DSV Alvin
manned deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Alvin (DSV-2) is a crewed deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The original vehicle was built by General Mills' Electronics Group in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Named to honor the prime mover and creative inspiration for the vehicle, Allyn Vine, Alvin was commissioned on June 5, 1964.
The submersible is launched from the deep submergence support vessel RV Atlantis (AGOR-25), which is also owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by WHOI. The submersible has made more than 5,200 dives, carrying two scientists and a pilot, observing the lifeforms that must cope with super-pressures and move about in total darkness, as well as exploring the wreck of Titanic. Research conducted by Alvin has been featured in nearly 2,000 scientific papers.
Design
Alvin was designed as a replacement for bathyscaphes and other less maneuverable oceanographic vehicles. Its more nimble design was made possible in part by the development of syntactic foam, which is buoyant and yet strong enough to serve as a structural material at great depths.
The vessel weighs 17 tons. It allows for two scientists and one pilot to dive for up to nine hours at 6,500 metres (21,300 ft). The submersible features two robotic arms and can be fitted with mission-specific sampling and experimental gear.
“DSV Alvin” enters the record as manned deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alvin, manned and deep-ocean can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“DSV Alvin” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Alvin, manned and deep-ocean provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q449016. VIAF identifies the subject as 143176744. The Library of Congress control number is n88174465. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “DSV Alvin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.