DSV Limiting Factor

The submersible is based on a spherical titanium pressure hull for two occupants, seated side by side, which has three wide angle acrylic viewports in front of the crew, one in front of each seat, and one below and between them. If the bow is defined as the side in which the {{diving term|viewport|viewports}} are mounted, the vessel is wider than it is long.

The vessel is equipped with a manipulator arm on the starboard side of the pressure hull, a system to drop ballast, and a cluster of five, fixed direction, ducted propeller, marine thrusters at each of the port and starboard ends of the outer hull for propulsion and maneuvering, as can be seen in the photographs. These thrusters provide three axis translational motion and two axis (yaw and roll) rotation.

The vessel is commercially certified for unlimited full ocean depth operations by DNV GL.

The Limiting Factor normally operates from a dedicated support vessel, {{Ship|DSSV|Pressure Drop}}, but can also be operated from other suitably equipped vessels.

File:Limiting Factor CAD Rendering Cutaway.jpg|Limiting Factor CAD rendering cutaway view

File:View on Limiting Factor´s titanium sphere and the robotic arm.jpg|The titanium pressure hull during construction, with the acrylic viewports installed and the manipulator arm partly installed.

File:Overview LF portside.jpg|View of the port side

File:Detailed view of thrusters 2.jpg|Detail of the Limiting Factor{{'}}s port thruster group.

The designed operational maximum dive depth of {{cvt|11,000|m}} represents approximate {{visible anchor|full ocean depth}} – the maximum depth of the ocean of Earth. Test pressure of 14,000 msw ({{cvt|14000|m|ft|disp=out|abbr=values}} fsw, {{cvt|1400|bar|psi|disp=comma}}) provides a safety margin. The vessel has been certified to a preliminary maximum diving depth of {{cvt|10,925|+/-|6.5|m}} by DNV, based on data from the deepest dive. The vessel is commercially rated for repeated dives to full ocean depth.

The vessel is unusual in that it can travel on three primary axes, and in practice does a large amount of traveling vertically. If one uses the direction in which the occupants look out on the surroundings through physical windows to define the bow, it is wider than it is long. Alternatively it may be considered to have a bow at either end of the long axis, depending on the direction of motion at the time, like a proa. The long horizontal axis is {{cvt|4.6|m}}, while the short horizontal axis extent is only {{cvt|1.9|m}}. The height is {{cvt|3.7|m}}.

• Mass = {{cvt|12,500|kg}}
• Dry weight = {{cvt|11,700|kg}}
• Variable ballast = up to {{cvt|500|kg}} dive weights, and {{cvt|100|kg}} trim weights
• Payload = approximately {{cvt|220|kg}}

The vessel is operated by a pilot, and has seating for an observer

• Surface ballast = {{cvt|2150|l|ft3}}
• Syntactic foam buoyancy is used

The pressure hull is a {{cvt|1500|mm}} inside diameter by {{cvt|90|mm}} thick grade 5 titanium{{cite magazine|magazine=Titanium Today|issue=6|edition=2022 All Markets|publisher=International Titanium Association|date=July 2022|url=https://issuu.com/titaniumtoday/docs/titaniumtoday_q2_071622-1/s/16395919|pages=14–15|title=As a Material of Choice, Titanium Allows Submersible to Reach 'Full-Ocean Depth'|author=Michael C. Gabriele|quote=Initially, Triton and ATI considered using nickel steels, Inconel 718 nickel-based super alloy, aluminum alloys, and titanium Grade 23 to build the Triton sub, but eventually selected titanium Grade 5 (Ti 6Al-4V), the workhorse aerospace alloy.|accessdate=25 June 2023}} (Ti-6Al-4V ELI) alloy sphere machined to within 99.933% of spherical (for enhanced buckling stability). The sphere was built as two forged titanium domes that interlock with o-ring seals. The structure is certified for repeated dives to full ocean depth. The hydrodynamic fairing of the outer surface shell is non-structural and removable for access to equipment.

