Free Republic

/begin my excerpts Suspected Submersible Reported near Kyong-po Beach Early morning on Oct. 2, the authorities received a report that what appears to be a submersible was spotted near Kyong-po Beach, Gangneung, Kangwon Province. Navy and Coast Guard are now checking into it, according to CBS (of S. Korea.) The news article says that around 6:40 am, a tourist saw a suspected submersible 500m from Kyong-po Beach and reported it. /end my excerpts

BEIJING—China's first manned deep-sea submersible completed a Pacific Ocean dive to 5,057 meters (16,591 feet), surpassing current U.S. capabilities and setting a milestone in a race to explore for potentially vast resources in the deepest parts of the world's oceans. The Jiaolong set the Chinese record at 6:17 a.m. Beijing time Tuesday in the northeastern Pacific, between Hawaii and the North American mainland, according to a statement on the website of the State Oceanic Administration. The three-person vessel carried out various tests, including landing on the seabed several times, and took photographs of sea creatures during the operation, which lasted...

 EXCLUSIVESubmergin' Atlantic  Plane sailing ... Branson's submersible 'plane'   ADVENTURER Sir Richard Branson has unveiled his new toy - an underwater "plane" for a voyage to the bottom of the sea. The Virgin Atlantic boss hopes the submarine with fighter jet technology will explore unchartered depths at 35,000ft Deep pockets ... Branson's sub is set to explore at the very bottom of the sea The £415,000 carbon fibre prototype Necker Nymph will swoop 130ft under the surface but Sir Richard, 59, is building a stronger version to go deeper than any sub has ever been.   Branson ... plans sea...

In early 2009, as the Sri Lankan Army moved into territory held, for years, by the rebel LTTE (Tamil separatists), they found some surprises. One, on the northeast coast, was a submarine shipyard. Well, not exactly submarines, but close. These semi-submersible boats run mostly submerged, and are excellent at evading detection. This design was first developed by Colombian drug gangs a decade ago, and these craft are carrying most of the cocaine being moved north to the United States. Several years of effort by the U.S. Navy to improve detection methods, have not had much success. Thus the semi-submersibles are...

Swiss-based marine explorer and inventor Jacques Piccard, who was part of the deepest submarine dive in history, has died at his home aged 86. In 1960, Piccard and US co-pilot Don Walsh took a submersible developed by his father to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific. They went 11km (seven miles) beneath the surface of the sea. Their discovery of living organisms at that depth led to a ban on the dumping of nuclear waste in ocean trenches. "By far the most interesting find was the fish that came floating by our porthole," Piccard said afterwards...."

GENEVA (AFP) - A car that can be driven underwater is set to be unveiled next month at the International Geneva Motor Show, the Swiss manufacturer of the prototype announced on Friday. The 'Squba' is like something out of a James Bond film and, according to the manufacturer Rinspeed, is the world's first real submersible car. Rinspeed's head, Frank Rinderknecht, is a James Bond enthusiast who has dreamed of making the amphibious vehicle come true. "For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water," said Rinderknecht in...

A submarine-like vessel filled with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine was seized off the Guatemalan coast, U.S. officials said. Four suspected smugglers were operating the self-propelled, semi-submersible vessel when it was located and seized on Sunday evening by officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, the Border Patrol said in a news release Wednesday. When the suspects realized they had been spotted by drug-surveillance aircraft patrolling the eastern Pacific, they scuttled the vessel but were unable to escape. Coast Guard officials, guided by the reconnaissance plane, intercepted the vessel...

News agency Reuters has been forced to admit that footage it released last week purportedly showing Russian submersibles on the seabed of the North Pole actually came from the movie Titanic. The images were reproduced around the world - including by the Guardian and Guardian Unlimited - alongside the story of Russia planting its flag below the North Pole on Thursday last week. Titanic error: Reuters issued this film still with a story about the Russian flag being planted beneath the North Pole. Photograph: Reuters

A man in a Revolutionary War-era submarine was cited by the U.S. Coast Guard for drifting into a security zone, and for unsafe sailing in New York's East River near the Queen Mary 2 luxury liner, the Coast Guard and New York City Police Department said Friday. The man in the replica vessel was identified as 35-year-old Philip "Duke" Riley of Brooklyn, N.Y., according to Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Seth Johnson.

