According to CCTV News, the "Deep Sea Warrior", a key project of the National Key R&D Program "Key Deep Sea Technologies and Equipment", began structural flaw detection on November 9, 2017. Currently, the acceptance and delivery of the submersible are proceeding as planned.　　

　　After the light shell and buoyancy materials were disassembled, the Deep Sea Warrior submersible underwent structural flaw detection. Structural flaw detection is a series of processes to detect whether the submersible has undergone structural changes and damage after undergoing rigorous sea trials. The structural penetration coloring nondestructive flaw detection method is carried out at multiple key structural locations. It is an important nondestructive testing method to protect the quality of China's deep-sea submersibles!

　　The "Deep Sea Warrior" manned submersible is China's second deep-sea manned submersible, and its operating capacity reaches 4,500 meters underwater. The name "Deep Sea Warrior" implies that we hope to explore the mysteries of the deep sea like a warrior with its outstanding performance.
 

　　On the morning of October 3, the mother ship "Exploration No. 1" carrying the manned submersible "Deep Sea Warrior" and the patrol ship of China Marine Surveillance 2168 returned to Sanya after completing all the sea trials of the "Deep Sea Warrior" in the South my country Sea. "Deep Sea Warrior" is my country's second deep-sea manned submersible, and its operating capacity can reach 4,500 meters underwater. Its successful sea trial also adds a "powerful weapon" to my country's deep-sea exploration.
 

　　Another major step forward for deep manned submersibles

　　From the departure of the "Exploration One" operation mother ship from the dock on August 16 to its return to the dock today, the "Deep Sea Warrior" completed a total of 28 dives at different depths from 50 meters to 4,500 meters during the sea trial. The submersible is named "Deep Sea Warrior", implying that it hopes to explore the mysteries of the deep sea like a warrior with its outstanding performance.
 

　　Academician Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the test team has comprehensively and strictly tested the performance indicators of the "Deep Sea Warrior" manned submersible. According to the results of the sea trial, the "Deep Sea Warrior" manned submersible has excellent performance and can be included in the series of the most advanced manned submersibles in the world. This is another major leap forward in my country's development of deep-sea manned submersibles, and it also indicates that my country has fully acquired the ability to develop and test deep-sea manned submersibles.

　　More than 95% localization, truly independent research and development

　　As the brother of the Jiaolong, the deepest manned submersible in the world, the biggest difference between the Warrior and the Jiaolong is that more than 95% of the submersible is domestically produced. Liu Xincheng, the general commander of the 4,500-meter manned submersible project, said: In the past, my country's deep-sea engineering technology was indeed relatively backward in the world. Many things were purchased, which was costly and inefficient.
 

　　The buoyancy material, deep-sea lithium battery and manipulator of the "Warrior" are all developed by China itself. This not only reduces costs, but also enables relevant technology companies to innovate and grow rapidly. In addition, the depth of 4,500 meters is of great significance. It basically covers the depth of resources that can be developed in our country's main sea areas and international sea areas.

Overcoming hardships and completing the "big test" in various trades

　　In fact, the diving challenge of the "Deep Sea Warrior" was not smooth sailing. For the first dive, the submersible only needed to dive to a depth of 50 meters, which was not difficult for a 4,500-meter submersible and could even be considered a "small test".

　　In order to place the submersible safely and stably on the sea surface, it must first be hoisted. The submersible needs to be hooked to the A-frame with heavy cables and huge hooks. Since it needs to be adjusted with the crane, the hooking takes a lot of time. After some training, the submersible finally entered the water and quickly dived to 50 meters. Everything went smoothly. But when it was recovered, a thrilling scene occurred: the first step of recovering the submersible is for the frogman to hang the cable on the submersible. However, the frogman failed to hang the cable for the first time, and a wave hit him and almost knocked him into the water. Fortunately, when hanging the cable for the second time, the frogman stepped firmly and climbed onto the submersible. This dive, all types of work experienced a "big test".
 

　　Not only were there many twists and turns during the first test, but after the submersible returned to the mother ship for inspection, scientists also found many problems that needed to be solved.

　　As an extremely sophisticated high-tech instrument, a submersible has a high-energy computing brain and intricate nerves just like humans. Zhu Puqiang, the person in charge of the control system of the "Deep Sea Warrior" at the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his team are responsible for building the "brain" and "nervous system" of the submersible. They often work until 4 a.m. for a small component, and have to get up at 6 a.m. the next day to participate in a new round of sea trials. In addition to checking the brain and nerves, the skin, arms and even the equipment that assists diving of the submersible have had problems. Liu Xincheng said that the purpose of the sea trial is to find problems. At the 50-meter stage, 7 problems were exposed, but these problems were solved by the sea trial team's own efforts.
 

　　4500 meters is not the final goal

　　It is worth mentioning that the successful 4,500-meter sea trial of the Warrior is not the ultimate goal of my country's independent research and development of submersibles. The deepest place on the seabed in the world is more than 10,000 meters deep, and currently, my country has deployed a 11,000-meter deep-sea project, which is expected to be launched in 2020.
 

Original link: Nondestructive testing protects the "Deep Sea Warrior" manned submersible, the pride of nondestructive testing people!