the Atlantic, 160 miles off Dakar, beating Piccard's 1953 record by 900 meters.[2]
FNRS-2 went for sea trials accompanied by the 3500t Belgian ship SCALDIS, as her tender. However SCALDIS crane was not strong enough to lift FNRS-2 while her float was filled. This proved to be the detail that would end FNRS-2's career. FNRS-2 on an unmanned test dive to 4,600 feet (1,400 m), which was successfully completed, but due to technical problems, the support crew were unable to empty her float of gasoline, that was used for buoyancy. SCALDIS attempted to tow FNRS-2 back to port, but she was battered by ocean waves, and sprung a gasoline leak. After detecting the leak, the gasoline was dumped into the sea, and FNRS-2 was raised. However, there was no reserve of gasoline for replacement, nor funding to fix the float.
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 4,050 metres (13,290 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, 10,392 feet (3,167 m)) This record was not exceeded until a workup dive by Trieste in 1959, working up to the record shattering Challenger Deep dive.
Palau 1995 sg913, scott372n