[EDIT] FLIP is saved!
https://newatlas.com/marine/flipping-flip-ship-saved/
---
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
@DrPlanktonguy This makes me kind of sad, I've known about this vessel for a long time, and always thought it was amazingly cool engineering
@ghostcubby Walter Munk did much of his groundbreaking research on physical #oceanography based on measurements from this ship. Being able to measure changes to the surface ocean with the development of #storm systems was essentially impossible before FLIP was built.