Aluminaut

Aluminaut was the world's first aluminum deep research submersible, built with a 6.5 inch forged aluminum inner hull and designed to dive to depths of 15,000 feet while carrying a payload of up to 6,000 pounds, far greater than any deep submersible of its day. Weighing only 80.9 tons, about half the weight of traditional steel models, it grew from an idea first imagined in 1942 by J. Louis Reynolds Metals Company and came to fruition in 1964 after years of development and fabrication. Its purpose was to demonstrate the strength and capability of aluminum and its value for science through undersea exploration, while also contributing to national security, locating new sources of minerals and food, and advancing scientific understanding. Active from 1964 to 1970, Aluminaut made 251 dives in a brief but notable career of exploration, research, and deep ocean recovery operations with scientific organizations, government bureaus, and industrial clients. During that career it set a world record for the deepest dive by a submarine, carried scientists below the ocean surface for experiments, repaired underwater cables and equipment, discovered mineral deposits on the ocean floor, searched for sunken treasure, helped recover a hydrogen bomb off the coast of Spain in 1966, rescued the Navy's research submarine Alvin near Nantucket Island in 1968, and later searched for the wreckage of the R.M.S. Titanic.

Richmond, Virginia · United States