Jiaolong (submersible)

Jiaolong ( flood dragon) is a Chinese manned deep-sea research submersible that can dive to a depth of over 7,000 m. It has the greatest depth range of any manned research vehicle in the world, the only manned expeditions to have gone deeper were the dives of the Trieste bathyscaphe in 1960 and the dive of the Deepsea Challenger in 2012, both diving to Challenger Deep. However, those vessels could not navigate horizontally along the bottom of the sea bed, severely limiting their scientific exploration capability. The general designer is Mr. Xu Huangnan (徐芑南), a professor of School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering(船舶与海洋工程学院) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SHJTU), who also designed many other Chinese submersibles and unmanned underwater vehicles. The first deputy general designer is Mr. Cui Weicheng (崔维成), and the deputy general designer was Mr. Zhu Weiqing (朱维庆).

On June 27, 2012, the Jiaolong with two oceanauts reached a depth of 7,062 metres (23,169 feet) in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. Previously on June 19, 2012, the Jiaolong reached a depth of 6,965 metres (22,851 feet). It had its first test in South China Sea between May 31 and July 18, 2010, reaching a depth of 3,759 m with three crew. On July 22, 2011, Jiaolong reached a depth of 4,027.31 m in northeastern Pacific. The five-hour mission included chemical, physical and biological research. 17 dives have been completed. Only the US, France, Russia and Japan have also independently produced this deep-water technology.