US Patent 7854569 Underwater unmanned vehicle recovery system and method

In various embodiments, an apparatus for use in the recovery of unmanned underwater vehicles includes a recovery vehicle configured to be coupled to a winch via a tether. The recovery vehicle includes one or more sensors for locating the unmanned underwater vehicle, a first mechanical linking device for coupling the recovery vehicle to the unmanned underwater vehicle, and a plurality of steering mechanisms for actively guiding the unmanned underwater vehicle in such a way as to allow the first mechanical linking device to capture the unmanned underwater vehicle by locking onto a second mechanical linking device of the unmanned underwater vehicle.