Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV)

A deep-submergence rescue vehicle is a small manned submersible that mates with the escape hatch of a disabled submarine on the seabed and ferries survivors to the surface under pressure. The US Navy’s Mystic (DSRV-1) and Avalon (DSRV-2), in service from 1971, could be air-transported and carried piggyback on a mother submarine, mating to a downed boat’s hatch via a transfer skirt and lifting around 24 people per run. Both retired in 2008, replaced by the Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System (SRDRS) and its Pressurized Rescue Module.