Revisit of a 1970s semi-submersible pipe layer

Introduction The start of offshore drilling is took place in 1947. Since then many novel floating structures were conceptualised, designed, built, put in operation and finally scrapped again. When these structures are called ships, as does the present author, this meant an unprecedented rapid and all-encompassing development in naval architecture. The impact of this development was not restricted to mobile offshore units only, but in fact had an indelible influence on the design of all types of ships. All of this took place in a time frame spanning just one or two human generations. Documenting this history still can be based upon living memories and does not need to be restricted to paper information sources. In the early 1970s Gusto Shipyard of Schiedam, Holland, designed and built the then new generation semi-submersible pipelay barge Viking Piper (Fig. 1).