Life Inside US Navy’s Weird Transformer Ship in Middle of the Ocean

hello everyone and welcome back to the fluctus channel when thinking about the technology developed for the oceans powerful vessels or even Advanced submarines and large military fleets immediately come to mind however this is not the only purpose that requires the development of Maritime technology [Music] [Music] this includes scientific purposes and the development of research vessels they serve a wide range of purposes going from oceanographic studies to marine biology research environmental monitoring geological surveys and even archaeological Expeditions the development of this type of technology has given rise to platforms such as the floating instrument platform or flip [Music] [Music] this was an open ocean research platform owned by the US Office of Naval Research and operated by the scrips institution of oceanography it was conceived in the late 1950s designed by George Frederickson and built by the Gunderson Brothers engineering company it was finally launched in June 1962 to start its work on supporting research of undersea soundwaves although its initial purpose was related to Acoustics an ocean surveillance it later expanded to a wide range of operations including ocean circulation marine biology and [Music] geophysics its design made it possible to achieve those capabilities with its most remarkable feature being able to flip from a horizontal position to a vertical position just like a spar buoy [Music] this gives the flip great stability allowing it to remain almost motionless even in rough [Music] conditions to achieve this the rear ballast tanks of the 350 ft long buy are filled with 700 tons of seawat while the frontal side is pumped with air causing it to rise above sea level this flipping process is a procedure that must be done with Precision without causing any Hazard during this procedure the crew positions on the deck with light jackets waiting while the platform slowly flips even with no propulsion system the flips operations either for flipping or to support scientific needs are powered by 340 KW from three diesel [Music] generators two scientific Laboratories inide flip provide approximately 500 ft of [Music] space here the scientists install equipment to study and process the data from the multiple sensors alongside the [Music] buoy it's most important one includes an arrangement of Doppler sonars developed by the Marine physical laboratory this 75 khz sonar is capable of measuring the movement of the ocean to an accuracy of 0.3 in per second however with its great capabilities and Technology the flip was decommissioned in 2023 after 60 years of use due to reduced funding and after the covid pandemic the Office of Naval Research saw that funding could be better used for new projects and the development of marine technology thus on August third the spari instruments were sent to the scrips institution of oceanography Pier while its structure was was sent to a [Music] scrapyard while platforms like flip have ended their useful life it does not mean that there are no more systems and vessels capable of studying the oceans currently ships such as the seismic vessels are capable of exploring and mapping the ocean floor particularly for oil and gas exploration within this category is the ram form Titan one of the most powerful seismic ships ever fully integrated with geost streamer [Music] technology to conduct those surveys The Vessel toes the seismic streamers with a variety of instruments depending on detailed planning that determines the survey area and survey parameters which eventually will result in a data acquisition [Music] strategy this seismic equipment collects the data ensuring the target area is completely [Music] covered once the survey is completed the data is processed and analyzed to identify potential oil reserves or ENT interesting geological structures this data is usually acquired as Ultra highdensity 3D seismic data which is an extremely detailed and comprehensive Imaging of the subsurface such detailed data is given by the technology behind the towing streamers attached to the seismic vessel also known as hydrone arrays streamers are typically long flexible cables made of materials like polyethylene or polyurethane they are sensitive to the pressure caused by sound waves which are turned into signals and then usable [Music] data to ensure this type of instrument is placed in and used correctly the crew can access workboats inside the seismic [Music] vessel those compact boats are used to assist in towing or moing operations helping to position and secure the measuring instruments during seismic [Music] surveys however they are also used to transport Provisions between the main vessel and other [Music] platforms yet the vessel also counts on faster methods to transport provisions and more importantly crew [Music] members a helipad on the upper deck is usually used to receive helicopters when there is a crew rep placement those crew members work aboard vessels like the reformed Titan on rotational schedules so after a period they are replaced by a new team ensuring a continuous operation inside the ship once operations on the seismic vessels are finished they are moved to the dock for dry docking during this process the ship moves into the pier using a tugboat which allows it to position the vessel without getting damaged with the vessel out of the water inspectors and maintenance Crews have access to the entire hole for Inspection Cleaning and Repair [Music] work although ships like the ram form Titan were developed for the study of the ocean not all research ships were initially created to fulfill these scientific purposes an example of this is the RV falor 2 originally a multi-roll offshore support vessel named Ms polar Queen built in [Music] 2007 as a multi-roll vessel the polar Queen worked for oil companies and offered accommodation [Music] Services later in 2020 the Schmid ocean Institute purchased the ship to retrofit it into an oceanographic research vessel by knowing the requirements to obtain a new research ship naval Architects marine engineers and other experts collaborated to start such a transformation [Music] [Music] thus the vessel underwent extensive modifications to its layout systems and equipment to accommodate scientific Laboratories research spaces and specialized instrumentation the large spaces of the original ship allowed the installation of several spaces for research [Music] seven Laboratories within the falor 2 such as a hydro lab or a seawater lab allowing sampling and experiments to be carried out this allows research on the physical chemical and biological characteristics of water the atmosphere and climate [Music] during the retrofitting process more spaces were repurposed and redesigned not only for Laboratories but for areas like the mission control [Music] room such changes involve the installation of scientific instrumentation laboratory equipment and data acquisition systems several modifications and enhancements were also made in the open areas of the vessel specifically the open [Music] deck this involved maximizing the deck space to create a large open area perfect for accommodating scientific equipment furthermore thanks to the adaptation of the deck space instruments like cranes and other Handling Systems were installed to support the deployment of research [Music] equipment one of those handling tools includes a new 150 ton active heave compensating crane which is the biggest of its kind installed in a research vessel and it's the piece integrated into the falor 2 during its retrofitting is the remotely operated vehicle Sebastian this underwater robot is an invaluable tool for the scientists aboard the research vessel it provides them with realtime access to the seafloor collecting samples and capturing highresolution images [Music] with the growing interest in understanding marine ecosystems the development of multiple tools systems and research vessels is necessary different methodologies and Concepts allow us to have a global view of how the oceans work which will ultimately allow us to preserve these environments for future Generations [Music] that's the end of this video I hope you enjoyed it make sure to subscribe to this channel so you don't miss any of our new content see you next time [Music]

Channel: Fluctus

Views: 439,449

Keywords: Ocean research, maritime technology, Floating Instrument Platform, Office of Naval Research, ocean surveillance, acoustics, doppler sonar, Seismic vessel, Ramform Titan, Towing Streamer, hydrophone, RV Falkor (too), Schmidt Ocean Institute, ROV SuBastian

Id: u8CKwfCySvI

Length: 15min 20sec (920 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 01 2024