On Fogonazos' website I read an article about the FLIP research vessel. The Floating Instrument Platform, FLIP, is a 355 foot long manned spar buoy designed as a stable research platform for oceanographic research. FLIP is towed to its operating area in the horizontal position and through ballast changes is "flipped" to the vertical position to become a stable spar buoy with a draft of 300 feet. FLIP is owned by the US Navy and was conceived and developed by the Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. Built originally to measure effects of the environment on long range sound propagation for the US Navy's SUBROC program, FLIP has been used principally for acoustics research since then. According to this video the design was inspired by a Louisville Slugger, a baseball bat. After each flip all equipment on board (beds, toilet, shower, etc.) needs to be repositioned. Tags : FLIP, navy, acoustics, oceanography