Considering we live on a planet who's surface is 71% water, it only makes sense that we should understand as much about the oceans as we do dry land.  So throughout the years there has been countless expeditions who's main purpose was to collect information about the vast bodies of water throughout the world.  The men and women who have dedicated their lives to the specific purpose of unlocking the secrets of the vast waterworld that resides within our planet, have benefited from various vessels designed specifically to meet that challenge. 

In 1950, French explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau acquired the minesweeper Calypso,  and transformed it into an oceanographic research vessel.  Then in 1966 he was invited to produce a documentary on about ocean life for television.  So for the next 10 years "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" would become America's eye into the world of sharks, whales, dolphins, sunken treasure, and coral reefs. Many of today's Oceanographers credit Jacques Cousteau for their passion of Ocean exploration.  With the awareness of Cousteau's show, there would soon be many more research vessels designed by many engineers for the purpose of understanding the Ocean, above and below the surface.

The American public's awareness of what was beneath the ocean waves would be aroused by the discovery of the Titanic on September 1, 1985 by a submersible named the Argo.  The Argo was used by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Research Vessel Knorr  to find the sunken, unsinkable ocean liner.  Then in 1997 Director James Cameron introduced to the world to another submersible vessel named  Alvin, when he released his mega hit movie "Titanic".  As early as WWI, submersibles have been used by the navy for the specific purpose of exploring the Ocean floors. Then on January 23, 1960, the navy's Trieste set an all-time depth record by diving to the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean.  However, all these deep sea research vehicles need ships to get them to their destination of exploration.

Like the research vessel Knorr which is owned by the U.S. Navy, these ships are all equipped with the newest technology that allows for anywhere from 10 to 38 scientists to be on board at the same time performing various research projects in the laboratories.  Like the Knorr, these ships can stay at sea for upwards of 2 months at a time before they need to come to port for supplies.  There is the R/V Atlantis which has a crew of 23 while allowing for 24 scientists, and the R/V Kilo Moana which is operated by the University of Hawaii, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, in Manoa. The R/V Kilo Moana is 186 feet long and displaces 2,542 tons. It holds 17 crewmen and 31 scientists and can travel at 15 knots. Except for some strange looking equipment on deck, you would not be able to distinguish one of these research vessels from any merchant ship.  That is all but one.

That one research vessel is so distinguishable from the other research vessels that it doesn't even look like a ship.  Nope, fact is this research vessel looks more like a Louisville slugger while being towed out to sea, and a water thermometer when it is fully deployed.  They call this vessel the FLIP, which is an acronym for d.



Whether its man to survive in the s that limimit mans ability to investigate different aspects of the

world within our world. . ocean exploration it.  rvice water  Every trip aboard conventional ships reminds the
oceanographer of the value of a stable platform from which to perform
experiments at sea. A ship's natural motions not only make ocean measurements
difficult to obtain with accuracy, but it reduces the effectiveness of
personnel and equipment. This driving ocean force, among the most powerful
in nature, dissipates rapidly just beneath the ocean surface. Even during
severe sea storms rolling over several thousand square miles, a layer
of relative calm lies a few hundred feet below the unruly waves. This
region has become the domain of submarines during the past half century.



In 1962 they were joined by the research platform FLIP,
FLoating
Instrument
Platform,
whose great length lies mainly in the untroubled waters beneath the waves.
As a result, she is almost as stable as a fencepost and, for those who
study the sea, oceanographers, she offers an opportunity for more refined
ocean measurements than they have ever had before.



The Floating Instrument Platform, FLIP, is a 355 foot long manned spar
buoy designed as a stable research platform for oceanographic research.
FLIP is towed to its operating area in the horizontal position and through
ballast changes is "flipped" to the vertical position to become
a stable spar buoy with a draft of 300 feet.

PICTURE HERE



FLIP is owned by the US Navy and
was conceived and developed by the Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL), Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, University
of California, San Diego. Built originally to measure effects of the
environment on long range sound propagation for the US Navy's SUBROC program,
FLIP has been used principally for acoustics research since then.



It has also been used in a variety of other programs including geophysics,
meteorology, physical oceanography, non-acoustic ASW and in laser propagation
experiments. FLIP has operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.