Page 39: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 1973)

Bethlehem Beaumont Delivers New Generation

Self-Propelled Semisubmersible Drilling Unit

Western Pacesetter I, the new $20-million semisubmersible drill- ing vessel 'built for The Western

Company of North America, was recently christened at Bethlehem

Steel Company's Beaumont, Texas,

Shipyard.

Senator John Tower, principal speaker at the christening ceremon- ies, cited the new semisubmersible as an excellent example of coopera- tion between industry and Govern- ment in seeking to overcome the energy crisis.

Senator Tower pointed out that

Western received loan and mort- gage insurance from the U.S. De- partment of Commerce Maritime

Administration to aid in financing the construction of the Pacesetter.

He stated that this is the first grant under Title XI of the Merchant

Marine Act of 1936 ever made for construction of a semisubmersible drilling vessel. Western currently has two similar units under con- struction, also being financed un- der Title XI.

H.E. Chiles, chairman and presi- dent of Western, praised the ex- cellent cooperation his company had received from the Maritime

Administration.

The long-term financing will be in the form of a 15-year leveraged lease arranged by Manufacturers

Hanover Leasing Corporation.

Mr. Chiles stated that the Pace- setter represented a major step forward in the field of offshore drilling for the Fort Worth^based firm. Western currently operates two jackup drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mrs. George C. Hardin Jr. of

Houston, wife of the president of

Ashland Exploration Company, was sponsor of the vessel and broke the symbolic bottle of champagne.

Ashland will make intitial use of the Pacesetter drilling for oil in the North Sea for its Ashland

Oil Development (U.K.) Ltd. sub- sidiary. Contracts have also been signed with Sieb-ens Oil & Gas (U.K.) Ltd. and Transworld Pe- troleum Corporation for drilling which- should last approximately two years. The three companies have an option to use the vessel for approximately one year beyond the primary contract period.

Western Pacesetter I is a new generation self-propelled semisub- mersible drilling unit designed for operations in oceans virtually any-

Participants at the Pacesetter launching included, left to right: M.C. (Clay) Chiles, vice president and division manager, Western Oceanic; H.E. Chiles, president, Western

Company of North America; George C. Hardin Jr., president, Ashland Exploration Co.;

Mrs. Hardin, sponsor; Senator John Tower; Mrs. Clay Chiles, and J.O. Crooke, general manager, Bethlehem Beaumont Shipyard. where in the world. Its designers, the New Orleans firm of Friede &

Goldman, Inc., state that with its installed power and tested hull characteristics, it should be un- matched in speed by any known unit of its type.

Designed for drilling in water depths to 600 feet or more, the

Pacesetter is 260 feet in length and 200 feet wide. The unit has a basic structure of two parallel lower hulls, each 50 feet in width. Three caissons on each hull, each 32 feet in diameter, support the main deck.

When the unit is drilling, the lower hulls and caissons will be partially flooded to sink the unit to the depth desired to achieve maxi- mum stability.

The Pacesetter is designed for drilling in wave heights up to 30 feet or more and meets the struc- tural and stability requirements (both damaged and undamaged) of the American Bureau of Ship- ping and the U.S. Coast Guard for 100Jknot winds and waves of 100 feet high.

The rig's ability to stay on po- sition in rough seas is enhanced by eight 30,000-pound anchors and eight 3-inch mooring chains, which meet or exceed mooring capabili- ties of the largest rigs afloat. Pro- pulsion is twin-screw with four GM

Electro-Motive Division motors in each hull driving a 10-foot diameter propeller, with 3,000-shaft horse- power per side.

J.O. Crooke, general manager of

Bethlehem's Beaumont Shipyard, welcomed visitors to the ceremony.

Other honored guests included

George C. Hardin Jr., president,

Ashland Exploration Company,

W.W. Siebens Jr., chairman and president, Siebens Oil & Gas, and

Roy Yowell, Chief of the Office of

Subsidy Administration, U.S. De- partment of Commerce Maritime

Administration.

Farrell Lines

Opens New Office

In Melbourne

Farrell Lines will open a new office in Melbourne, Australia, later this year, according to Thomas J.

Smith, president. Allan M. Teicher, who joined the line in 1965, will become owner's representative in

Melbourne. He will Work in con- junction with George W. Jones

Jr., in Sydney, who has been own- er's representative for Australia since March of 1971.

With the entry of the Austral

Entente into the Australia-New

Zealand service, Farrell now has all four of the new containerships it ordered for this route in opera- tion.

WEBB SEMINAR: Thirty persons from industry and Government attended a seminar on

Practical Applications of Probability to Hull Structural Design held at Webb Institute of

Naval Architecture, Glen Cove, N.Y., on August 1-3, 1973. Guest lecturers included

Prof. A.M. Freudenthal of George Washington University; Prof. S.R. Heller of Catholic

University; E.G.U. Band of Payne, Inc.; Dr. M.K. Ochi of Naval Ship Research Develop- ment Center, and John Dalzell of Davidson Laboratory. Along with members of the

Webb staff—Professors Hoffman, Karst, Lewis, van Hooff, and Zubaly—they discussed recent developments in the applications of probability theory to the determination of short-term and long-term distributions of wave loads, with implications for ship hull design. Shown, left to right: (front row) J.E. Stevens, Chicago Bridge and Iron Co.;

William Garike, Gibbs & Cox; Robert Zubaly (speaker), SUNY, Fort Schuyler, N.Y.;

E.G.U. Band (speaker), Payne, Inc.; Lt. Comdr. C.S. Loosmore, USCG, Secretary, Ship

Structure Committee; Dr. M.K. Ochi (speaker), NSRDC; E.V. Lewis (Speaker), Webb

Institute, and Richard W. Rumke, National Research Council; (second row) Donald S.

Wilson, Naval Ship Engineering Center; M.C. Bampton, Aerojet-General Corp.; A.E.

Baitis, NSRDC; James R. Dwyer, Ensign, U.S. Coast Guard; P.R. Johnson, Chicago Bridge and Iron Co.; Sherman Cauldwell, Naval Ship Engineering Center; James Macullum Jr.,

Sperry Systems Management; William A. Cleary Jr., U.S. Coast Guard, and S. Rao

Guntur, Zapata Off-Shore Company; (third row) E. Neal, NSRDC; Chad B. Doherty,

NOAA Data Buoy Office; Prof. J.E. Goldberg, Purdue University; John S. Spencer, U.S.

Coast Guard; David L. Folsom, Lt. Comdr., U.S. Coast Guard; Edward S. Geller, Sperry

Systems Management; Ralph E. Johnson, U.S. Coast Guard, and Robert J. Kramer,

Texaco Inc.; (back row) Dr. Paul van Mater, U.S. Naval Academy; William Siekierka,

Naval Ship Engineering Center; Dr. Hung Chi Lee, J.J. McMullen Associates, Inc.; Dr.

A.M. Elbatouti, American Bureau of Shipping; Dr. Sheng Lun Chuang, NSRDC; Henry

J. Karsch, J.J. Henry Co., Inc.; William N. France II, Exxon Corporation, and Edward

D. Schaeffer, J.J. Henry Co., Inc.

Designed by Friede & Goldman, the Pacesetter can drill in wave heights up to 30 feet.

September 1, 1973 43