System and method for deploying and recovering an autonomous underwater craft by a recovery vehicle towed by a ship, underwater exploration assembly

A system for deploying and recovering an autonomous underwater craft by a recovery vehicle towed by a surface ship, the system including the ship and the recovery vehicle, the towing being ensured by a towing cable connecting the recovery vehicle to the ship, the system being configured so that when not in use the underwater craft is stored in a housing of the recovery vehicle and the recovery vehicle is stored out of water in the ship, the recovery vehicle having, along the recovery vehicle's length, two opposite ends, including an end for receiving the autonomous underwater craft, providing access to the housing, the system being configured to allow the deployment to be performed in two stages, a first stage of submersing the recovery vehicle with the underwater craft stored in said recovery vehicle, a second stage of releasing the underwater craft by bringing the underwater craft out of the housing of the submersed recovery vehicle once the towed recovery vehicle at a determined distance away from the ship, the system being configured to allow the recovery to be made in two phases, a first phase of entry of the underwater craft, through the receiving end, into the housing of the submersed towed recovery vehicle, a second phase of loading the towed recovery vehicle on board the ship, with the underwater craft stored in said recovery vehicle, the ship comprising a launch ramp, which is tilting, and the system being configured to store the recovery vehicle on the launch ramp, the launch ramp having a longitudinal extent and two longitudinal ends, a front end on the ship bow side and a rear end on the ship stern side, said tilting launch ramp being able to take at least two positions:

• a raised position in which the stored recovery vehicle is out of water, said raised launch ramp being above the waterline of the ship, and an inclined position in which the rear end of the launch ramp is immersed, the system including a translational device enabling the recovery vehicle, in the inclined position of the launch ramp, to move along the launch ramp to be submersed and be able to move away from the ship while being towed by the ship latter during the deployment and to be raised along the launch ramp during the recovery, and wherein the rear end of the launch ramp comprises buoyancy means allowing said launch ramp in the inclined position to beat as a function of the water height at the buoyancy means,
• wherein the front end of the launch ramp comprises an articulation according to two axes of rotation perpendicular to each other, with a first axis of rotation perpendicular to the sagittal plane of the ship and a second, longitudinal axis of rotation, in the sagittal plane,
• wherein the ship is a catamaran whose shell has two parallel lateral hulls, separated by an intermediate link area located above the waterline, and wherein the system is further configured so that, in the raised position, the launch ramp is out of water and forms part of the intermediate link area,
• wherein the launch ramp comprises at least one beat damper intended to damp the beats due to the wave impact on the inclined launch ramp, a lower face of the launch ramp having a material that damps the wave impact on the inclined launch ramp, said material being a porous double-skin absorbing the wave impact, and
• wherein the articulation comprises a damping system of the rotation motions about the axes of rotation of the articulation.