Deep Ocean Engineering (DOE), USA, reports its participation in the first comprehensive multibeam survey of the USS Arizona and the USS Utah at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As gift to the US National Park Service, team members from DOE, R2Sonic, USA, Autodesk, USA, and eTrac, USA, travelled to Oahu to conduct the week-long survey in the autumn of 2014.

“In the months leading up to this survey, R2Sonic contacted Deep Ocean to utilise its H-1750 USV as an unmanned platform to operate a SONIC 2020 multibeam from,” said a spokesman. “Typically, these surveys are completed utilising a manned vessel with an affixed multibeam but the survey site above the USS Arizona has a height restriction where a manned vessel cannot navigate. The memorial building that straddles the USS Arizona makes for a low ceiling above the water at various tides. Couple that with the shallow depth of water above the sunken ship and you have a very tight set of survey vehicle characteristics that must be met. The H-1750 USV was the solution.”

The spokesman said the survey’s goals were reached and 100% high-resolution sonar coverage was obtained of both sunken warships to replace the artists’ rendition surveys from some 30 years prior. “This will yield high quality measurements of the ship that can be repeated over time and from there, changes such as shifting, settling and coral growth can be evaluated, something that was absent from the surveys from 30 years ago,” he said.

Not only will it provide a long term monitoring baseline, but a 3D scale model of the USS Arizona will be created and used for display purposes at the memorial site, he added.

UK-based Fugro GeoConsulting reports it has been awarded a contract for one of the largest seabed investigation campaigns in the history of the offshore wind industry by DONG Energy, Denmark.

Worth GB£13 million, the contract covers geotechnical investigation work in preparation for Hornsea Project One, scheduled to go into operation by 2020 when it will become the world’s first gigawatt scale, far from shore wind farm. The park is located 120 kilometres off the UK’s Yorkshire coast and, when completed, will be able to meet the electricity needs of around 800,000 homes.

CONSENT

Hornsea Project One is a joint venture between SMartWind – a consortium of Mainstream Renewable Power, Ireland, and Siemens Project Ventures, Germany – and DONG Energy. Currently awaiting a development consent decision, Hornsea Project One is one of three projects for which DONG Energy was awarded Financial Investment Decision Enabling Contracts for Difference by the UK government in April 2014.

Benj Sykes, DONG Energy vice president, Wind Power UK, and co-chair of the UK’s Offshore Wind Industry Council, said: “DONG Energy is committed to increasing the UK supply chain content in future offshore wind farm projects and this contract represents an important step in the right direction. It will also help us make significant progress on the journey to reduce the cost of electricity produced by offshore wind farms.”

The geotechnical vessels MV Greatship Manisha and MV Bucentaur will be used to undertake the investigation work.