In March 2014 , '' Ocean Shield '' was sent to participate in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 , off the west coast of Australia . The vessel , fitted with a towed pinger locator on loan from the United States Navy , sailed from Perth on 31 March , expecting to begin searching on 3 April for the underwater locator beacon attached to the aircraft 's flight recorders . Starting on 14 April 2014 , '' Ocean Shield '' stopped towing the pinger locator and instead deployed the autonomous underwater vehicle ( AUV ) '' Bluefin-21 '' , a sidescan sonar robotic submarine , to map the area
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
ABFC Ocean Shield