# Once, in 1960, for 20 minutes, blah blah blah **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 14, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110 "2010-04-14T19:28:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/1 "2010-04-14T19:28:40Z")
Tomorrow at the U.S. Naval Museum in Washington, DC, the Navy will honor Dr. Don Walsh. He copiloted the Trieste in its journey to the Marianas Trench fifty years ago. Dr. Walsh is a retired Navy captain, author of 200 published articles on marine science, and has lectured in 50 countries. Those presenting the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award (the highest civilian award in the Navy) include the Oceanographer of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Research, the Director of the Naval Historical Center, and the Explorer-in-Residence (!) of the National Geographic Society. No word on whether any of the attendees are secret Dopers who will snicker during any of the speeches. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/2 "2010-04-14T19:40:29Z")
**Dr. Walsh** : Yes, I see a question? **Audience Member** : How many times did you go down? **Dr. Walsh** : Just once. So…yes, another question? **Other Audience Member** : And for how long? **Dr. Walsh** : About 20 minutes. As you can see on…oh, yes. Another question? \*\* Third Audience Member\*\*: When was this? \*\* Dr. Walsh\*\*: 1960. Back then… \*\* First Audience Member\*\*: How many times again? ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/3 "2010-04-14T19:40:43Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > … > > No word on whether any of the attendees are secret Dopers who will snicker during any of the speeches. Well, if I could be there, I certainly would. I remember very clearly reading a book on that trip. I think it included some others as well, but my memory-fu is not giving me any more data. In any case, I was enthralled by the account of that trip. Aside: I;m just wondering whether I missed something about the snicker thing…probably _whooshed_ over my head, no disrespect intended there, just asking why? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/4 "2010-04-14T19:44:36Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#): > > Well, if I could be there, I certainly would. I remember very clearly reading a book on that trip. I think it included some others as well, but my memory-fu is not giving me any more data. In any case, I was enthralled by the account of that trip. > > Aside: I;m just wondering whether I missed something about the snicker thing…probably _whooshed_ over my head, no disrespect intended there, just asking why? [The relavent thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283407) and [also this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=202225). ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/5 "2010-04-14T20:11:51Z")
**Ravenman** You said that Dr. Don Walsh was one of the people aboard the _Triestse_ when it made its historic dive in 1960. Just how deeply did it descend? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/6 "2010-04-14T20:19:09Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > **Ravenman** > You said that Dr. Don Walsh was one of the people aboard the _Triestse_ when it made its historic dive in 1960. Just how deeply did it descend? And for how long? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/7 "2010-04-14T20:28:38Z")
Oh, I know. I’m just not telling. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/8 "2010-04-14T20:28:49Z")
And how many times has it been to the deepest part of the ocean? ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/9 "2010-04-14T21:12:39Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > [The relavent thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283407) and [also this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=202225). Thank you, I see now. Sorta. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/10 "2010-04-16T13:12:52Z")
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041502544.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041502544.html) Some highlights of the story: > [@](#): > > Finally, at 35,800 feet, then-Navy Lt. Don Walsh, 28, phoned the surface: “This is Trieste. We are on the bottom of Challenger Deep. . . . Over.” > > It was Jan. 23, 1960. Walsh and crewmate Jacques Piccard had reached one of the most forbidding places on Earth, a place where no one had been before – and no one has been since. . . . > > The trip down and back, with 20 minutes on the bottom, would take all day, about 4 1/2 hours down and 3 1/2 back up. To summarize, they went to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Once. In 1960. For 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/11 "2010-04-16T13:45:20Z")
I remember as a little kid seeing the pictures of the [“submarine”](http://www.hnsa.org/ships/img/trieste2.jpg) as it looked to me. It looked pretty roomy. Then I found out as an adult that they spent the whole time cramped inside that tiny ball at the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/12 "2010-04-16T14:18:56Z")
And this thread should be dedicated to\*\* Legion\*\* who started the initial thread. May his/ her memory linger. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/13 "2010-04-16T15:42:56Z")
I remember Dr Walsh from his articles in Proceedings magazine, BTW The Triestse still exists and is in a museum. ---
**Author:** ![ashenRiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/65b543/32.png) [@ashenRiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashenRiot)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/14 "2010-04-17T22:46:37Z")
They talked about it on NPR today… > **[An Unmatched Journey To Mysterious Ocean Depths](https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126058083&ft=1&f=1001)** > > In 1960, Don Walsh was one of two men who descended to the deepest point in all the world's oceans — nearly seven miles below the surface in the Mariana Trench. In 50 years, no person has repeated the feat. Walsh was honored in Washington this week... ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/15 "2010-04-18T20:38:49Z")
:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/16 "2010-04-18T20:58:19Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I remember as a little kid seeing the pictures of the [“submarine”](http://www.hnsa.org/ships/img/trieste2.jpg) as it looked to me. It looked pretty roomy. Then I found out as an adult that they spent the whole time cramped inside that tiny ball at the bottom. Oh cool. I missed the whole thing by not being born yet, and I’d never seen the sub. I always imagined it looked like the [alvin](http://www.elementlist.com/images/alvin.jpg). The trieste is **huge** by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/17 "2010-04-18T21:37:54Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > Oh cool. I missed the whole thing by not being born yet, and I’d never seen the sub. I always imagined it looked like the [alvin](http://www.elementlist.com/images/alvin.jpg). The trieste is **huge** by comparison. But all alvin had to carry was three chimpmunks. Tris ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-in-1960-for-20-minutes-blah-blah-blah/536110/18 "2010-04-18T22:18:15Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > Oh cool. I missed the whole thing by not being born yet, and I’d never seen the sub. I always imagined it looked like the [alvin](http://www.elementlist.com/images/alvin.jpg). The trieste is **huge** by comparison. Just in case you dont know this… That LARGE part of the “ship” is basically the underwater version of a balloon. Not terribly strong and filled with something slightly less dense than water (diesel fuel?). The bouyancy of THAT is what keeps the tiny little sphere at the bottom (which holds the people) from sinking like a rock (and never coming back up).