Alvin depth vehicle

RPs have already been used in different structural applications, to replace conventional metal in seawater-compressed air surfacing ballast tanks in the Alvin depth vehicle. This vehicle, a first-generation deep research vehicle, also used RP in its outer hull construction to enclose the pressure tanks and aluminum frame. In the unmanned acoustical research vehicle of the Ordnance Research Laboratory called Divar, an RP cylinder with a 16 in. OD, 3/4 in. wall thickness, I2V2 in. ID with nine ribs, a 60 in. length and weight of 180 pounds went to depths of 950 m (6,500 ft.). 

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