A Kansas man and 10 experts are refurbishing a Cold War-era submarine to put it back into the deep seas for exploration. Scott Waters, 29, of Salina, has a team that gathers a few times a year north of Salina to tear apart and modernize a submarine that is one of the few in the world capable of diving 8,000 feet below the ocean's surface. Waters, the head of his family's hardware store chain, bought the Pisces VI submarine for $30,000 in December and hauled it home from Wisconsin, where it had been in storage for 25 years, the Kansas City Star reported. That came after Waters, who some call "the crazy submarine guy," took five years to build a two-man submarine from scratch. He recently put the "Trustworthy," which can go 350 feet deep, in Milford Lake. It worked but Waters said he only saw old tires, tree branches, and a few catfish, reports the AP.
He'll tear apart the Pisces VI, which had been used for oil exploration in the North Sea, put it back together with digital technology to the tune of $250,000 and offer it for scientific research and to the film industry. Waters believes the sub will be ready to launch in two years. It will have room for a pilot and three passengers. Grace Young, the project's science ambassador, says she's working with Waters because "we all believe in what Scott's doing. I'm very interested in climate change, and the oceans are a big part of that. This is very important: This submarine and what he wants to do can change the world." John Smith, science director for the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, was surprised to learn that Pisces VI was in Kansas. The group owns Pisces IV and V and once tried to acquire the VI. "(It's) actually the deepest-rated one and that's why we were interested in it. We didn't know this guy had it. It's a classic sub, but what he wants to do won't be easy." (More submarines stories.)
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