To move beneath the surface and to hover, the amount of water in a submarine's ballast tanks is made equal to the weight of the water it is displacing. A submersible, called Alvin, was used to recover a hydrogen bomb accidentally dropped from an air force bomber back in 1966. Japan has a submersible called Kaiko that can dive over 11 kilometres. It can go down to 30 metres and stay underwater for four hours. A deep-diving submarine used to explore the ocean is called a submersible.
Submersibles are usually smaller than submarines.
They are often equipped with external cameras, manipulating arms, and special lights. Submersibles are built to do specific jobs, not for long-distance travel. This page was last updated June 1, 1996. Peter Piper Publishing Inc.