Page 11: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 15, 1981)

Halpern. The award is named af- ter the late T. Douglas MacMul- len, West Coast correspondent for

Marine Engineering / Log maga- zine, who suggested that the spouse of the Section chairman should be recognized by a special award for her patience and un- derstanding during his tenure.

The technical portion of the program consisted of a paper by

Mark R. liuetzow of Chevron

Shipping Company titled "De- jumboizing of Four 212,000-dwt

VLCC's to 150,000 dwt." Between

January and October 1980, the tanker D.L. Bower and three sis- ter vessels were shortened by re- moving 101 feet of parallel mid- body from each. Various other modifications were carried out to meet current safety and pollution control regulations as well. The vessels are now in service be- tween Indonesia and the U.S.

West Coast.

Economic and engineering con- siderations that led to the con- versions as an alternative to pur- chase of new vessels were de- scribed in the paper. The paper also gave characteristics of the vessels before and after conver- sion, and details of how the con- version was accomplished. The presentation was illustrated with slides showing the shortening process, and was followed by an extensive discussion.

Seaport Asks Title XI

On Two Derrick Barges

To Cost $7.5 Million Total

Seaport, Inc., New Orleans, has applied to the Maritime Adminis- tration for a Title XI guarantee to aid in financing the construc- tion of two 250-foot derrick barges to be operated in New

Orleans Harbor. The applicant is a subsidiary of Southern Harbor & Towing, Inc., Metairie, La.

The barges are being built by

Bergeron Industries, Braithwaite,

La., and Todd Shipyards, Galves- ton, Texas, with deliveries sched- uled during the first and second quarters of 1981. The requested guarantee is for $6,562,000, which is 87% percent of the $7,500,000 estimated cost of both vessels.

Mobil Orders Sperry

Advanced Navigation

System For The 'Mobile Search'

Mobil Exploration and Produc- ing Services, Inc., a unit of the

Exploration and Producing Divi- sion of Mobil Oil Corporation, has awarded the Sperry Division,

Great Neck, N.Y., of Sperry Cor- poration contracts to develop and produce one of the most advanced navigation systems ever devel- oped for a commercial ship.

The navigation system will be used aboard Mobil's second Seis- mic Research Vessel, the Mobile

Search, whose keel is expected to be laid in mid-1981 by Mitsubishi

Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan.

The Sperry navigation system

May 15, 1981 will allow Mobil to conduct world- wide seismic oil exploration with high positioning accuracy. In- cluded in the equipment being provided by Sperry are: two

Sperry MK 29 Mod 1 high accu- racy gyrocompasses, a newly de- veloped Sperry Parametric Array

Doppler Sonar (PADS) system, two Sperry SRD 301 speed logs, two specially modified Sperry CAS

II collision avoidance systems, a dual Sperry Universal Gyropilot and both X- and S-band models of the Sperry MK 4016 SEA-

THRU radars.

In addition, Sperry will provide the computer equipment, Loran C and satellite navigation receivers and the navigation system dis- plays and controls. The entire system will be integrated utiliz- ing all available navigation in- puts and appropriate sensor in- formation to produce the best possible estimate of ship position and velocity at all times. Ad- vanced signal processing pro- grammed on a powerful 32-bit minicomputer will enable the

Sperry navigation system to ex- ceed the accuracy limitations in deep water of previous commer- cial navigation systems. The sys- tem is easily expandable to in- clude inputs from a bottom acous- tic transponder system and, when available, the Navstar Global Po- sitioning System.

Inert Gas Systems • Equipment Supply • Survey and Drawings • Pipework and Cabling • Installation Supervision • Commissioning

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