因奇特造型备受网友关注的船舶“FLIP”，近日已被送去拆解报废。这艘设计独特的海洋研究船被称为“浮式仪器平台（FLoating Instrument Platform，FLIP）”，由斯克里普斯海洋学研究所的海洋物理实验室设计并运营。这艘船于1962年下水投入使用。向该船船尾的压载舱中注入压载水，能够使其约9米（355英寸）长的船身实现90°翻转，从水平漂浮状态转换为“倒立”垂直海面的状态，免受海浪影响。由于不具备自航能力，“FLIP”严格意义上是一个海洋平台。这样一个在水中十分稳定，且没有发动机噪音干扰的平台，非常利于观测潮汐、海洋内波、小尺度湍流等。因此，“FLIP”搭载了世界多个大学的测量仪器和研究设备。在其50多年的服役生涯中，“FLIP”为洋流、海洋声学、海气相互作用、海洋哺乳动物等的研究做出了贡献。

One of the internet’s most revered unusual ships, known simply as FLIP, has been sent for scrap. The Floating Instrument Platform operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego was a unique oceanographic research tool. Launched in 1962, the vessel was designed to “flip” from a horizontal to a vertical position by filling its ballast tanks with water, allowing the 355-foot vessel to remain nearly motionless in ocean swells. FLIP was actually classified as a platform due to its lack of propulsion. Outfitted with research instruments by scientists from universities around the world, FLIP’s stability and lack of engine noise made it ideal for observing tidal forces, internal waves, and small-scale turbulence. Over its 50-year service life, FLIP helped advance society’s understanding of ocean currents, ocean acoustics, air-sea interactions, marine mammals and more.