Semi-submersible
The terms semi-submersible , semi-submersible ship , semi-submersible ship , semi-submersible boat and semi-submersible boat are used for various maritime objects. These are either ships that can sink due to flooding of ballast tanks so that the loading area comes to lie below the surface of the water and can accommodate floating goods, or ships and platforms that are designed so that most of the float is well below the waterline . Even drug submarines , which are designed so that the surface vessel is very small and therefore not visible as possible, or touristy used boats with large portholes below the waterline for the observation of fish and coral are called semi-submersible.
Semi-submersible ships with cargo area
Semi-submersible ships with a loading area are used to transport floating goods. They can regulate their draft by flooding and pumping out buoyancy bodies and thereby submerge the loading area in such a way that floating loads can be picked up or discharged. These semi-submersible ships are mainly used as heavy-duty ships for the transport of other ships, drilling rigs , submarines or heavy cargo . The Boka Vanguard with a capacity of up to 110,000 tons and the Blue Marlin , which can transport entire oil platforms with a weight of almost 60,000 tons, are among the largest or most powerful semi-submersible ships in terms of transport capacity .
Semi-submersible with floats well below the water surface
Due to their construction, semi-divers with floats well below the water surface lie calmly in the water even in strong waves and, compared to normal ships, perform smaller rolling movements. These properties are achieved by the fact that most of the float is very far below the water surface and is connected to the surface hull with a construction with a small cross section. Often a catamaran-like structure with two cylindrical floats is chosen. Because the wave movements on the surface of the water decrease significantly even at shallow depths, the float is exposed to a calmer sea than when it is close to the surface of the water, as in a classic ship. The stability of the floating object is therefore less influenced by the surface currents and the swell than with a classic underwater ship.
This semi-submersible principle is used for fixed structures such as work platforms and drilling rigs as well as for ships. Likewise, deep-sea workboats that are used for the construction of offshore structures are often designed as semi-submersible.
Another application of this principle is the Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull Ship (SWATH). These ships are designed as a double hull boat similar to a catamaran . The waterline area is kept as small as possible, which means that the floats are well below the water surface.
Semi-submersible as a drug submarine
Semi-submersibles are used for the smuggling of drugs from Central America to Mexico used. Their hull is usually made of fiberglass and the propulsion is provided by a diesel engine . They sail just below the surface of the water and are therefore difficult to see from another ship, but are relatively easy to spot from the air.
Semi-submersible boats for fish watching
In tourism, semi-divers are used to observe fish and corals . These boats are provided with large portholes on the underwater hull, which allow passengers to easily observe the marine life without diving or snorkeling equipment.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kirsten-Inger Wöhrn: Design protection in the shipbuilding industry . Copyright and design protection of ship structures. de Gruyter Rechtswissenschaft Verlags GmbH, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-89949-543-0 , p. 198 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ↑ Kirsten-Inger Wöhrn: Design protection in the shipbuilding industry . Copyright and design protection of ship structures. de Gruyter Rechtswissenschaft Verlags GmbH, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-89949-543-0 , p. 197 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ a b Santiago Stelley: submarine smuggling. Drug traffic in the depths of the ocean. (No longer available online.) In: Vice. P. 2, 3 , formerly in the original ; accessed on August 20, 2012 : “Semi-submersible boats ... are boats that move just below the surface of the water. ... If you search the horizon, they cannot be seen. "
- ↑ a b M. Schwing: No submarine ... but almost. In: Murphy-Online.de. Retrieved August 20, 2012 .
- ↑ ServiceLab simultaneously visualizes and archives 207 variables from the system of a semi-submersible in order to create a commissioning protocol. ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 11, 2012
- ↑ Three thousand meters under the sea ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on August 11, 2012
