As easily explained by the Marine Physical Laboratory of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, “FLIP, the FLoating Instrument Platform, is not a ship, but a 355-foot-long research platform that can be deployed for oceanographic research.”
Maybe a picture or three would help:
330-PSA-149-62 (USN 1060451): A new oceanographic research vessel – Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP), has been constructed for the Marine Physical Laboratory of Scripps Institution of Oceanography under contract to the Office of Naval Research. When the craft is flipped to a vertical position, the bow section remains above, water, shown here are the plan view and inboard elevation of the research craft. Photograph released May 25, 1962
330-PSA-149-62 (USN 1060451): A new oceanographic research vessel – Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP), has been constructed for the Marine Physical Laboratory of Scripps Institution of Oceanography under contract to the Office of Naval Research. When the craft is flipped to a vertical position, the bow section remains above, water, shown here are the plan view and inboard elevation of the research craft. Photograph released May 25, 1962
Offical caption: Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP). FLIP is in the vertical position. Photograph released August 7, 1962. Master caption: A new type of oceanographic research vessel – Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP) – is undergoing operational tests by the U.S. Navy in Dabob Bay, near Seattle, Washington. FLIP has been constructed for the Marine Physical Laboratory of Scrupps Institution of Oceanography under contract to the Office of Naval Research. The craft can literally flip from a horizontal to a vertical position while at sea. FLIP is flipped into the vertical position by flooding its long aft section with sea water. Only its “four story” bow section remains above the water. To return the vessel to a horizontal position, high pressure air blows the water out of the submerged section. FLIP will be used for studies of wave motion, marine biology, internal waves, sound waves, and other phenomena. The vessel has accommodation for four people and can carry enough supplies to last for about two weeks. In the vertical position, the research laboratories, living quarters, and engine room are above the water. Two diesel engines supply electrical power for air conditioning and other miscellaneous electrical equipment. Two waterfront tubes permit the crew to descent to 150 feet below the water. Upon completion of the tests in Dabob Bay, FLIP will be towed to San Diego, California, to begin its sea voyages. 330-PSA-207-62 (USN 1061426)
Scripps created FLIP with funding from the Office of Naval Research as it was seen at the time (1962) as a platform that could help better understand the mechanics behind wave height, acoustic signals, water temperature, and density– all valuable things when it comes to submarines and ASW.
The 355-foot, 700 GT vessel was unpowered and had to be towed to/from her location, where she had a trio of diesel generators (on rotating beds) to deliver electricity. She could remain “flipped” with a crew of a dozen researchers for as many as 35 days, long enough for the local fish to use her as structure.
A wild concept, FLIP in action was always neat to see, and I remember watching videos like this back in the 1970s and being blown away by the vessel.
As with everything, especially everything Cold War era maritime, FLIP has come to an end of her useful life, and was recently towed off to be scrapped.
“FLIP set the stage for thinking big about what could be done with technology to enable new scientific discoveries,” said Scripps’ Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL) Director Eric Terrill. “It was built in an era of risk-taking; a spirit that we try to embrace to this day and encourage in the next generation of seagoing scientists.”
The venerable spar vessel has been towed off for the last time, but a piece of it remains at Scripps. The institution has arranged for one of FLIP’s booms to be removed and mounted onto a pier, where it will continue to be used to deploy instruments into the water.