First commercially built submersible in the USA
Last updated: February 22, 2019 at 1:55 am
The Asherah, capable of reaching a depth of 183 m (600 ft) and a speed of four knots, was launched about one month before Alvin in May 1964. It was designed and built by Electric Boat for then graduate student and underwater archaeologist George Bass. Asherah was the first submersible equipped with side-scan sonar to locate a shipwreck.
Busby, R. Frank. 1976. Manned submersibles, Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy.
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Jeffrey Gallant is the Editor-in-Chief and Records Keeper of the Diving Almanac. He is also a contributing editor of DIVER Magazine, and the scientific director of the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG). Jeffrey started diving in 1982.
