In August I posted about the
Transocean Winner an oil rig that had run aground on the West Coast of Lewis. It was re-floated a while ago and towed round into Broad Bay.
Yesterday she was floated onto
Hawk. Hawk is a very large
heavy lift ship which can be ballasted down so that huge things to be transported can be floated onto her carrying platform. She then is discharged of ballast and carries her cargo. In this case the plan is for the rig to be carried to Turkey to be broken up.
The number of vessels involved in the operation was considerable:
The story in pictures:
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| Oops. Grounded. |
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| Hawk: heavy transport ship |
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| As Hawk tales on ballast the cargo deck drops below the water |
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| The support vessels all in place for the floatover |
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| The situation (hopefully) explained |
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| The oil rig on the deck of Hawk after she has de-ballasted |
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| Closeup |
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| Scale |
