Page 28: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 15, 1985)

CONTROLLABLE

PITCH

PROPELLERS • Improved Maneuverability • Stepless Speed Control • Reduces Engine Maintenance . n

The Coolidge-Stone Vickers

CP Propeller

MODEL XL Features: • A Patented Blade Seal Arrange- ment that Works • Simplified Hub Design for

Ease of Installation • Simplified Hydraulics

CP Propellers provide a vessel with reduced stopping time and distance thus increasing control and safety.

They allow adjustment of pitch to engine R.P.M. for optimum engine performance during varying loads and weather conditions.

For informative literature and instal- lation list, call or write today. 56 Squirrel Road

Auburn Hills, Ml 48057 (313) 852-6604

Circle 300 on Reader Service Card 28

Third Rowan Gorilla Drilling Rig

Delivered By Marathon LeTourneau

The Rowan Gorilla III departed from Belle Chasse, La., recently bound for the east coast of Canada where the drilling rig will operate under contract to Mobil Oil Canada,

Ltd. offshore Sable Island, Nova

Scotia. The new unit is the third in a series of the largest self-elevating jackup rigs built to date by Mara- thon LeTourneau Offshore Compa- ny for Rowan Companies, Inc. of

Houston. The first unit has been working successfully offshore Sable

Island for the past year under con- tract to a Husky/Bow Valley joint venture, while the second recently arrived in the North Sea.

The Gorilla rigs are of a new and heavier class intended to drill up to 30,000 feet in water depths up to 328 feet in any ice-free hostile envi- ronment in the world. In less hostile environments, they are capable of drilling in water depths of more than 400 feet. These 15,000-ton units require twice the amount of fabricated steel used in the pre- viously largest jackups. At 297 feet long by 292 feet wide, Gorilla Class rigs are nearly 40 percent larger than the Marathon LeTourneau 116

Class jackups.

Construction of the Rowan Goril- la III was completed at Marathon's

Vicksburg, Miss., shipyard, with materials purchased by both the builder and the owner from manu- facturers located in 33 states throughout the U.S. For example, the rig stands on structural steel plate and tubular parts made in

Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, Massa- chusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illi- nois, and Texas, all purchased by the shipyard. Owner-furnished equipment that Rowan purchased to perform the drilling functions was manufactured in many of these same states, plus others.

When Gorilla III left Belle Chasse it was towed by the Smit London, a 22,000-bhp oceangoing tug owned by Smit Tak International Towage and Salvage Company of Rotter- dam. The journey took approxi- mately 20 days, and brought the rig from the Gulf of Mexico around the

Florida peninsula and up the U.S. and Canadian east coast to Nova

Scotia. During the voyage the tug received propulsion assistance from the operation of the Gorilla Ill's twin 112-inch propellers in Kort nozzles driven by eight electric mo- tors with 6,800 hp total output.

The Gorilla III is the 23rd rig in

Rowan's offshore fleet. During its 60 years of experience in the contract drilling business, the Houston com- pany has drilled more than 7,000 oil and gas wells throughout the world.

ROWAN GORILLA III

Suppliers & Equipment

Argo International . . . Electrical parts

Argo Marine Bearing staves

Bethlehem . . Steel plate & structural

Buffalo Forge Aerofin coil

Cameron Iron Works . Choke Manifold,

BOP and diverter valves

Caterpillar Diesel engines

Coolidge Propellers & shafts

Dean Steel .... Hospital equipment

Drew Chemicals

Eureka Chemical

L.F. Gaubert Electrical cable

General Electric Transformers & SCRs

Global Cathodic . Cathodic protection

GTE Electrical parts

Gulf Radio (distributor) Radio equipment

Halliburton Bulk system

Hartzell Fans

Hose McCann . . . Telephone system

International Paint Coatings

Koomey Hydraulic hose

Krotos Electrical parts

Marathon . .Cranes, winches, skidder gear elevating unit motors & components, fabricated struc- tures, steel plate

Lucian Moffitt Stuffing boxes

Lee C. Moore Derrick

MSI Monitoring system

National Supply SCRs

O&M Manufacturing . . Engine coolers

Riley-Beaird Muffler

Ross (Boston Metals) Heat exchanger

Timken Alloy bars

Tri Tex Marine Antifreeze

US Steel .... Steel plate, structurals & bars

Whittaker Survival capsules

Winslow F-0 filters

PUMPS: Houston Systems, Lovejoy,

Marlow, Peerless, Roper, S&N Pumps

The Rowan Gorilla III departs Belle Chasse. La., on a journey of more than 2,000 miles to the east coast of Canada for drilling off Nova Scotia.

Maritime Reporter/Engineering News