His arrival in Toulon on September 28 did not go unnoticed. The Floating Instrument Platform (Flip), this former US Navy monitoring station turned scientific machine, arrived aboard the heavy package transport Happy Buccaneer on September 28 in Toulon, after a long transit from the Mexican port of Ensenada (southern California). It was then taken care of by the Foselev teams for preparatory work before joining La Ciotat for an overhaul project at MB 92.
We now know its new owner. This is the British scientific engineering company Deep, specializing in the exploration of the seabed. The company specifies that “Flip will play a central role in the Deep fleet, providing a unique platform for ocean research capable of accommodating our scientific equipment. We look forward to announcing its launch in early 2026 and we are already in contact with many teams of researchers who want to come on board.”
The work will last between 12 and 18 months and will cover numerous points, starting with a lighter structure then a rearrangement of the interiors to accommodate more scientific equipment.
The Flip, with a length of 108 meters, consists of a submerged station, a mast, ballast and ballast. At first, it was used for spying on submarines, the submerged part was covered with sonars. The Flip could be towed horizontally and then ballasted to take its horizontal station. It does not have any propulsion, in particular so as not to disrupt the acquisition of acoustic signals. However, it was quickly decommissioned and dedicated to scientific missions for the US ONR (Office National Research), during which it was used in particular to measure wave height, collect weather data and even underwater acoustic signals. Its last mission dates from 2017. The spirit of this type of shipbuilding has since been taken up, notably for SPAR-type oil platforms or even for the Polar Pod project, the drifting station imagined by Jean-Louis Etienne.
