Uncle John
One of the most successful diving support vessels of the 1980s was the SSSV Uncle John operated by Comex Houlder diving. For 10 years this ship completed numerous underwater pipe joints (hyperbaric tie-ins) and other maintenance work in and around the Shell operated Brent oilfield in the northern North Sea. The Uncle John is a semi-submersible platform design with a 16 man saturation system, 2 diving bells in separate moon pools, 2 cranes and the ability to stay on station and work in fairly extreme weather. The semi-submersible design is very useful for hyperbaric tie-ins because the significant deck space allowed the transportation and manipulation of a 75 tonne welding habitat and pipe manipulation equipment that have the capability of maneuvering 36-inch-diameter, 1.5-inch-thick steel pipe. The Uncle John is currently owned and operated by Caldive International and is active today in the Gulf of Mexico.
A typical working depth in the Brent Field was 140 m. However, in 1983 the Uncle John and its crew successfully completed the Deep Fjord Diving Program in Onarheims Fjord, Norway, where a successful 36-inch hyperbaric tie-in was completed at a depth of 300 m.
Read more about this topic: Diving Support Vessel
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