The Deepstar is a 44-passenger tourist submarine with a unique transparent pressure hull composed of acrylic plastic (polymethyl methacrylate). The submarine is rated for a depth of 80 meters and was built by Comex S.A. in France in 1992.

The submarine is currently in storage in the Caribbean and will require an extensive refit. With the submarine is a complete support system consisting of a 90 passenger high speed catamaran transfer vessel and a self-propelled support dock with integrated hydraulic lift and full support equipment. The price of all three vessels is approximately $750,000 and the estimated refit costs are in excess of $2.0 million. Upon completion of the refit by U.S. Submarines the equipment will have a fair market value of $5.0+ million and a replacement value of $9 million.

The Deepstar is a unique tourist submarine that provides a completely immersive experience for its passengers. The support barge provides unprecedented versatility in operations.

Unfortunately, the Deepstar and its support vessels have been left to deteriorate in the shipyard with no maintenance having been done for many years. The storage bill at the yard was not paid by the owner and the yard now has title to the equipment and is selling it to recoup the storage fees and other unpaid bills. The work required to bring the submarine back into workable condition with a current ABS class certificate is technically highly complex and significant in scope. All of the acrylic hull sections should be replaced as the 20 year mandated retirement of the acrylic will occur in 2010.

U.S. Submarines has done one refit of the submarine and is likely the only company in the world that can supply the new hull sections, thanks to our new acrylic manufacturing facility being set-up to build the viewports for the Poseidon Undersea Resort.

Download a Deepstar brochure (PDF 120K)

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