Patent ID: 7533625

Claim:
Underwater vessel having a pressure hull, a drive assembly, and at least one ancillary device arranged on the pressure hull; and wherein: the at least one ancillary device is fixedly connected to a lifting body, which has a lower density than the density of the water, with the density and volume of the lifting body being selected such that the lifting force acting in the water on the ancillary device with the lifting body compensates for the force of gravity acting on the ancillary device and the lifting body; the drive assembly has two or more propeller drives, which are accommodated in drive tubes, which are arranged distributed on the outside of the pressure hull and have a propeller protruding at one end of the tube; and each propeller drive has associated with it, as an ancillary device, a protection apparatus surrounding its propeller, and a lifting tube, which is fixedly connected to the protection apparatus and is pushed onto each drive tube as the lifting body.