All language subtitles for Impossible Engineering s03e03 Worlds Biggest Ship.eng

Today, on Impossible Engineering,
pioneering spirit, the world's biggest

We're the widest, we're the heaviest,
we're also the longest vessel in the

world. Setting world records as the most
powerful offshore lifting machine on

the planet.

It's really challenging, of course. It's
something completely new, not been done

before. But to accomplish these feats,
engineers must rely on pioneering

innovations of the past.

What an amazing machine. Incredible.

To make the impossible possible.

The Netherlands.

For over 100 years, standard shallow
water oil rigs here and everywhere

a large share of the world's oil. But
today, these fields are drying up. And

2050, standard oil rigs like these will
be obsolete.

In the old days, nobody thought of
removing a platform, but the idea was to

it at sea for years.

Nowadays, from an environmental point of
view, platforms have to be

decommissioned.

The standard oil rig can weigh over 48
,000 tons.

A steel base fixed to the seafloor
supports the massive topside.

which holds the drill rig and processing
plant.

But today, site coordinator Dan
Ackerboom must dismantle these old metal

The conventional method always was with
cranes on a big barge.

Removing a platform in an old -fashioned
way has a lot of disadvantages, mainly

because you're offshore for a long time.

It's a lot of lifting, and lifting is
always a risk.

With so many decommissioned rigs to
remove, the industry needs something

radical.

What we want, it didn't exist, so we
have to design something differently and

something new.

So in August 2016, engineers create the
world's largest ship, pioneering

spirit.

With this $3 billion mega vessel, Vice
President of Innovations André Steinhaus

is changing the game.

This idea is quite revolutionary.

If you have to do something which you
have never done before, it's difficult.

Weighing more than a million tons, this
giant is the biggest vessel on the

ocean. The pioneering spirit is 400 feet
wide and, when fully deployed, extends

over a staggering 1 ,500 feet.

Boosted by 12 powerful 6 ,000 kilowatt
azimuth thrusters,

this colossus both removes and installs
oil platforms and even lays pipe in the

deepest waters on the planet with eight
pairs of 2 ,000 -ton lifting beams.

Its unprecedented bowel design allows
the ship to straddle an oil platform and

pick up a 53 ,000 -ton oil rig topside
with one Herculean lift.

It's really challenging, of course. It's
something completely new, not been done

before.

But constructing a lifting system of
this magnitude requires a giant ship.

And this comes with unprecedented
hurdles.

The size of the vessel already makes it
difficult.

Almost 200 ,000 tons of steel you have
to produce well and install.

And on top of that, we also have, of
course, various complex systems on

which many yards are not used to.

So just how do you efficiently construct
a megaship of such epic proportions to

build a ship this big?

Engineers must look to the maritime
trailblazers of the past.

As far as boats are concerned, size has
always mattered.

And once humanity mastered the basics,
engineers were soon building big.

In ancient Egypt, King Ptolemy IV's
warship, Tessara Conteres, was the

largest human -powered vessel from
antiquity.

At a lengthy 425 feet, 4 ,000 slaves
were supposed to power the boat by

But in practice, the vessel wasn't very
mobile.

In 1625, King Gustavus Adolphus of
Sweden commissioned his giant warship,

Vasa.

But with two gun decks of brass cannons,
it was top -heavy, and a small gust of

wind pushed her over on her maiden
voyage.

Luckily, some more effective engineering
techniques were emerging on the

horizon.

In Baltimore Harbor, naval historian
Claude Berube is exploring a unique

revolutionary cargo vessel from World
War II, known as a Liberty ship.

This is the SS John W. Brown.

One of 2 ,700 Liberty ships built during
World War II.

She's one of only two operational
Liberty ships anywhere in the world.

And she represents some groundbreaking
engineering.

Liberty ships carried vital supplies
from the U .S. across the Atlantic to

Europe.

But German U -boats destroyed them en
masse.

The Allies were facing a problem.

They were losing supply ships at a
dramatic rate.

And traditional construction methods
couldn't replace the lost ships fast

enough.

