RV DEEP QUEST Type: Research Submersible Length: 40 feet
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The deep submersible vehicle Deep Quest was designed, built, and operated by Lockheed Missiles & Space Company. Its broad program of research was available to both commercial activities and the U.S. Navy. The submersible was designed and equipped for a variety of missions, including salvage, seafloor survey and inspection to include coring, shear strength measurement, ocean bottom mapping, color photography, and other special assignments. Built in Sunnyvale, California, Deep Quest was launched on 4 June 1967, and it operated from Lockheed's laboratory in San Diego. Deep Quest holds the depth record of 8,310 feet for U.S.-built submersibles; it planted a United States flag on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean on this historic dive on 28 February 1968. In 1969, it recovered the flight recorder boxes from two airliners that crashed in the Pacific Ocean. In 1970, it located the wreck of an F6F Hellcat, a WW II fighter plane, in 3,180 feet of water off San Diego. Deep Quest used its mechanical arm to attach a lifting sling that allowed the plane's recovery by the Navy. Deep Quest made its last dive on 9 September 1980.  Return to the HNSA Home Page.
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