Acoustic Equipment News

Hutchison Ports Harwich International has become a new base for the British Antarctic Survey’s two ice-strengthened Royal Research Ships, the RRS James Clark Ross and the RRS Ernest Shackleton.The two ships are making their inaugural calls at the port in September before deploying to the Antarctic, where they will remain until summer 2019.Commenting on the calls, Mark Seaman, Finance Director, Hutchison Ports (UK), said: “Harwich International is well known for its excellent ferry links to the Continent, however, the port has a wide range of facilities and handles a variety of cargoes and ship types. We normally see general and project cargoes as well as both dry and liquid bulks…

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus named the 'R/V Sally Ride' to honor the memory of Sally Ride, a scientist, innovator and educator. Ride was the first American woman and the youngest person in space. She later served as director of NASA’s Office of Exploration as well as the California Space Institute at University of California San Diego. “The christening of this ship is not only a celebration of the hard work and dedication of the men and women who have brought this vessel from an idea to a reality, but also of the spirit of exploration and discovery shared by Sally Ride and the United States Navy,” said Mabus. The Neil Armstrong-class…

February 22 marked the launch of Neil Armstrong, the first of two Navy oceanographic research vessels to be launched with Siemens Blue multi-drive low voltage system. Neil Armstrong was launched in Anacortes, Washington. Siemens said the use of Siemens Blue improves the vessels reliability due to failsafe features that help the vessel owner lower maintenance costs, increase efficiency and improve operational ease for the vessel and crew. The ship’s advance design decreases fuel consumption, resulting in reduced emission of harmful greenhouse gases. Siemens provided the main generators, main propulsion and thruster motors, switchboards, power management system and automation system for alarm, monitoring and control functions.

The MacArtney Group announced the delivery of a CORMAC 4 Stainless Steel Winch system to the Institute of Geosciences at the Christian Albrechts University of Kiel. The winch system, which was acquired through German MacArtney Group member, MBT GmbH, will be put to use aboard various research vessels, hereunder the R/V Alkor, which is operated by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel. Housed within a self-contained and compact stainless steel structure, the CORMAC winch is rugged…

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announces that the first Armstrong-class Auxiliary General Oceanographic Research (AGOR) ship will be named 'Neil Armstrong'. Mabus named the future R/V Neil Armstrong (AGOR 27) to honor the memory of Neil Armstrong, best known for being the first man to walk on the moon. Armstrong was an aeronautics pioneer and explorer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) serving as an engineer, test pilot, astronaut and administrator. Armstrong also served as a naval aviator flying nearly 80 combat missions during the Korean War.

Aquatic Center of Rochester is a full service dive shop in Henrietta, NY. In addition to carrying a complete line of scuba equipment, and offering full range of scuba training courses, company owner Joe Plano also provides ROV inspection services. Several years ago Joe purchased his Fisher SeaOtter ROV to perform an inspection on one of New York’s barge canal system locks. The job involved penetrating a tunnel at the bottom of the 40 foot deep lock to locate and examining a 1/2 ton steel gate that had jammed in the open position.

Propeller Boss Cap Fins (PBCF) is a propeller enhancing device, which is designed to cut fuel consumption and exhaust gases by up to five percent while incurring no additional maintenance cost once installed. The unit, according to H. Yumoto Manager of PBCF Div. Mitsui O.S.K. Techno Trade, Ltd., is now operational on 720 ship worldwide. The PBCF rectifies the propeller hub vortex and recovers rotational energy otherwise lost in the propeller slip stream. Increasing propeller thrust by over one percent and reducing propeller torque by over three percent, the PBCF reportedly results in fuel savings of up to five percent or compared to vessels operating at equivalent speeds but without the PBCF, alternatively, a 1.5 percent increase in speed at the same engine output.