R/P FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform) - A Semi-Submersible Open-Ocean Research Platform
"FLIP, the FLoating Instrument Platform, was not a ship, but a 355-foot-long research platform that can be deployed for oceanographic research. Designed by scientists at Scripps's Marine Physical Laboratory, FLIP was operated by Scripps Oceanography for the U.S. Navy. (FLIP was retired in August 2023.)"
"Word of FLIP's impending destruction had reached the founder of DEEP, the subsea design firm developing the next generation of underwater human habitats, and within 48 hours a team had been scrambled and was en route to Mexico to intercept FLIP before it was destroyed. "The direction from our founder was quite clear," says Giulio Maresca, FLIP's new Captain: 'Save her. Don't come back without her.'"
"Now, months later, the rescued platform has made its way from Mexico, through the Panama Canal and across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, where over the next 12 – 18 months she will be refitted and modernised in France."
Launched - 22 June 1962
Completed - 23 July 1962
In service - September 1962
Out of service - August 2023
Status - Undergoing refit at La Ciotat, France
Read More....
Emerit: Research Platform FLIP (FLoating Instrument Platform) ..... Scripps
The ONR's 'flipping' vessel, which was believed to be scrapped, has been saved ..... DEEP
FLIP: The iconic flipping vessel - A research platform for ocean science ..... DEEP
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