• Endurance = 16 hours +96 hours on emergency systems
• Speed = {{cvt|1|to|2|knots|ft/s m/s|1}} vertical, {{cvt|2|to|3|knots|ft/s m/s|1}} lateral
• Hull form configuration has been optimized for vertical travel, as much of the traveling time will be spent ascending and descending through the water column

The vessel is operated from a dual 24 V battery power supply and emergency supply, which can be jettisoned in an emergency. The main battery stores 65 kW·h.

There are 4 × {{cvt|5.5|kW}} horizontal propulsion thrusters (main thrusters), 4 × 5.5 kW vertical thrusters, and 2 × 5.5 kW maneuvering thrusters, mounted in two clusters at the opposite extremes of the long dimension. These can each be jettisoned if they become fouled on an obstruction, allowing the vessel to break free in an emergency.

The DSV is fitted with a single Kraft Telerobotics "Raptor" hydraulically powered 7-function manipulator with force feedback, at the starboard side of the pressure hull.

File:LF´s lower viewport and CDT probe.jpg probe]]

File:LF´s dive weight release mechanism close.jpg

The forward and downward view through the three ultra-wide angle acrylic viewports is unobstructed by structure or appendages, and illuminated by ten externally mounted high output LED lighting panels of 20,000 lumens each. The limited direct field of view through the ports is augmented by an array of four full ocean depth capable low-light cameras. Four high definition cameras are also provided to record missions.

Maneuvering is by control joystick, touch screen and manual override.

The cabin is temperature and humidity controlled, and the life support system uses carbon dioxide scrubbers and oxygen replenishment. Emergency life support is rated for 96 hours.

All routine maintenance can be done using standard tools.

Emergency release systems are provided for the batteries, so they can be jettisoned if they fail dangerously, and for the thrusters and manipulator arm, in case they get snagged on an obstacle which could prevent the vessel from surfacing.

Launch and recovery from DSSV Pressure Drop is by a hydraulic luffing (tilting) A-frame over the transom. The vessel is stowed on deck in a cradle.

{{blockquote|The naming of these vessels is a large tip of the hat to, and with no small amount of admiration for, Iain M Banks' brilliant "Culture" science fiction series.|Victor Vescovo}}

In Iain M. Banks' novel The Player of Games, the General Offensive Unit (demilitarised) Limiting Factor is the sapient warship provided to the main character Jernau Morat Gurgeh for transport to the Empire of Azad to take part in a board game tournament. It is nominally demilitarised, but retains part of its main armament.

After the sale of the submersible to the research group Inkfish in 2022, it was renamed Bakunawa after the Filipino mythological creature Bakunawa.{{Cite news |date=2023-04-01 |title=Deepest ever fish caught on camera off Japan |language=en-GB |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65148876 |access-date=2023-06-20}}

The DSV and support vessel DSSV Pressure Drop were sold in 2022 for an undisclosed amount to Gabe Newell's Inkfish ocean-exploration research organisation. The sale included a Kongsberg EM124 multibeam echo-sounder and three robot landers.

Inkfish plans to use the HES system to continue exploring the ocean depths, led by Prof Alan Jamieson of the University of Western Australia, who was chief scientist on most of Vescovo's expeditions.

The DSV was renamed to Bakunawa and the support vessel to Dagon.

{{see also|Five Deeps Expedition}}

In 2018, Victor Vescovo launched the Five Deeps Expedition, with the objective of visiting the deepest points of all five of the world's oceans, and mapping the vicinity, by the end of September 2019. This expedition was filmed in the documentary television series Expedition Deep Ocean. This objective was achieved one month ahead of schedule, and the expedition's team carried out biological samplings and depth confirmations at each location. Besides the deepest points of the five world oceans, the expedition also made dives in the Horizon Deep and the Sirena Deep, and mapped the Diamantina fracture zone.

