Research Vessels - A Review of Recent Design Innovations

This paper is a shipmaster´s view of the recent innovative changes in the design of research vessels. The reasons for the changes- electronic data gathering, hydraulic deck equipment and improved ship handling systems are noted. Studies of ship designs include the one side - fore and aft working area vessel which has multi disciplinary capability. The DAWSON (1967) to very recent Finnish built vessels for Russia are highlighted. A comparision is made with the all aft, one quarter vessel such as the CHARLES DARWIN (1984) and to possible limitation of the vessel´s capabilities. The submersible´s mother ship, the dedicated seismic vessel and the catamaran sweep vessel have no design history. They evolved complete from the drawing board. Although the hydrographic vessel´s hull form has shown advances (JOHN P.TULLY OF 1985) the launch and recovery systems for such vessels have stagnated.