Alvin takes first science dive since overhaul

Alvin, the nation's only deep-sea research submarine, took its first scientific dive Mar 15, 2014 after a 39- month hiatus and a major overhaul that dramatically upgraded the sub. Because the first dive site was only 320 m deep, the sub was on the bottom about 12 mm later, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Susan Humphris, Alvin pilot Bob Waters, and pilot-in-training Nathan Brown spent the next 5 hrs doing the undersea equivalent of a road test. Humphris described the tests of the Alvin's new command-and-control features that automatically maintain the sub's position, attitude, or heading.