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A US Navy submarine crew has sent an underwater drone out of a flooded torpedo tube. A 3D printed watertight enclosure kept the vehicle linked to the boat throughout. Sailors from USS Pasadena (SSN 752), a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine, ran the trial on August 24, 2026 with a Blueye X3 remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The setup cost less than $1,000 to build. The alternative it replaced runs to about $200,000 per boat.
That saving is the core of the demonstration. Normally, talking to a vehicle through a torpedo tube would mean fitting a Fiber Optic Penetrator. This Temporary Alteration routes a communications line through the tube’s breach door. Rather than pay for that modification