The Nautilus is ready to sail again

The first images of the wreck of the Titanic in 1987 is him. The clogging leaks Prestige oil tanker 2002 off Spain, it is still him. But the yellow submarine, able to explore 97% of ocean floor diving up to 6000 meters, is also, beyond the most media interventions, an indispensable tool for oceanographers: to his credit, more than 1700 dives, performed during 136 missions.

Even if a “large refit” is planned every five years, the Nautile required a slightly longer technical stop: it became necessary to change the main frame of the submarine. Various damages had been noted during its last missions at sea, finding their origin in particular in the main longitudinal titanium beams. These damages resulted from an aging phenomenon due to the fatigue of the material that the fourth “large fairing” carried out in 2008 had not revealed.

This work has also made it possible to modernize certain equipment of the submarine: high-definition cameras have been installed, and a new navigation and positioning system, more precise, gives an additional advantage to the Nautile.