File:Limiting Factor floating on the surface of the water after a dive into the Puerto Rico Trench.jpg

In December 2018, the Limiting Factor became the first piloted vessel to reach the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean, {{cvt|8,376|m}} below the ocean surface to the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench, an area subsequently referred to by world media as Brownson Deep.

File:Limiting Factor at the Cumberland East Bay (South Georgia Island).jpg

{{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=190

| image1 = Flag of the United States.svg

| image2 = Flag of Texas.svg

| image3 = Flag of the United Nations.svg

| image4 = Flag of Albania.svg

| footer = Flags on the side of DSV Limiting Factor. Clockwise from upper left: Flags of the United States, Texas, Albania, the United Nations.

}}

On 4 February 2019, Vescovo piloted Limiting Factor to the bottom of the South Sandwich Trench, the deepest part of the Southern Ocean, becoming the first person and first vessel to reach that point. In preparation for this dive, the expedition used a Kongsberg EM124 multibeam sonar system for accurate mapping of the trench.

On 16 April 2019, Vescovo piloted Limiting Factor to the bottom of the Sunda Trench south of Bali, Indonesia, reaching the deepest point of the Indian Ocean. The team reported sightings of what they believed to be previously unknown species, including a hadal snailfish and a gelatinous organism believed to be a stalked ascidian. The same dive was later undertaken by Patrick Lahey, President of Triton Submarines, and the expedition's chief scientist, Dr. Alan Jamieson. This dive was organised subsequent to the scanning of the Diamantina Fracture Zone using multibeam sonar, confirming that the Sunda Trench was deeper and settling the debate about where the deepest point in the Indian Ocean is.

File:Dr Dawn Wright and CDR Victor Vescovo Challenger Deep Dive 071222 Western Pool-1.jpg and Victor Vescovo on a dive at Challenger Deep]]

On 28 April 2019, Vescovo descended nearly {{cvt|11|km|0}} in Limiting Factor to the deepest place in the World – the Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench. On his first descent, he piloted the DSV Limiting Factor to a depth of {{cvt|10,928|m}}, a world record by {{cvt|16|m}}. Diving for a second time on 1 May, he became the first person to dive the Challenger Deep twice, finding "at least three new species of marine animals" and "some sort of plastic waste". Among the underwater creatures Vescovo encountered were a snailfish at {{cvt|26,250|ft}} and a spoon worm at nearly {{cvt|23,000|ft}}, the deepest level at which the species had ever been encountered.

On 7 May 2019, Vescovo and Jamieson, in Limiting Factor, made the first human-occupied deep submersible dive to the bottom of the Sirena Deep, the third deepest point in the ocean, about {{cvt|128|mi}} northeast of Challenger Deep. They spent 176 minutes at the bottom, and among the samples they retrieved was a piece of mantle rock from the western slope of the Mariana Trench.

On 10 June 2019, Vescovo piloted Limiting Factor to the bottom of the Horizon Deep in the Tonga Trench, confirming that it is the second deepest point of the World ocean and the deepest in the Southern Hemisphere at {{cvt|10,823|m}}. In doing so, Vescovo and Limiting Factor had descended to the first, second, and third deepest points in the ocean. Unlike the Sunda and Mariana Trenches, no signs of human contamination were found at Horizon Deep, which was described by the expedition as "completely pristine".

Vescovo completed the Five Deeps Expedition on 24 August 2019 when he piloted Limiting Factor to a depth of {{cvt|5,550|m}} at the bottom of the Molloy Deep in the Arctic Ocean.

