The U.S. Navy funded most of the early ROV technology development in the 1960s into what was then named a " Cable-Controlled Underwater Recovery Vehicle " ( CURV ) . This created the capability to perform deep-sea rescue operation and recover objects from the ocean floor , such as a nuclear bomb lost in the Mediterranean Sea after the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash . Building on this technology base ; the offshore oil & gas industry created the work-class ROVs to assist in the development of offshore oil fields . More than a decade after they were first introduced , ROVs became essential in the 1980s when much of the new offshore development exceeded the reach of human divers . During the mid-1980s the marine ROV industry suffered from serious stagnation in technological development caused in part by a drop in the price of oil and a global economic recession . Since then , technological development in the ROV industry has accelerated and today ROVs perform numerous tasks in many fields . Their tasks range from simple inspection of subsea structures , pipelines , and platforms , to connecting pipelines and placing underwater manifolds . They are used extensively both in the initial construction of a sub-sea development and the subsequent repair and maintenance
1966 Palomares B-52 crash
1966 Palomares B-52 crash
Remotely operated underwater vehicle