New York authorities were questioning three men found in a bizarre submersible vessel floating just off Manhattan on Friday, according to local reports. The men were discovered early Friday near the cruise terminal in Brooklyn where the massive ocean liner The Queen Mary II is moored, ABC television reported on its website. When asked about the incident, a police spokeswoman declined to confirm the report or provide any further information, saying only that officers were at the scene. What the three men were doing in the vessel -- which appeared to be spherical with a circular hatch on top --...

New York authorities were questioning three men found in a bizarre submersible vessel floating just off Manhattan on Friday, according to local reports. The men were discovered early Friday near the cruise terminal in Brooklyn where the massive ocean liner The Queen Mary II is moored, ABC television reported on its website. When asked about the incident, a police spokeswoman declined to confirm the report or provide any further information, saying only that officers were at the scene. What the three men were doing in the vessel -- which appeared to be spherical with a circular hatch on top --...

(New York- WABC, August 3, 2007) - Several people are being questioned by police after being stopped apparently attempting to set sail off Brooklyn in a makeshift submarine-type vessel. Police say the men were caught in the area of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Downtown Brooklyn, near the Queen Mary 2, just after 11 a.m. this morning No threatening devices or materials were found on board the vessel. The initial indication is this is not terrorism related.

WW II Sub Replica Intercepted Near Queen Mary 2 Secret Service: Silent Subs In Action New York City Police spotted an unknown vessel near Pier 41 at around 10:45 a.m. Friday. NYPD Harbor and SCUBA units intercepted a replica of a World War II-era submarine in the waters off Red Hook, Brooklyn, near the berth of the Queen Mary II. The self-propelled submarine was escorted by police and the captain of the ship was issued a Coast Guard violation for operating an unsafe vehicle and violating the security zone around the Queen Mary II. The sub, piloted by a Greenpoint...

Authorities are questioning three men after pulling them from a submersible vessel in the East River in Brooklyn, N.Y., according to reports from ABC affiliate WABC. The men were captured near the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in downtown Brooklyn, near the massive cruise ship the Queen Mary 2, just after 11 a.m.

Two Russian deep-sea submersibles made a test dive in polar waters on Sunday ahead of a mission to be the first to reach the seabed under the North Pole, Itar-Tass news agency said. Tass said it took an hour for Mir-1 and Mir-2, each carrying one pilot, to reach the seabed at a depth of 1,311 meters (4,301 feet), 47 nautical miles north of Russia's northernmost archipelago, Franz Josef Land in the Barents Sea. Tass said Mir-1 resurfaced at around 1030 GMT after five hours underwater while Mir-2 spent some more time on the seabed collecting samples. "It was the...

N.Korea claims capture of U.S. submersible By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 36 minutes ago North Korea claimed it has captured an unmanned U.S. submersible and put it on display in Pyongyang, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan said Monday. The U.S. dismissed the report. The small vessel was captured during a reconnaissance mission in waters off North Korea's eastern city of Hamhung, said the Choson Sinbo newspaper, which is published by a pro-North Korean association linked to the Pyongyang government. The newspaper report on its Web site, which is monitored in Seoul, was accompanied by a picture...

Think of it as the Mars Rover but at the bottom of the ocean, remotely exploring our own planet's most alien landscape for scientists back at mission control. "This is how the science is going to be done," said Deborah Kelley, a University of Washington oceanographer. In 2000, Kelley led an expedition using a manned submersible to explore the deep Atlantic Ocean. Her team stumbled upon something never seen before. The researchers discovered a startlingly massive collection of limestone towers located miles away from the tectonic "spreading" cracks in the seafloor that typically produce such structures. Some of these hydrothermal...

This photo provided by Wired Nextfest shows Rob Innes skimming across the Chicago River in a bionic dolphin Thursday, June 23, 2005, to call attention to Nextfest, a futuristic technology show opening this weekend in Chicago. The dolphin, a submersible developed by Innespace, can power two people to 40 m.p.h. on the surface and 20 m.p.h. below. (AP Photo/Wired Nextfest, Brian Kersey) Mechanical dolphin makes a splash June 24, 2005 BY GARY WISBY Staff Reporter Advertisement Folks walking across the Michigan Avenue bridge Thursday morning witnessed something no one had ever seen before -- a mechanical dolphin in the...