Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Deep Blue Sea never seemed this huge: Tampa Welcomes the World's Largest Sub-Sea Construction Vessel

Over the course of history, the bays and waters surrounding Tampa have seen every watercraft man could imagine, construct and navigate. From the canoes of the Native-American s who lived along these shores - the Calusa, Creek, Miccosukee and Seminole tribes - to the sailing ships of the 16th century Spanish explorers, the bays and rivers just in from the Gulf of Mexico have known ships of pleasure, commerce, cruising and war. Deep Blue is just the latest to find our port. And for decades that was because of Tampa Repair and its facilities and world-wide reputation for shipbuilding, maintenance and repair. Because of the proximity of the residential islands that front Sparkman Channel and Seddon Channel, it's rather easy to keep an eye on the comings and goings of some of these awesome ships - not counting the fun and colorful cruise ships that come here from all over the world. Here's what I discovered about this giant ship: The Coflexip Stena Offshore (CSO) Deep Blue is the world's largest "ultra deepwater pipelay and subsea construction vessel. It can lay flowlines and umbilicals, and support developments in water depths ranging from 75m to 2,500m." The ship is enormous. It has a length of 206.5m It can carry rigid pipe. Its engines develop 45,000hp and it has the following capacities: "29,606bbl fuel capacity, 377bbl of hydraulic oil, 5,629bbl of fresh water and 9,082bbl of technical water." Its specification are way beyond my understanding or comprehension. All I know is it is quite a sight. Enormous and overwhelming. The website continues: "Hotel accommodation is provided for a total complement of 120 persons, comprising four executive single-occupancy cabins, 18 single-person cabins and 49 two-person cabins. Lifesaving appliances include four 60-man TEMPSC, located two port and two starboard of accommodation. Inflatable life rafts are installed on the upper deck with 100% POB capacity port and starboard," plus "Sikorsky S61 N type helicopters can also be accommodated on the helideck." Visit Ship Technology to learn a lot more. See my Tampa Daily Photo May 28th post about the Little Lighthouse for more on Tampa's ship repair industry. This is just one example of the industries of which Tampa can be very proud. Click on the photo of the Deep Blue. It's truly amazing.

3 comments:

  1. Frank, what a monster ship!
    Thanks for showing the photo and providing all this amazing information. This is awe-inspiring!

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  2. Very informative and very impressive. Thanks so much for sharing this picture!

    ReplyDelete