{{main|USS Johnston (DD-557)}}

File:Starboard bow of the wreck of the USS Johnston DD-557.jpg

USS Johnston (DD-557) was a {{sclass|Fletcher|destroyer}} built for the United States Navy during World War II. On 25 October 1944, while assigned as part of the escort to six escort carriers, Johnston, two other Fletcher-class destroyers, and four destroyer escorts were engaged by a large Imperial Japanese Navy flotilla. In what became known as the Battle off Samar, Johnston and the other escort ships charged the Japanese ships to protect nearby US carriers and transport craft. After engaging several Japanese capital ships and a destroyer squadron, Johnston was sunk by gunfire, with 187 dead. The wreck was discovered on 30 October 2019 but was not properly identified until March 2021. Lying more than {{cvt|20,000|ft|mi m}} below the surface of the ocean, it was the deepest shipwreck ever surveyed until the discovery of {{USS|Samuel B. Roberts|DE-413|6}} on 22 June 2022.

On 30 October 2019, the {{RV|Petrel||2}}, a research vessel belonging to Vulcan Inc., discovered the remains of what was believed to be Johnston near the bottom of the Philippine Trench. The remains consisted of a deck gun, a propeller shaft, and some miscellaneous debris that could not be used to identify the wreck, but additional debris was observed lying deeper than the ship's ROV could go. On 31 March 2021, the Limiting Factor piloted by Victor Vescovo, surveyed and photographed the deeper wreckage and definitively identified it as Johnston. The wreck lies upright and is well preserved at a depth of {{cvt|21180|ft|mi m}}. Until Samuel B. Roberts was discovered on 22 June 2022, Johnston was the deepest identified shipwreck in the world.

{{clear}}

{{main|USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413)}}

file:Pilot_House_and_40mm_gun_mount_of_the_Samuel_B._Roberts_-_DE-413.jpg

file:Hull number 413 of the USS Samuel B Roberts, Destroyer Escort, lost during the Battle off Samar.jpg

USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) was a destroyer escort of the United States Navy that served in World War II and was sunk in the Battle off Samar, in which a small force of U.S. warships prevented a superior Imperial Japanese Navy force from attacking the amphibious invasion fleet off the Philippine island of Leyte. The ship was part of a relatively light flotilla of destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers called "Taffy 3" which was inadvertently left to fend off a fleet of heavily armed Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers off the island of Samar during the Battle off Samar, one of the engagements making up the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf of October 1944. Steaming through incoming shells, Samuel B. Roberts scored one torpedo hit and several shell hits on larger enemy warships before she was sunk. As of June 2022, it is the deepest shipwreck discovered.

An exploration team led by Victor Vescovo and made up of personnel of Caladan Oceanic and EYOS Expeditions discovered the wreck of Samuel B. Roberts in June 2022. The team found, identified, and surveyed the wreck during a series of six dives from 17 to 24 June 2022. The team found that the wreck reached the seabed in one piece, although it hit the sea floor bow first and with enough force to cause some buckling, and observed that the ship's stern had separated from the rest of the hull by about {{cvt|5|m}}. They reported that they had found evidence of damage to the ship inflicted by a Japanese battleship shell, including the vessel's fallen mast. The wreck lies at a depth of {{cvt|6865|m|ft mi}}, making it the deepest wreck ever identified. It exceeds the previous record of {{cvt|6469|m|ft mi}}, set in March 2021 when Vescovo's team found and identified the wreck of the destroyer USS Johnston, which was sunk in the same battle.

{{main|French submarine Minerve (S647)}}

File:S647 Minerve Dive 020120 V Vescovo and Admiral Jean-Louis Barbier.jpg

File:Minerve Sail 020120 Dive VVescovo.jpg

The French Daphne-class diesel–electric submarine {{ship|French submarine|Minerve|S647|2}} was lost with all hands in bad weather while returning to her home port of Toulon in January 1968.

Minerve was one of four submarines lost to unknown causes in 1968 along with the {{ship|Soviet submarine|K-129|1960|6}}, the American {{USS|Scorpion|SSN-589|6}}, and Israeli submarine {{Ship|INS|Dakar}}. The French government started a new search for Minerve on 4 July 2019 in deep waters about {{cvt|45|km}} south of Toulon. The location of the wreck was found on 21 July 2019 by the company Ocean Infinity using the search ship {{ship||Seabed Constructor}}. The wreck was found at a depth of {{cvt|2350|m}}, broken into three main pieces scattered over {{cvt|300|m}} along the seabed. Although Minerve{{'}}s sail was damaged, it was possible to positively identify the wreckage. as the letters "MINE" and "S" (from Minerve and S647, respectively) were still readable on the hull.

