Sea transport is an important area of communication linking continents together. And even the emergence of aviation did not lead to the disappearance of the fleet. Marine spaces are being explored more and more actively in an effort to improve the quality of life and find new sources of energy. This led to the emergence of vessels with unique capabilities. The Novate.ru review contains six unusual ships in the fleet of mankind.
1. Defying the Storms: MPI Adventure
The MPI Adventure looks very unusual and has incredible capabilities. It was built at the Chinese shipyard Cosco Qidong Shipyard by order of MPI Offshore. This vessel is an offshore wind turbine installer used in the construction of offshore wind farms in coastal waters.
Despite the seeming sluggishness, the MPI Adventure maneuvers excellently with the help of special thrusters. The vessel is positioned exactly in a certain place and is firmly "anchored" to the bottom, lowering six telescopic legs. It is incredibly powerful and can withstand even the fiercest storms. The vessel operates in the northern seas, installing water power plants on the shelves of Sweden, Great Britain and Germany.
2. Booty Rising Vessel: RP FLIP
This unique vessel was launched in 1962 and is still operated by the US Institute of Oceanography. It has no power plant and is towed to the research site. The abbreviation FLIP stands for Floating Instrument Platform, in translation - floating instrumental platform. It is intended for scientific research oceanographic work, and is made non-self-propelled so that the engine noise does not interfere with "listening" to the ocean. The length of the vessel is 108 m, and the width is 7.93 m, but the ability to take two positions makes it unique.
Upon arrival at the research site, the ballast tanks are filled with seawater, and the vessel makes a 90-degree turn, changing from horizontal to vertical. At this time, the team takes a place on the bow, observing how, within half an hour, the tail in 91 m goes under the water, leaving 17 m above the surface. everything is designed with a view to changing the position: some of the elements are duplicated, for example, shells, and some are rearranged, for example, beds. The vessel returns to the horizontal position as the water is displaced from the tanks by high pressure air.
3. Mega-cargo on board: Blue Marlin
The Blue Marlin ship impresses not so much with its dimensions: 217 meters long and 42 - wide, as with its capabilities. He has a narrow, but very necessary specialization in some cases. It is the world's largest semi-submersible vessel for the transport of super-heavy or ultra-oversized cargo such as berths, submarines, oil platforms, damaged sea vessels and other non-standard machinery and installation.
Loading the Blue Marlin is a complicated procedure. The vessel is pre-stabilized and submerged to a depth of 26 m by filling the tanks with sea water. Then, with the help of tugs, the load is brought over the deck and held in place. Next, welders and divers begin work. The first ones fix the load, securing it on the deck, the second ones check the correct positioning under water. After that, water is slowly pumped out of the tanks, and the ship takes over the cargo.
4. Giant car transporter: City of St. Petersburg
The City of St. Petersburg amazes with its monumentality and originality of forms. Seen from the front, it looks like a giant ball, and from the side it looks like an airship that has landed on the water. The ship makes such an amazing impression due to the unusual shape of the hull with a spherical bow. And this is not just a flight of design thought, such a decision has a practical basis. The streamlined, rounded bow design reduces air resistance, thereby reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
The City of St. Petersburg was launched in 2010 at the Japanese shipyard Kyokuyo Shipyard Corporation. According to the classification, it belongs to the ro-ro type (roll-on / roll-off), and the name is derived from the English word roll (to roll). The vessel is designed to carry cars and was built by order of the Dutch operator EMC (Euro Marine Carrier B. V.), the main shareholder of which is the Japanese corporation Nissan. This giant, 140 meters long, has 12 decks and delivers two thousand cars in one trip. When loading, the cars enter the ro-ro on their own through the ramp and in the same way leave it at the port of arrival.
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5. Seismic exploration: Ramform Hyperion
The Ramform Hyperion vessel is puzzling in appearance, so much in its proportions it is unlike other vessels. Its unusual triangular-shaped body evokes persistent associations with an iron. Such an original look is associated with the tasks performed - conducting seismic exploration. The triangular format with a wide stern ensures the highest possible stability of the vessel and the minimum noise of the working mechanisms. This is very important for the correct operation of ultra-sensitive electronic sensors. The vessel tows a whole network of special seismic streamers with an area of over 12 sq. km. To understand the colossal scale of the coverage, you can try to imagine 1,500 football fields.
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Ramform Hyperion is built in Nagasaki by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Shipbuilding Co. and launched in March 2017. The SSS Ramform ships incorporate the most advanced shipbuilding and marine seismic survey technologies.
6. Supertanker: Knock Nevis
The Knock Nevis was born at the shipyards of the Japanese company Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. Its design was initially rather big: the deadweight was 480 thousand tons. tons. This is a huge figure, but subsequent reconstruction made it the largest tanker in the world. In the course of work, the ship was cut open and new compartments were added, increasing the deadweight to a whopping 565 thousand tons. tons. The scale of its dimensions is difficult to comprehend: the length of the updated tanker is 458.45 m, and the width is 68.86 m. understanding the colossal magnitude, it is worth saying that the height of the famous US skyscraper Empire State Building is 443 meters.
Knock Nevis carried oil until 2010 and held the status of the largest vessel in the world for more than thirty years, until in 2013 the Prelude FLNG supertanker-gas plant with a displacement of 600 thousand tons was launched. tons, 488 m long and 74 m wide.
Cognitive fact from Novate.ru: Transporting oil on Knock Nevis was economically very profitable, despite the inconvenience of its size. The supertanker was not able to moor in every port. And he could not pass through the English Channel at all, as well as through the Suez and Panama Canals. In order to turn around, the vessel required a space of at least 3.7 km. When it was decommissioned from the fleet, it took an entire year to dispose of. Now he is reminded of photographs and an anchor, which has become an exhibit at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.
It seems strange to many that shipping containers do not fall from ships.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/190320/53836/