21100 LEGO Ideas Shinkai 6500 Submarine

Description

The Shinkai 6500, the world's deepest operational manned research submersible, can dive to 6,500 meters, enabling exploration of roughly 98% of the ocean floor. Completed in 1990, it carries a crew of three—two pilots and one researcher—on missions lasting approximately eight hours. With a flawless safety record, it has performed over 1,000 dives. The submersible descends and ascends at about 40 meters per minute, requiring around two and a half hours to reach maximum depth. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, it maneuvers on the seabed using four thrusters. Its pressure hull, constructed from a robust titanium alloy and measuring 73.5 mm thick, withstands extreme pressures—about 680 times atmospheric pressure at full depth—where even minor structural compromise is unacceptable.