It has been said that we know more about the surface of the moon than we know about the ocean floors. Although 70% of the earth is covered by water there are still many mysteries that elude modern science. For instance, just recently a giant sunken continent in the Indian Ocean has just been discovered. Could this be the true Atlantis?

Early deep sea tests

Since the 1930’s oceanographers had a particular tool for investigating the deep waters of the sea. It was known as the bathysphere. A globe shaped metallic submersible that was lowered into the ocean by cable and air breathing hose. This mode of exploration was limited and dangerous as the further down the bathysphere was lowered the greater the pressures, the less light, and the increased chances of the lifeline umbilical cable getting tangled or damaged thus suffocating the occupants of the vessel.

New requirements

At 1000 feet the pressure is so great that lead pipe will crush. For many areas of the ocean floor in the Atlantic and Pacific the average depth can be over 10 thousand feet or even more and this does not account for trenches where depths have been known to exceed 35,000 feet. It is here that a completely new design would have to be created in order to keep from imploding once submerged to such great depths.

Victims of the depths

One can remember the horrific losses of the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion, both advanced nuclear subs that set a new standard for capability, yet both met with tragedy. The USS Thresher imploded due to her ballast tanks failing to blow dooming the sub and its crew to sink below crush depth and become a watery grave. The USS Scorpion was, at first, thought to have suffered a similar fate, or perhaps from an unknown phenomenon known as deep water tidal waves generated by volcanic activity. Later, after thorough intelligence probes were launched it was determined that the Russian navy had set a trap for the USS Scorpion in the Mediterranean and an anti-submarine launched air to surface missile once the Scorpion had begun to rise above ocean level.

Covert attack

The Soviet KA-25 Kamov anti-submarine warfare helicopter is suspected as having sunk the SSN 589 Skipjack class Scorpion built in 1958 and sunk in 1968. The Russians planned this act of vengeance after one of their subs the Potemkin sank while trailing a NATO anti-sub warfare exercise. Actually sunk due to mechanical or systems failure, the Soviets blamed the American fleet for the tragedy.

Old technology

The bathysphere quickly reached its level limitation due to the inability to get much useful visual data at depth and also due to the limits of the cable delivered air, towing capacity, and communications with the surface ship. At the depths the bathysphere was able to achieve if a tiny pin hole leak were to occur it would tear the interior and anyone inside like machine gun bullets!

Daring attempt

In 1960, a monumental project was undertaken and the deepest known place in the ocean was chosen for the point of exploration. The Challenger Deep, part of the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean was measured at more than 35,000 feet, more than 7 miles in depth. A deep sea craft was designed specifically for this project. Its inventor called it the “Bathyscaphe”. Shaped more like a conventional submarine and utilizing two inner hulls to allow for expansion and to offset the extreme pressures that would have crushed a normal sub, this dicey test of man against nature was commenced. Purchased by the US Navy from its Swiss builders, the “Trieste” was purpose built for a possibly deadly mission.

Unique Construction

The outer hull had a secondary inner compartment filled with gasoline, water, and iron shot to be used as ballast while under pressure was also able to withstand the forces of compressibility at such a great depth. Then there was the inner compartment where two men could operate instruments, steer the craft, and use a powerful beam of light to illuminate the incredible darkness that prevailed more than 7 miles below the ocean surface. Scientists thinking that life could not exist in such a hostile environment were astonished to photograph a snail fish sitting at the bottom of the rocky floor. The abundance of life throughout the harsh extremes of earth from bacteria at 30,000 feet depth in the earth’s crust, to Penguins that can live under the incredible cold of the Antarctic, to organisms that exist in the vacuum of space, the persistence of life never ceases to amaze.

Wrong conclusion

It was the Trieste II built in 1968 that would be submerged in close proximity to the wreck site of the SSN 589 in 1969 that would dive to the depths were the Scorpion was located to inspect the remains of the crushed hull. However, at the time the US Navy was thinking that the Scorpion had succumbed to an accident or unknown deep sea current of some kind. A conspiracy by the Russian navy had not yet been explored.