Ben Franklin (PX-15)
Underwater submersible used for NASA confinement studies.
The Ben Franklin mesoscaphe, also known as the Grumman/Piccard PX-15, is a crewed underwater submersible built in 1968. It was conceived by explorer and inventor Jacques Piccard to house a six-man crew for up to 30 days of oceanographic study in the Gulf Stream. NASA participated in the project to study long-term close confinement as a simulation of extended space flights.
Quick Facts
- Builder
- Giovanola fabrication plant in Monthey
- Switzerland
- by Piccard and Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
- Length
- 48 ft / 14.6 m
- Beam
- 21 ft / 6.4 m
- Height
- 20 ft / 6.1 m
- Weight
- 130 tons
- Crew capacity
- six
- Design crush depth
- 4,000 ft / 1.22 km
Facts from the source article.
Design and operation
The Ben Franklin was constructed between 1966 and 1968 at a Swiss plant in Monthey, built by Piccard and the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation under Donald B Terrana. After completion, it was taken apart and moved to Florida. This vessel holds the distinction of being the first submarine to meet American Bureau of Shipping standards. Its design allowed for a crush depth of 4000 feet, and it was intended to drift neutrally buoyant between 600 and 2000 feet deep.
Weighing 130 tons, it features four external electric propulsion pods used mainly for adjusting its altitude, with power coming from heavy lead batteries mounted outside the hull. Piccard pushed for 29 viewing portholes, overruling engineers who worried about creating dangerous weak spots. The mission launched on July 14, 1969, off Palm Beach, Florida, with Piccard leading. Surface ships accompanied it until it surfaced on August 14, having traveled 1444 miles to a point 300 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
After 1969, the Ben Franklin undertook a few more dives, including Robert Ballard’s first deep-sea expedition—Ballard later found the wreck of the . In 1971, it ran aground on a reef and was sold to Vancouver businessman John Horton, then sat idle for nearly thirty years on the North Shore. In December 1999, facing a choice to move it or scrap it, the submersible was given to the Vancouver Maritime Museum. After restoration, it was put on display outside the museum.
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