Warren Currie 🦠🦐Aug 9, 2023

[EDIT] FLIP is saved!
https://newatlas.com/marine/flipping-flip-ship-saved/
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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

Flipping FLIP ship saved from scrapyard at last minute

The US Navy and Scripps Institution of Oceanography's unique FLoating Instrument Platform (FLIP) has been saved at the last minute from the breaker's yard. Scheduled to be scrapped in Mexico, it was purchased by undersea design company DEEP.

New Atlas
Show threadHylke Rozema
@DrPlanktonguy interesting to think about. Vertically it look very stabile. How did the engineers ensure that the ship while pivotting wouldn’t tilt sideways?
Aug 10, 2023 at 4:22pmWeb
Show threadWarren Currie 🦠🦐Aug 11, 2023
@hylk3 the ballast tanks were designed to fill with water and bring that part of the ship gradually downward over a 30 minute period.