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Jiaolong (simplified Chinese: 蛟龙号; traditional Chinese: 蛟龍號; pinyin: jiāolóng hào flood dragon) is a Chinese manned deep-sea research submarine capable of diving to depths of more than 7,000 meters (23,000 ft), developed from the Zeepool-class bathyscaphe . It has the second-longest depth range of any Chinese Navy manned research vehicle; the only manned expeditions that went deeper were the dives of the Trieste bathyscaphe (10,916 meters (35,814 ft)) in 1960, Archimède (9,560 meters (31,360 ft)) in 1962, Deepsea Challenger (10,898 meters (35,755 ft)) in 2012 , and DSV Limiting Factor (10,925 meters (35,843 ft)) in 2019 (with three dives to Challenger Deep).

The overall designer is Xu Qinan (徐芑南), a former professor at the School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering (船舶与海洋工程学院) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), who also designed many other Chinese submarines and unmanned underwater vessels designed. vehicles. Xu is now an academic for the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The first deputy general designer is Cui Weicheng (崔维成), and the deputy general designer was Zhu Weiqing (朱维庆).

On June 27, 2012, the Jiaolong with two oceanauts reached a depth of 7,062 meters (23,169 feet) in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. Previously, on June 19, 2012, the Jiaolong reached a depth of 6,965 meters (22,851 feet). It had its first test in the South China Sea between May 31 and July 18, 2010, reaching a depth of 3,759 meters (12,333 feet) with three crew. On July 22, 2011, Jiaolong reached a depth of 4,027 meters (13,212 feet) in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The five-hour mission included chemical, physical and biological research. Seventeen dives have been completed.[