Auguste Piccard (PX-8)
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The ''Auguste Piccard'' mesoscaphe, also known simply as the ''Mésoscaphe'', was a manned underwater
submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
designed in 1964 by
Jacques Piccard Jacques Piccard (28 July 19221 November 2008) was a Swiss oceanographer and engineer, known for having developed underwater submarines for studying ocean currents. In the Challenger Deep, he and Lt. Don Walsh of the United States Navy were the f ...
, son of
Auguste Piccard Auguste Antoine Piccard (28 January 1884 – 24 March 1962) was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer known for his record-breaking hydrogen balloon flights, with which he studied the Earth's upper atmosphere. Piccard was also known for h ...
. It was the world's first passenger submarine, built for
Expo64 The Swiss national exposition of 1964 (French: ''Exposition nationale suisse de 1964''), usually shortened to Expo 64, was a world's fair held in Lausanne, more specifically in Vidy and the neighbouring Vallée de la Jeunesse, between 30 April an ...
, the 1964 Swiss national exhibition in
Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...
. It was built at the
Giovanola Giovanola Frères SA was a prominent steel manufacturing company based in Monthey, Switzerland. It was known for building electrical power stations, water storage tanks, pipelines, boilers, highway bridges, submarines, ski lifts and many other st ...
fabrication plant in
Monthey Monthey (; frp, Montê) is the capital of the district of Monthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History The castle in the town center was built in 950 on a hill, the first houses of Monthey surrounded it. Monthey is first mention ...
and the first immersion took place in
Le Bouveret Le Bouveret () is a village in the commune of Port-Valais in the Swiss canton of Valais. Situated at the southernmost end of Lake Geneva and close to the French border, Le Bouveret is very much tourism-oriented with several amusement attractions ...
on 27 February 1964. It has a total of 45 Plexiglas portholes, with 20 on each side for the 40 passengers. The ''Auguste Piccard'' achieved 1,100 dives in
Lake Geneva , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial lak ...
with 33,000 visitors in 1964 and 1965, to a depth of approximately 150 metres. The ride cost CHF 40 and was the hit of the national exhibition. From 1969 to 1984, it achieved scientific and industrial observation dives in the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
.Technical Data Sheet: Mesoscaphe PX-8 Auguste Piccard
/ref> The ship is currently on display at the
Swiss Museum of Transport The Swiss Museum of Transport or Verkehrshaus der Schweiz (literally "Transportation House of Switzerland") in Lucerne opened in July 1959 and exhibits all forms of transport including trains, automobiles, ships and aircraft as well as communicati ...
in
Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...
. It was fully restored for the first time between 2005 and 2014, the restoration taking 28,000 hours.


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{{DEFAULTSORT:Auguste Piccard (Px-15) Research submarines of Switzerland 1964 ships Lake Geneva Merchant ships of Switzerland Submarines of Switzerland Ships built in Switzerland Museum ships