Go Back   Shipping History > Shipping Discussion > Ships, Shipping & Maritime Interests > Special Purpose Vessels

Special Purpose Vessels.

Post Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 31st July 2018, 08:00
Old Janner Old Janner is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Azerbaijan
Posts: 15
Images: 8
Special Purpose Vessels.

I am surprised to note no posts in this section yet.
So, I want to kick it off by mentioning DSV's dive support ships, they play a big role in today's Maritime World. You can see by some of my posts, that I was employed on the Stena DSV's and spent a lot of time in the Falklands and South Georgia, plus the mundane work in the North Sea and years of Work supporting the Thistle A.
Good weather ships could handle everything the North Sea Could throw at us in the Winter, and still manage Heli Crew Changes, though a bit hairy at times.
Not to forget the Achor Handlers and supply ships and their crews, a wee bit different from Cargo ships and Tankers.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 31st July 2018, 08:40
IJC 38 United Kingdom IJC 38 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Torquay
Posts: 59
Possibly most of us are too long in the tooth to have sailed on such specialised vessels, probably most of us sailed on 4 - 5 hatch vessels with 10 -16 derricks and if we got something with 6 hatches and 18 plus derricks we thought we were on something big, and anything that wasn't a Liberty or an Empire vessel was a bonus. I sailed on vessels from tiddlers of 115 dwt to large 36,000dwt, the 36,000 are now considered tiddlers. Perhaps those who could tell us about the specialised vessels are still young enough to be still working and don't have time to regale us.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 31st July 2018, 08:41
Ray's Avatar
Ray United Kingdom Ray is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Sunderland
Posts: 30
Images: 49
Spent the last twenty years working in the offshore, AHTS and PSVs, North sea and various places around the world, big difference to the cargo/Tankers. Retired in 2007.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 31st July 2018, 20:41
cueball44's Avatar
cueball44 cueball44 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: kingston upon hull
Posts: 2,304
Did some Anchor snatching early 1970s. First experience of the procedure aboard this vessel 'Yorkshireman' UTC. Bit scary sometimes.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Untitled.jpg (22.9 KB, 27 views)
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 1st August 2018, 01:43
tugger Australia tugger is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Cooma NSW
Posts: 73
Images: 1
Like ICJ 38 I was on the old four and five hatch ships, and up to Big 20,000 ton tankers, the only time any thing special happened was when we had to rig the Jumbo Derrick in Freemantle to unload a train, for me an exciting and interesting time.
Tugger
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 1st August 2018, 08:52
Howardang England Howardang is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Welton, East Yorkshire
Posts: 23
After a number of years deep sea with cargo, passenger and roro container ships, I transferred to an offshore division of our parent company - Offshore Marine. Master offshore in many parts of the world before coming ashore into the chartering department. Moved on to be operations manager of United Towing, until the company sold off most of its tugs and then consulting in offshore and leisure shipping market. I think this is a similar career path for a number of my contemporaries and maybe it reflects the sharp decline in conventional shipping at the time.

I have to confess that i don't regret my time involved with the offshore world but now happily retired with a great interest in cruising UK Inland Waterways when I can.

Howard
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 22nd December 2020, 14:39
Ron.H. United Kingdom Ron.H. is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Happisburgh, Norfolk. England
Posts: 2
Having spent the early years of my time in the M.N. "Deep Sea" I moved on to work on the Special Purpose vessels of the North Sea, based mainly in Aberdeen & Peterhead. I spent the next 17 years as A.B. & Bosun on Survey Ships, Anchor Handlers and Supply Boats. These hard working ships never seem to get much of a mention on any of the various web sites that I've found. Ex seamen seem to Wax Lyrical about their time on the posh Cruise Ships & cargo carrying Ocean Greyhounds but never anything about these ships that spend their time in the northern North Sea. They never stop, whatever the weather. I had far more narrow escapes & scary moments working on deck of Supply Boats than anywhere else. At one point I was working on what was one of the smallest Supply Boats based out of Aberdeen when we got the charter to become the dedicated ship for the Magnus Field, at that time the northern most field in the British Sector. We spent most of that first winter running out of Aberdeen with a deck full of Drill Pipe and Casing piled way above the safety barriers. The weather was always on the edge and slipping about on top of those loads trying to hook onto the platform's crane, often with snow under foot was sometimes nothing short of terrifying. As my 60th. birthday approached I decided I was getting too old to bang around decks in the North Sea and got out while I was still in one piece. It's a pity nobody has got around to writing the story of these amazing little ships and the hard working boys that crew them.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 22nd December 2020, 15:03
Tim Gibbs's Avatar
Tim Gibbs United Kingdom Tim Gibbs is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Bideford, North Devon
Posts: 121
Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Janner View Post
I am surprised to note no posts in this section yet.
So, I want to kick it off by mentioning DSV's dive support ships, they play a big role in today's Maritime World. You can see by some of my posts, that I was employed on the Stena DSV's and spent a lot of time in the Falklands and South Georgia, plus the mundane work in the North Sea and years of Work supporting the Thistle A.
Good weather ships could handle everything the North Sea Could throw at us in the Winter, and still manage Heli Crew Changes, though a bit hairy at times.
Not to forget the Achor Handlers and supply ships and their crews, a wee bit different from Cargo ships and Tankers.
I was with Star Offshore Services 1978 - 1986. Can hardly believe the number of ships we built and converted in that relatively short period. It was a great time for me but it came to an abrupt end with the downturn in '86!
__________________
Only fight the battles you stand a reasonable chance of winning
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 22nd December 2020, 16:57
R58484957's Avatar
R58484957 England R58484957 is offline
Super Moderator
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Southampton
Posts: 523
Greetings Ron.H. and welcome to SH. Bon voyage
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 24th June 2021, 13:17
Finkenwerder's Avatar
Finkenwerder England Finkenwerder is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 48
Images: 73
The RMAS had a lot of specialist vessels, mostly designed around the armed forces requirements. Fleet and experimental trials vessels, Admiralty mooring vessels, sonar propagation vessels, de-gaussing vessels, armament vessels, research vessels, torpedo recovery vessels, etc. These vessel types were true seagoing vessels and much different from the naval base harbour/smooth water vessels like tugs, fleet tenders and small tankers of one kind or another. That's not to say they didn't go to sea as many of them did if the tasking required it. All run by private contractor now - Serco Defence. Many of the seagoing tasks have ended as the RN has shrunk in size. Much of the mooring work was done on behalf of the RAF - bombing targets of one type or another around the UK coast; many of these now removed.
Reply With Quote
Post Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Max number of vessels under management? Varley J & J Denholm 4 4th February 2024 13:15
Belgian vessels in London Bob Smith Other International Navies 4 19th July 2018 13:13
Fishing vessels? GeorgeT Say Hello 7 29th April 2017 19:12


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:19.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.