Sea Technology

AUG 2012

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marineelectronics Chinese Manned Submersible Breaks 7,000 Meters in Dive The Jiaolong, China's manned sub- mersible, reached depths of 7,020 me- ters during its fourth dive into the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean in June. During the 11-hour dive, the ocea- nauts worked for almost three hours on the seafloor, placing markers and col- lecting water samples and sediments, state-run news agency Xinhua reported. The Jiaolong had succeeded in reach- ing depths of 6,671 meters, 6,965 me- ters and 6,963 meters in its previous three dives from June 15 to 22, surpass- ing the record of 5,188 meters it set last July. Submersibles from Russia and Japan have reached depths of 6,000 me- ters. Chinese officials have said the aim of the Jiaolong operation is to develop ocean-resource management and ex- ploration. The submersible was scheduled to at- tempt two more dives into the Mariana Trench and was expected to return to China in mid-July with its oceano- graphic mother ship Xiang yanghong 09. Each dive could last eight to 12 hours. ROV-Mounted Tritex Gauge Tests Corrosion Levels of Sunken Ship To determine whether there was risk of oil leaking from a sunken World War II ship, the U.K. Ministry of Defence's Salvage and Marine Oper ations (SAN MO) conducted a survey using a Tritex Multigauge 4100 ROV mountable thickness gauge, manufactured by Tritex NDT (Dorchester, England), that was mounted on a Saab Seaeye (Hampshire, England) Falcon ROV. The gauge inspected the corrosion levels and determined the amount of wastage that has occurred in the hull of the tanker RFA Darkdale and whether there was any risk of the hull leaking any more oil, Tritex said in July. The Multigauge 4100 uses a technology called multiple echo, which means that metal thickness can be measured with- out removing coatings. The multiple echos are also compared to each other providing error-checked readings from the back wall. The Darkdale, the first British ship sunk south of the equator, had been sunk to 40 meters depth by a German U-boat. It was hit with four torpedoes while at anchor off Jamestown, St. He- lena Island, in October 1941. The hull had been starting to show signs of leak- ing oil into James Bay. A team from SANMO was deployed to St. Helena in April to investigate the condition of the ship and to ascertain whether RFA Darkdale is likely to be- come an environmental hazard. Following the investigation, Andy Lid- dell, one of the team members, said, "The gauge worked and we got readings off the hull. I have to admit to being sur- prised given the corroded state of the hull." Deepwater Search for Earhart Aircraft Begins With ROVs, AUV Submersible Systems Inc.'s (Patter son, Louisiana) TRV-005 inspection-class ROV and Bluefin Robotics Corp.'s (Quincy, Massachusetts) Bluefin-21 AUV were deployed in July as part of an expedition to search for evidence of Underwater Wet Mateable Electrical Connectors 5F 5FM F M 64 st / AUGUST 2012 t XXX TVCDPO O DP XX X TVCDPOO DPNN t * OU SOBU POB M www.sea-technology.com *OUFSF OBUJJPOBM t XXX NBDB UOF DP XX X NBDBSSUOFZ Z DPN N

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