Trieste (bathyscaphe)

Trieste shortly after her purchase by the US Navy in 1958
History
Italy
Name	Trieste
Builder	Acciaierie Terni/Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico
Launched	1 August 1953[1]
Fate	Sold to the United States Navy, 1958
United States
Name	Trieste
Acquired	1958
Decommissioned	1966
Reclassified	DSV-0, 1 June 1971
Status	Preserved as an exhibit in the U.S. Navy Museum
General characteristics
Type	Bathyscaphe
Displacement	50 long tons (51 Mg)
Length	59 ft 6 in (18.14 m)
Beam	11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Draft	18 ft 6 in (5.64 m)
Complement	Two

Trieste is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe. In 1960, it became the first crewed vessel to reach the bottom of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in Earth's seabed.^[2] The mission was the final goal for Project Nekton, a series of dives conducted by the United States Navy in the Pacific Ocean near Guam. The vessel was piloted by Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh. They reached a depth of about 10,916 metres (35,814 ft).

The bathyscaphe was designed by Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard, the father of pilot Jacques Piccard. It was built in Italy and first launched in 1953. The vessel was first owned and operated by the French Navy until it was purchased by the US Navy in 1958. It was taken out of service in 1966. Since the 1980s, it has been on exhibit in the National Museum of the United States Navy in Washington, D.C.