Page 100: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 1997)

CONVERSION PROJECT PROFILER

TEMPERATURE CONTROL VALVES

Salvage Ship G/omor Explorer Converted For Deepwater Drilling . nr, Circle 209 on Reader Service Card _ . .. 100 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News flooded and inserted into place, leaving a 74 x 42-ft. (22.5 x 12.8-m) drilling pool.

The ship was lifted again on standard 6-ft. (1.8-m) blocking and the new bottom was welded into place. Two bulkheads were erected above the new pool, the aft one car- rying a 25-ton (22.7-m-ton) rack to support the 175-ton (158.7-m-ton) blow-out preventer. The new fore hold will contain stacks of riser pipe and related stores. To one side is a new moonpool, 16 x 19-ft. (4.9 x 5.8-m), specifically for

Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) deployment. The ROV will have the ability to inspect the seabed at great depths and will have its own service facilities and stowage area on deck.

The aft hold required extensive demolition and re-construction to support the loads imposed by ten 40 x 15-ft. (12.2 x 4.6-m) mud tanks; five, 7,500-psiI mud pumps and a new electrical generator room housing four, EMD 645 16- cylinder AC generators, each weighing 40 tons (36.2 m tons).

The electrical output, generated at 4,160 volts AC, was rectified to 440

DC via two new (SCR) control rooms. A powerful, 1,140-kW emergency generator was installed aft of the bridge and also demand- ed extensive structural modifica- tion. The ship's diesel-electric propulsion system — five

Nordberg 16-cylinder AC genera- tors turning six, 2,200-hp DC shaft motors — was overhauled and rebuilt where necessary. The twin propellers and shafts and all five 2,000-hp, shaft- driven thrusters were returned to top condition while the exterior received a five- year coatings system application before the ship was refloated.

The provision of ventilation to these numerous spaces necessitat- ed retrofitting an entire system from the new deck down. Besides vent shafts, the deck plan called for 25 hatches, scuttles and davits for four Schat-Harding, 60 and 80- person, self-righting lifeboats.

Access to the helicopter deck was strengthened to carry a forklift, and under-deck reinforcement was added to support four Seatrax cranes, with boom lengths of 90 to 110 ft. (27.4 to 33.5 m). "The Glomar conversion has been the largest, most complex project in the history of this yard," said

Well-known salvage ship Glomar

Explorer arrived at Cascade

General in February after 20 years in lay-up. It departed in June after 135 days of round-the-clock work to fulfill its new mission as a state-of-the-art, deepwater drill- ship. The fast conversion was com- pleted 15 days ahead of schedule and included a virtual doubling of specified work from the original contract terms.

Some five million pounds of steel were used in the primary modifica- tions. The 619-ft. (188.7-m) ship was lifted and blocked at the bilges with a 12-ft. (3.7-m) clearance. In a carefully orchestrated sequence, the retractable gates covering

Glomar Explorer's 200-ft. (96.96- m), moon pool were cut away, low- ered and removed. Prefabricated, bottom modules were floated in,

Circle 334 on Reader Service Card

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Circle 335 on Reader Service Card

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