Michelin-man on the bottom of the sea
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 Actually it reminds you of the Michelin-man. The one with the round shapes, but you can also compare it with
Tin Tins journey to the moon. And that is also what Lieutenant Commander Hughes Tyrel de Poix and his crew do.
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 In the control room pictures of the characters in the cartoon decorates the wall. But at this point we are talking about a diving suit, that the French Navy has developed and that is taking part of Sorbet Royal onboard the ship
ALIETTE.
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The ALIETTE’s homeport is in Brest where she apart from being lent out to the French Navy also works as a rescue ship. If necessary she can also be used to clean up oil pollution before it reaches the coast of France.
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 The diving suit is part of the project
NSRS, which is a NATO submarine rescue system, and is at the same time part of a cooperative project between France, Norway, Turkey and England.
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With the suit it is possible to dive down to 300 meters and at the same time function operatively, explains Hughes Tyrel de
Poix.
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With the help of a crane the diver is lowered to the exact location and from here he can move the hands and operate the tools necessary for each assignment. For example open and connect the oxygen supply to the submarine. The suit is expected to help in a rescue operation of the submarine and it’s crew.The project is supposed to be ready for a rescue operation within a maximum of 72 hours and can operate in all the European waters including the North-Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
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The Diver can operate on the bottom of the sea in up to normally six hours, but in principle up to 50 hours if necessary. The oxygen is received from cables connected to
ALIETTE. The system is very simple but it can be hard to manoeuvre, admits Hughes Tyrel de Poix. ALIETTE normally has a crew of seven but during the exercise there is an additional 12 divers and 7 officers onboard plus some engineers, who are supposed to take a closer look on the functioning of the diving suit and it’s possible uses.
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