Thread: "Flip" the ship

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Today I walked in the living room to tell the wife I was taking Colt to school and I was surprised by what was on TV. It was a ship that appeared to be sinking. Nope, it was Flip the ship. I was in awe that this ship was standing straight up in the water and not sinking. It turns out it has been around since 1962. I'd never seen or heard of anything about it before. Pretty cool.

Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP) is a unique oceanographic research vessel owned by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and operated by the Marine Physical Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The vessel is a 355ft long, spoon-shaped buoy, which can be flipped from horizontal to a 90° vertical position in the ocean by pumping 700t of seawater into the ‘handle’ end while flooding air into the ‘cradle’, causing it to rise out of the sea.

FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform) Research Vessel - Ship Technology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq8j86OenqM

The transition from horizontal to vertical positioning takes nearly 30 minutes, after which 300m of the buoy is submerged underwater, keeping the 700 long-ton mass steady, providing a stable research platform for underwater acoustics research.

The vessel is imperviable to wave motion, thus allowing researchers to conduct a range of research activities including meteorology, geophysics, physical oceanography, marine mammal research, non-acoustic ASW and laser propagation experiments in a stable environment.

Crikey!
That's amazing.
I too had never known anything about it.
Thanks for posting that Ryan.

That ship has been around for years national geographic had a tv magazine that did an episode on it 20 or more years ago

I hadn't remembered it until the pics. But I had seen it some years ago. I can't even imagine how the whole concept would come about. Some guys settin' around and one of'em says hey! what if we stood a boat on it's end and then put it back the right way and sail home???

Just amazing. Thanks for sharing it Ryan.

It is not imperviable to waves. (That phrase got my attention). It moves at about 10:1 relative to wave height. Impressive reduction of motion, but certainly not imperviable.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

It is not imperviable to waves. (That phrase got my attention). It moves at about 10:1 relative to wave height. Impressive reduction of motion, but certainly not imperviable.

I had a quiet chuckle to myself when I read that.
You, you, you pedant you!
But you are, of course; absolutely right.

(Although...If I wanted to be totally pedantic; I would've used the adjective 'impervious'.
Imperviable is: 'able to be impervious'.
As 34_40 would say: just pokin' the bear, just pokin' the bear...)



Just had a crack at two people in one post...
I'm getting better...