SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV)

A SEAL Delivery Vehicle is a small, free-flooding wet submersible that carries combat swimmers and their equipment from a host platform to a clandestine objective, with the divers breathing from the vehicle’s air supply or their own rebreathers in the flooded compartment. The US Navy’s Mk 8 SDV launches from a dry deck shelter mounted on a host SSN or SSGN. Because the crew is exposed to the surrounding water and cold, range and endurance are limited, which drove development of the dry combat submersible to carry operators in a one-atmosphere cabin.