Decommissioned US research ship to undergo refit for UK subsea engineering company

A unique research vessel perhaps best known for its ability to flip from a horizontal position to a vertical one and vice-versa will undergo an extensive modernisation in France to enable its return to operational service.

The aptly named FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform) was operated for more than 50 years by the US Navy’s Office of Naval Research and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography before it was decommissioned in August 2023 and towed to Mexico to be scrapped.

The 355-foot (108-metre) vessel's ability to change orientation from horizontal to vertical gave it stability even in tempestuous seas, making it possible to study oceanographic phenomena like sound propagation, wave dynamics, and marine life in open water.

DEEP, a UK-based subsea design firm specialising in the development of underwater human habitats, had deployed a team to Mexico to acquire FLIP before it could be scrapped. The vessel has since been transported from Mexico, through the Panama Canal, and across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and will be refitted and modernised in France over a period of 12 to 18 months.

FLIP's refit is to take place at MB92, a shipbuilder with facilities in both Barcelona, Spain and La Ciotat, France.