Well it had to happen eventually. #Scripps is retiring FLIP (FLoating Instrument Platform). This is an amazing piece of engineering (and soooo weird on the inside - everything pivots, so walls become floors). The #ship to be towed out to a location, and it would literally flip, sinking most of the ship directly down to give a *very stable platform for #oceanography research. Launched in 1962.
https://maritime-executive.com/article/world-s-strangest-research-vessel-heads-for-scrapyard-after-51-years
@DrPlanktonguy this is pretty nuts.
I must know: for how long was the ship meant to stay flipped? And what was the main advantage? Having stable sensors deep underwater? What about storms? Where below sea level movie nights possible for the research team?
@IvanRManuel excellent questions. The FLIP ship could have missions about a month long. The whole idea around FLIP was to have 300 ft (91 m) of the hull submerged, and sensors could be all along that depth (plus winches on the surface could deploy sensors much deeper). It was all about stability because most of the mass was below water. They joked about it being "world's largest spar buoy". Not sure about movie night (it was rather spartan) .
Details here:
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/ships/flip
I continue to be confused by the receive to where flip's mass is as a reason for its stability. Is expect that you'd care about c-o-gravity to c-o-buoyancy distance for roll stability and about cross section at surface level for stability in room and in vertical motion (because, respectively, that controls the changes in buoyancy caused by waves and horizontal drag forces exerted by waves). Is there any reason location of mass directly (i.e. other than via the c-o-g vs -b distance) affects stability?
