Ships

Although autonomous, uncrewed ships are now being trialled, those vessels still need human workers to moor them when they come into port. That could soon change, however, thanks to a new automated suction-based mooring system.

The US Navy and Scripps Institution of Oceanography's unique FLoating Instrument Platform (FLIP) has been saved at the last minute from the breaker's yard. Scheduled to be scrapped in Mexico, it was purchased by undersea design company DEEP.

Slicing huge cruise ships in half, then welding in an extra segment to lengthen them, is more or less a license to print money for cruise operators – so this 'jumboization' surgery is becoming very common. Let's take a look at how it's done.

Ireland's Safehaven Marine builds search and rescue craft, patrol boats and pilot boats designed to operate in "all weather" – up to and including Force 10 storms with waves up to 23 ft (7 m) high. The firm backs this up with some spectacular testing.

The first expedition to the Titanic since last year's Titan submersible disaster that killed five people is on its way. The goal is to make the most detailed imaging survey yet of the historic wreck to ascertain how the sea environment is affecting it.

There are few things in this world that are literally unique. One of these, in the true sense of the word, is the FLoating Instrument Platform (FLIP), which was a floating barge built for the US Navy that regularly sank itself on end for science.

The wreck of the ship used for Sir Ernest Shackleton's final Antarctic expedition has been located by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) off the coast of Labrador. The Quest, aboard which Sir Ernest died in 1922, sank in May 1962.

A luxury superyacht is the testbed for green hydrogen technology as the ship, formally known as Project 821, is put in the water at Feadship's Amsterdam base. It's the largest motor yacht ever launched in the Netherlands.

Textron is developing a remarkable new Surface Effect amphibious transport for the US Navy and Marines. It can carry 50 tonnes of cargo, skims the waves at 50+ knots (57+ mph, 92+ km/h), and operates in water just four feet (1.2 m) deep.

The public (at least the rich public) will soon be able to take a break from their luxury cruise to ride a luxury submersible. Triton Submarines has delivered its first Triton 660/9 AVA to a cruise company to take passengers into the depths in style.

Ships can become mobile wave energy converters, say Chinese researchers, using "heaving oscillators" that draw power from heaving, rolling and pitching movements as they move through the sea, while also acting as motion dampers to improve safety.

Japanese company PowerX is moving ahead with its strange plan to build a "mobile power station" in the form of a 140-meter (460-ft) electric "battery tanker," which will carry 241 megawatt-hours of renewable energy across the sea over short distances.