This is not Star Hero or space related, so please forgive me the transgression, but this is where a lot of the more science- and tech-oriented types hang out, so that's why I'm posting it here as well in the NGD.
I remember from many years ago (grade school? junior high?) reading in one of my textbooks about a ship -- an oil tanker -- that had been specially modified for certain types of ocean study. In short, it had been fitted with a unique system of ballast tanks that, when flooded in the right order, caused the ship to sink, bow first, until it was fully vertical. In that position only the aft 20% or so of the ship was above water, and the rest of it was pointing straight down into the ocean. This gave a way for various experiments, etc. to access a considerable length of water column, yet still have the firm anchorage of a ship's superstructure and not have to worry about tethers or cables getting tangled, snapping and dropping expensive equipment to the ocean floor, and so on.
IIRC, the ship was called FLIP, which stood for "Floating Laboratory, Inverted Position". The problem is, I haven't been able to find any info about it on the web. Normally I'm pretty good at Google-Fu, but for some reason this time I'm turning up empty.
Does anyone know what I'm talking about, and have any links for info about it? Remembering this ship has been bugging me for some time now, off and on, so I'm finally asking for help from you lot to find info sources about it.
Either that, or come to the conclusion that I'm crazy, misremembering, and that no such thing exists or existed.
Originally Posted by Solomon
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