In December 2019, Vescovo proposed a dive on the wreck of the Minerve in the Limiting Factor. On the first dive, 1 February 2020, Vescovo dived with retired French Rear Admiral Jean-Louis Barbier, to gather new information on the cause of the loss.

On the second dive, 2 February, Vescovo piloted while Hervé Fauve, the son of the submarine's commanding officer, sat in the second seat. At the bottom they placed a granite memorial plaque on a section of Minerve{{'}}s hull at a depth of over {{cvt|2,370|m}}

{{clear}}

{{Empty section|date=December 2024}}

File:Aerial view of the mothership and the submersible during the Bahama trials.jpg|Aerial view of the mothership and the submersible during the Bahama trials

File:Limiting Factor to be prepared for a dive into the Atlantic Ocean.jpg|Limiting Factor being prepared for a dive into the Atlantic Ocean

File:Overview LF aft.jpg|Rear view of Limiting Factor stowed in its cradle on deck

{{portal|Oceans}}

• {{annotated link|Challenger expedition}}
• {{annotated link|Deep-sea exploration}}
• {{annotated link|Submersible}}
• {{Annotated link|Deep-submergence vehicle}}
• {{annotated link|Trieste (bathyscaphe)|Trieste (bathyscaphe)}}
• {{annotated link|Deepsea Challenger|Deepsea Challenger}}
• {{annotated link|Timeline of diving technology}}

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{{Cite web |url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/02/explorer-completes-another-historic-submersible-dive |title=Explorer completes another historic submersible dive |date=2019-02-06|website=For The Win|language=en|access-date=2019-02-11}}

{{cite news |last1=Thebault |first1=Reis |title=He went where no human had gone before. Our trash had already beaten him there. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/05/15/he-went-where-no-human-had-gone-before-our-trash-had-already-beat-him-there/ |access-date=2019-05-23 |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2019-05-14 |language=en}}

{{cite news |last=Werner |first=Ben |title=Wreck of Famed WWII Destroyer USS Johnston May Have Been Found |url=https://news.usni.org/2019/10/30/wreck-of-famed-wwii-destroyer-uss-johnston-may-have-been-found |work=USNI News |date=2019-10-31 |access-date=2022-01-27 }}

{{cite book |last=Wukovits |first=John |year=2013 |title=For Crew and Country: The Inspirational True Story of Bravery and Sacrifice Aboard the USS Samuel B. Roberts |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0312681890 |pages=6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/forcrewcountryin0000wuko}}

}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Bliss |first1=Dominic |title=The incredible engineering behind the submarine that plumbed the deepest depths |url=https://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/feature-the-incredible-engineering-behind-the-submarine-that-plumbed-the-deepest-depths |journal=Professional Engineering Magazine |issue=3 |date=2020 |pages=24–27 |issn=0953-6639}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Jamieson |first1=Alan J. |author-link1=Alan Jamieson |last2=Ramsey |first2=John |last3=Lahey |first3=Patrick |title=Hadal Manned Submersible |url=https://cdn.coverstand.com/60787/616445/cc8b687dd85cb5094e16a0ed0ca80d0ab14fe149.pdf |journal=Sea Technology |date=2019 |volume=60 |issue=9 |pages=22–24 |issn=0093-3651}}
• {{cite book |last=Young |first=Josh |title=Expedition Deep Ocean: The First Descent to the Bottom of All Five Oceans |publisher=Pegasus Books |location=New York |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-6431-3676-9}}

{{Commons category-inline|Limiting Factor (submersible)}}

{{Underwater diving|other}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Limiting Factor}}

Category:Deep-submergence vehicles