Interesting Find at Cork Dockyard.

[Goldie fish]

As I often visit the Dockyard in Cobh to see whats going on, there was an odd looking craft tied up for some time that caught my eye. No name, Unusual hull shape. Kinda Catmaran, but kinda Hovercraft too.




You can imagine my surprise when I saw the same Vessel in a Copy of Janes Fighting Ships, IX 515, Formerly USCG Dorado(WSES 1).




It is Identical above the surface to the Current SES200


This vessel was a prototype used for testing the Surface Effect Ship concept in the early 80s, following which the concept was adapted for Use in the Oskoy class of minesweeper, as well as the fast ferry,and more recently the Littoral Combat ship KNM Skjold

The SES, or Surface Effect Ship, is a rigid side hulled hovercraft. Properly done, an SES vessel can achieve very high speeds while maintaining a very high transport efficiency.

And its been sitting in a corner of the Dockyard for the last two years....

Can anyone shed any light on what its doing here? New vessel for NSR maybe :wink:

[ZULU]

Nice work Goldiefish. Any idea what power plant is in it? Is it Prop or Jet drive?

[Goldie fish]

Hard to tell. Nothing Hanging off the stern.

On further Googling, the USCG had four of the type in service with Sea Hawk (WSES-2); Shearwater (WSES-3); and Petrel (WSES-4) beginning in the summer of 1982, Joining Dorado, though Dorado was larger at 250 tons to their 160. All were decomissioned in 1994 and Laid up in Key west.

[Turkey]

Excuse my possible ignorance here, but would it make a good dive support vessel with that flat working area behind the bridge?

[GoneToTheCanner]

hi all
it could have turbines driving buried propellors, like the fast ferries in Hong Kong.
regards
GttC

[ZULU]

Could be a fast ferry design from england or such?

[Goldie fish]

No. It came from the US. That I can confirm.

[Slacker]

I think the big question is "Who has brought it to Cork, and why?"

[ZULU]

Well poor ol' Louis Glicksman can be ruled out. He was an avid collector of unusual ships.

[mutter nutter]

she looks pretty beat up and in a bit of a bad condition

[ZULU]

she looks pretty beat up and in a bit of a bad condition

She looks more than healthy!!

Clean, fresh painted decks, topsides. Granted a bit of scuffing on the port side but thats probably from the yard.

[Goldie fish]

She looks more than healthy!!

Clean, fresh painted decks, topsides. Granted a bit of scuffing on the port side but thats probably from the yard.

The man on the gate informed me she had some sort of impact with the Pontoon when she was being moved for some reason.

She looks better in grey though.

"Kinda Catmaran, but kinda Hovercraft too."

wow, so it must be like a HoverMaran then !!

any relation to our famous hover tank?

I knew some tool would pick up on that. Keep your sense of humor for the General section. If you have nothing to add to this thread, go away.

[ZULU]

The man on the gate informed me she had some sort of impact with the Pontoon when she was being moved for some reason.

She looks better in grey though.

You can bank on the Yard doing some damage! We had a ex Nordic Coast gaurd vessel come to us over the same. I'm thinking they never heard of fenders!

[Test Pilot]

And its been sitting in a corner of the Dockyard for the last two years....

Can anyone shed any light on what its doing here? New vessel for NSR maybe :wink:[/quote]

I was on her last summer, when they were upgrading her for survey as a passenger carrier. The owner is a Cork man and he mentioned that the plan was to take her to the Gulf where they would transport oil rig workers to and from the oil platforms. The idea being that it would be cheaper than useing helicopters and that the high speed of the craft would make it feasable. Don't know why she is still here though. If its got anything to do with Dept. of the Marine surveyors, it's probably because they keep moving the goal posts in terms of compliance.

[Goldie fish]

There is another twin hull Pax vessel on blocks there too, I understand the Dept decided she was too short to operate the Aran Island run, and maintain the passenger quantity she was rated for elsewhere.