What is the current depth record for a submarine?
The answer for a big, fully crewed submarine is the USS Dolphin (AGSS 555), launched on 17th August 1968. Please see at the bottom for exceptions – small manned submarines. USS Dolphin (AGSS 555), homeported at the Naval Research and Development (NRaD) facility in San Diego, is the Navy’s only operational, diesel-electric, deep-diving, research and development submarine. It can carry scientific payloads of over 12 tons, a considerably greater capacity than any other deep diving research vessel operating today. USS Dolphin serves as a scientific platform capable of operations at unprecedented depths greatly exceeding that of any known operational submarine. In November 1968, she set a depth record for operating submarines that still stands. In August 1969, she launched a torpedo from the deepest depth that one has ever been fired. The single most significant technical achievement in the development of the USS Dolphin is the pressure hull itself. It is a constant diameter cylinder, close
