Akademik Mstislav Keldysh

Russian Maritime Register of Shipping

IMO no. 7811018

The Akademik Mstislav Keldysh (Russian Академик Мстислав Келдыш ) is a Russian research vessel, which is named after the Soviet mathematician Mstislav Keldysh Vsyevolodovitch.

The ship was built between 1979 and 1981 under the hull number 224 on the Finnish Hollming shipyard in Rauma. On board two research submarines are stationed type I, which are used for studies in the deep sea. Typically, in research cruises are 90 people on board: 45 sailors about 20 pilots for the submarines, technicians and engineers, 10 to 12 scientists and up to 12 passengers. There are 17 laboratories and a library with literature on underwater geology, oceanography and deep-sea expeditions aboard. The quarters, on average for a person are about 20 m2 large and equipped with toilet and bath. The meals and Russian specialties are prepared by a European chef. The owner is the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In May 1989, the research vessel to the scene of the sunken Soviet nuclear submarine K -278 Komsomolets was ordered. In diving trips numerous fractures were found along the entire length of the existing titanium pressure hull of the submarine. Two more trips to the wreck occurred in the years 1994 and 1996. It breaks were sealed to prevent leakage of radioactive material from the reactor or the two nuclear -tipped torpedoes.

Became known, the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh mainly by the diving expeditions to the wreck of the Titanic and the Bismarck. Filmmaker James Cameron chartered the ship for two expeditions to these two wrecks. The pictures of the Titanic expedition of 1996 were used in the film Titanic. The expedition to the Bismark was in 2002. Between October 2009 and August 2010, the ship underwent a major overhaul in the Lloyd shipyard in Bremerhaven.