Fluid Energy Launches 64-Foot Passenger Submarine

Fluid Energy Ltd. recently launched the first of a line of Scottish-built, 48-seat leisure submarines.

Designed and built at the company's yard at Firth of Forth in Scotland, the 64-foot submarine will be delivered to Submarine Tours of St. Thomas, Inc., for operation in the Caribbean.

Built at a cost of $2.7 million, the Looking Glass LG50 submarine displaces 95 tons, and has a pressure hull diameter of 8V2 feet.

Although rated for a maximum depth of 250 feet, the submarine will operate at depths of 90 to 150 feet, offering hour-long underwater tours.

Her hull has 11 large portholes along each side, viewing bubbles at her bow and stern, a battery of floodlights and feeding jets to attract fish.

In addition, she carries a miniature remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in her deck housing, which can be deployed to take video or still pictures for or of the passengers.

Painted yellow, reminiscent of the Beatles' song, "Yellow Submarine," the LG50 is the culmination of a dream for Mike Angove, Fluid Energy's managing director and founder.

"I have been fascinated by the idea of the leisure submarine since I was a boy, when I read of the submarine built by the Picard family in the 1950s and operated on Lake Geneva," Mr.

Angove said. "I always believed that a leisure submarine was viable, given the right size ve- hide, cost-efficient operations and savvy marketing." Designing submersibles for the offshore oil market since 1983, Fluid Energy already has a second order from Looking Glass Cruises of Bermuda, and is expected to announce additional contracts in the near future.

For free literature on the submarine designed by Fluid Energy Ltd., Circle 71 on Reader Service Card

Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 78, Apr 1988

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Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.