Specialised carriers also are called Specialised Ships. We call them ships because they float and move over water. As seen earlier, ships are designed for specific purpose and we see that in specialised ships. There is endless variety in specialised ships and we are covering few important ships. Please understand purpose of these ships and impact over merchant shipping.
Supply vessel: A supply vessel is a ship specially designed to supply offshore oil and gas platforms. These ships range from 50 to 100 meters in length and accomplish a variety of tasks. The primary function for most of these vessels is logistic support and transportation of goods, tools, equipment and personnel to and from offshore oil platforms and other offshore structures.
Drilling vessel:(Drillship)::A drillship is a merchant vessel designed for use in exploratory offshore drilling of new oil and gas wells or for scientific drilling purposes. In most recent years the vessels are used in deepwater and ultra-deepwater applications, equipped with the latest and most advanced dynamic positioning systems.
Icebreaker: An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters and provide safe waterways for other ships.
For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most normal ships lack: a strengthened hull, an ice-clearing shape and the power to push through sea ice. Icebreakers clear paths by pushing straight into ice pockets. The bending strength of sea ice is so low that usually the ice breaks without noticeable change in the vessel’s trim. In cases of very thick ice, an icebreaker can drive its bow onto the ice to break it under the weight of the ship. Because a buildup of broken ice in front of a ship can slow it down much more than the breaking of the ice itself, icebreakers have a specially designed hull to direct the broken ice around or under the vessel. The external components of the ship’s propulsion system (propellers, propeller shafts, etc.) are at even greater risk of damage than the vessel’s hull, so the ability of an icebreaker to propel itself onto the ice, break it, and clear the debris from its path successfully is essential for its safety.
Tug: A tug (tugboat or towboat) is a type of vessel that maneuvers other vessels by pushing or pulling them either by direct contact or by means of a tow line. Tugs typically move vessels that either are restricted in their ability to maneuver on their own, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, log rafts, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for their size and strongly built, and some are ocean-going. Some tugboats serve as icebreakers or salvage boats. Many tugboats have firefighting monitors, allowing them to assist in firefighting, especially in harbors.
Pilot boat: A pilot boat is a type of boat used to transport maritime pilots between land and the inbound or outbound ships that they are piloting.
Research vessel: A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated vessel. Due to the demanding nature of the work, research vessels are often constructed around an icebreaker hull, allowing them to operate in polar waters.
Cable Laying ship: A cable layer or cable ship is a deep-sea vessel designed and used to lay underwater cables for telecommunications, electric power transmission, or other purposes. Cable ships are distinguished by large cable sheaves for guiding cable over bow or stern or both. Bow sheaves, some very large, were characteristic of all cable ships in the past, but newer ships are tending toward having stern sheaves only.
The first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid by cable layers from 1857–58. It briefly enabled telecommunication between Europe and North America before misuse resulted in failure of the line. In 1866 the SS Great Eastern successfully laid two transatlantic cables, securing future communication between the continents.
Fire Fighting Vessel: A fireboat is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipment. Older designs derived from tugboats and modern fireboats more closely resembling seafaring ships can both be found in service today.
They are frequently used for fighting fires on docks and shore side warehouses as they can directly attack fires in the supporting underpinnings of these structures. They also have an effectively unlimited supply of water available, pumping directly from below the hull. Fireboats can be used to assist shore-based firefighters when other water is in low supply or is unavailable.
Semi Submersible Ships: Semi-submersible heavy-lift ships have a long and low well deck between a forward pilot house and an aft machinery space. In superficial appearance, it is somewhat similar to a dry bulk carrier or some forms of oil tanker. Its ballast tanks can be flooded to lower the well deck below the water’s surface, allowing oil platforms, other vessels, or other floating cargo to be moved into position for loading (float-on/float-off). The tanks are then pumped out, and the well deck rises to shoulder the load. To balance the cargo, the various tanks can be pumped unevenly.
Barge: A barge is a flat-bottomed ship, built mainly for harbor, river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and must be towed or pushed by towboats, canal barges or towed by draft animals on an adjacent towpath.
Anchor Handling Ship: Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessels are mainly built to handle anchors for oil rigs, tow them to location, and use them to secure the rigs in place. AHTS vessels sometimes also serve as Emergency Response and Rescue Vessels (ERRVs) and as supply transports.
Many of these vessels are designed to meet the harsh conditions of the North Sea, and can undertake supply duties there between land bases and drilling sites. They also provide towing assistance during tanker loading, deep water anchor handling, and towing of threatening objects.
Pipelaying ship: The term “pipelaying vessel” or “pipelayer” refers to all vessels capable of laying pipe on the ocean floor. It can also refer to “dual activity” ships. These vessels are capable of laying pipe on the ocean floor in addition to their primary job. Examples of dual activity pipelayers include barges, modified bulk carriers, modified drillships semi-immersible laying vessels among others.
Dredgers: Dredging is an excavation activity usually carried out underwater, in shallow seas or freshwater areas with the purpose of gathering up bottom sediments and widening. This technique is often used to keep waterways navigable and creates an anti sludge pathway for boats. Ships who carry out this activity are called dredgers. They come in many shapes and sizes as there are many methods for dredging. Some dredgers are used for Diamond mining in south Africa.
Fishing Trawler: A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets that are pulled along the bottom of the sea or in midwater at a specified depth. A trawler may also operate two or more trawl nets simultaneously.
Factory Ship: A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish or whales. Modern factory ships are automated and enlarged versions of the earlier whalers and their use for fishing has grown dramatically. Some factory ships are equipped to serve as a mother ship. Many of them operate in deep seas with fleet of other fishing vessels as group.
Fishing vessel: A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial and recreational fishing.
Well! Well! Cadet DOZO, How are things now?
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