Along New Tides: Ship Presentation, M/V Fugro Symphony · 8:51pm Sep 17th, 2019
Hi there folks,
Today's blog will be about the third ship to join the fleet in my story: M/V Fugro Symphony.
Link here to her data sheets. (First version 17Sep2019 , does not include vehicle or weapon inventories since, as of chapter 46, she doesn't have any)
Useful links:
MarineTraffic page of Fugro (now renamed Global Symphony)
A neat video from Kongsberg detailing her propulsion layout and electronic architecture
So what kind of a ship are we talking about this time?
Well, Fugro is in a completely different family from the usual cargo vessel. As a matter of fact, she works for the offshore industry like many other shuttle tankers, anchor handling tugs and multipurpose support vessels. And if anything, the ungodly amount of tech she's fitted with gives her an edge in all that.
Within limits of course, she's not perfect but I'll get to that later.
You see, offshore vessels are supposed to keep all those platforms that extract dinosaur juice supplied in parts, food, and anything else that may be deemed necessary. Except docking with a platform isn't something you can do with just any ship.
You need a DP system otherwise you're just going to ram and sink the platform. For those not in the know, a DP system is a precision navigation ability that allows a ship to follow a track or hold a position down to the meter. How that's achieved may depend on the system, and you got stuff ranging from Taut Wire to Dgps to Fanbeam in order to achieve that.
Once you get the big lady to stay put next to the platform, you need to get the supplies up to the platform. Via crane. That's why nearly all offshore vessels have an open deck like that, without hatch covers. Makes loading and unloading a Hell of a lot easier, and much less risky in choppy waters because you can call off the manoeuvre in a jiffy.
There is also a manifold to access all the tanks hidden under the open deck. That's to transfer stuff ranging from lubricants for the platform, to waste oil that needs to be brought ashore for recycling.
But that supply jig is for regular offshore vessels. Fugro can do more than that. That gigantic crane on her deck, it's meant to lay down submarine cables -in which case the open deck is used to hold the multi-story reels instead of parts for platforms-.
As if that wasn't enough, she's also fitted for underwater construction work. Room for diving teams, facilities, and she even has a moonpool with a pair of drones -which we usually call ROV- she can send down if the divers can't be arsed.
To add to that, her interior could make a three-star hotel envious. She's got saunas in her gyms (two of them), rec rooms for days, and enough room for a complement that's borderline excessive for a merchant vessel.
So what's the catch?
She's slow. Now, she can maneuver. Better than most ships in existence and far better than any cargo vessel in her weight class... but she's slow. At a measly 16 knots max, her flanking speed would be considered a bad day on fast vessels like reefers and container carriers.
That being said, she runs on Rolls Royce power. Four engines total going into a diesel-electric system.
In the story. Fugro and her crew.
The in-story Fugro and the actual one are pretty much identical, save for the fact that I somewhat buffed her actual range so she wouldn't run out of fuel every month.
Crew-wise, by the time of the Event, Fugro was transiting between AO's and running on a skeleton crew. No big deal, her bridge layout means she doesn't really need many on board for transit.
With offshore work also comes the obligation to use a certain amount of local workforce, which is why so many on the crew come from the UK or Ireland, as well as two token Norse so she could have operated inside of Norway's EEZ. The 'cheap labor' to fill in the rest let's be honest, they didn't hire them for the sake of diversity is made up out of mostly Indians and Serbians, along with a couple Portuguese.
Of course that comes with its own combination of species. Ironically for a ship that did underwater work, Fugro doesn't have any hippogriff on board. They're also rather limited in the magic department, with only one gargoyle, one reindeer and two unicorns on board to manage all the stuff that requires telekinesis like mooring operations -if you want to skip using line handlers ashore that is-.
But hey, on the bright side the overwhelming majority of them still have hands.
Unlike Amandine, they also got a lot of free room if they want to hire survivors.
Now, some things become clear. The 729 is in for it.