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, son of

Auguste Piccard Auguste Antoine Piccard (28 January 1884 – 24 March 1962) was a Switzerland, Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer known for his record-breaking Gas balloon, hydrogen balloon flights, with which he studied the Earth's upper atmosphere. Picca ...

. 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 and ...

, 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-74), ...

. 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 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 oceanic basin, 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 ...

.Technical Data Sheet: Mesoscaphe PX-8 Auguste Piccard
/ref> The ship is currently on display at the Swiss Museum of Transport in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

. It was fully restored for the first time between 2005 and 2014, the restoration taking 28,000 hours.

References

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External links

{{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