ARLINGTON, Va. – Dr. Don Walsh, who co-piloted the historic 1960 deep-sea voyage of the Trieste, will be honored by the Department of the Navy in a ceremony on April 15 at the U.S. Navy Museum at the Washington Navy Yard.
Walsh, a retired Navy captain, is best-known for navigating the bathyscaphe (deep submergence vehicle) Trieste 35,810 feet down to the deepest part of the Earth, the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Department of the Navy’s science and technology provider, purchased the Swiss-Italian-made Trieste in 1958 to support the Navy's new deep submergence program and submarine rescue operations.
The award salutes Walsh’s achievement and service in the years after his retirement from the Navy in 1975. Walsh has served as a U.S. policy adviser on State Department and federal science boards, has authored more than 200 published contributions to marine literature and has presented more than 1,500 lectures in 50 countries.
Rear Adm. Nevin P. Carr Jr., who, as chief of naval research leads ONR, praised Walsh for his achievements. “His willingness to undertake great risk in the pursuit of great scientific reward epitomizes the core values of the Office of Naval Research and the Navy,” Carr said. “His thirst for public service in the years since is worthy of emulation by warfighters and civilian partners everywhere.”
Scheduled from 10 to 11 a.m., the event will include presentations from Carr, Oceanographer and Navigator of the Navy, Rear Adm. David W. Titley; Director of Naval Historical Center, Rear Adm. Jay A. DeLoach; George Martin, a former Trieste pilot; and Dr. Sylvia Earle, Explorer-in-Residence, National Geographic Society.