Crazy FLIP ship designed to change its orientation–from horizontal to vertical

2010-08-12 21:10:05

This has got to be the weird­est ocean­go­ing ves­sel I’ve ever seen: The FLIP (Float­ing Instru­ment Plat­form) was a ship appar­ently built in 1962 as a research plat­form. After being towed to its tar­get site in a hor­i­zon­tal, nor­mal ship posi­tion, bal­last tanks begin tak­ing on water–and the ship piv­ots 90 degrees, send­ing the bow some 300 feet below the sur­face, while the tail end rides above the waves, bristling with cranes pre­sum­ably used to lower equip­ment. Why the pivot

Read more here:

Crazy FLIP ship designed to change its orientation–from hor­i­zon­tal to vertical