FLIP had no propulsion and relied on a tug to reach its operating area. Flooding its ballast section rotated the platform vertically, while compressed air returned it to the horizontal towing position. In the spar-like orientation, its buoyancy made it largely immune to surface-wave motion. Five crew and eleven researchers could study wave height, acoustic signals, water temperature, and density. Those observations supported ocean models and anti-submarine warfare research. A proposed $8 million life extension to 2031 was rejected, and FLIP was sent to a scrapyard in August 2023. An instrument boom was retained for installation on a pier at Scripps, apparently as a memorial.
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FLIP becomes a vertical ocean laboratory
FLIP flooded ballast tanks to rotate from a towable horizontal hull into a spar-like vertical laboratory largely isolated from surface-wave motion.