Prior to 1941, ships were built piece by
piece, and then they would be riveted

together. Well, what you would have is
the keel that would be laid, and then

would have the ship's frame or the
skeleton, and then you would have the

also riveted on.

Big ships took a long time to build, six
months or more with hundreds of skilled

men. The Allies needed to find a way to
build those ships at least faster than

the Germans could sink them.

In 1941, American industrialist Henry J.
Kaiser offered an inspired solution.

Kaiser asked himself, instead of
building piece by piece sequentially,

he built modules across the shipyard,
and they would all then be assembled and

welded together, and this would save an
extraordinary amount of time?

Kaiser built large modules
simultaneously in different locations.

Once delivered to the shipyard, these
prefabricated pieces weren't riveted.

were welded together much more quickly
in a production line, just like the Ford

automobile.

Well, here we have large sections,
prefabricated modules, that will be

assembled, put together, and welded in
the shipyard. And you even see what we

have here is the house, which contains
the bridge and the wardroom, and that

would be welded directly to the deck.

In 1941, Kaiser's revolutionary
prefabricated ship could be produced in

days, cutting production time down
dramatically by two -thirds.

One ship was built in a record setting
four days.

Kaiser's shipbuilding program proved
successful beyond expectation.

Many believe that without them, the war
would have been lost, earning them the

title Liberty Ship.

Kaiser's shipbuilding program really
changed shipbuilding forever.

Using what's called block construction.

the engineers of pioneering spirit are
taking Kaiser's prefabrication technique

to an unprecedented scale.

The normal ship consists of 60 to 70 big
blocks, but this ship almost consists

of 1 ,000 blocks, which were then
preassembled to pre -erection blocks,

those pre -erection blocks were built or
dropped in a dock, and there they were

welded together.

Originally constructed in Korea's
enormous Daewoo shipyard, the vessel's

shape poses another massive challenge.

You have to consider we didn't build it
in one dock. We built a portside hull in

a dock and a starboard hull in another
floating dock.

And eventually we brought her together
along the quayside.

She's a split hull, how we call it,
because she's not really a catamaran.

We need to have the shape.

Otherwise, you can't move around
different kinds of sizes of topside and

connect to the topside.

Even with prefabricated units, this ship
is so huge, it takes four years to

build.

The amount of man -hours, the amount of
welding work involved in that was two to

three times as much as they expected.

It is not really a vessel.

It's a big working island.

Pioneering Spirit's engineers have
created an extraordinary vessel. But to

physically lift a 53 ,000 -ton oil rig
from the sea, the engineers of

Spirit must draw on innovations of the
past. Feels a bit like riding on a magic

carpet. To make the impossible possible.

The oceanic megaship, Pioneering Spirit,
is the world's largest vessel.

And as the world's most heavy -duty
lifting machine, it can pick up and

53 ,000 ton offshore oil rig platforms
in a single epic lift.

The capacity of this vessel is quite
unique. It's about a million ton of

displacement. The length and the width
are huge.

This vessel is completely changed in how
the traditional industry works.

What we do with this concept is that we
don't lift the platform from the top, we

actually push it off from the jacket.

To begin the risky platform lift,
pioneering Spirit must first lower the

torches down each leg of the oil
platform.

Then the ship carefully maneuvers into
position, with the dual bowels sliding

under the top side with enough room to
spare.

We need to be able to increase or
decrease the draft of this vessel to

we could get underneath a platform,
which are all at different heights at

So how do you safely position a million
-ton ship under an oil platform in rocky

waters?

To achieve this, designers must
constantly run tests and draw from

history's engineering pioneers.

Science journalist Leila Nelliport is
investigating a remote Panamanian

archipelago to unravel an extraordinary
engineering mystery.

A

secret

that is only revealed twice a day.

So we're on a beach on San Selma Island.

When the tide is high, there's nothing
really to see.

But once the tide goes low...

Amazing wreck.

For nearly 150 years, this wreck was a
total mystery.

But a clue can be found in the very name
of the archipelago, the Pearl Islands.

By the mid -1800s, oyster numbers here
were dwindling, and pearl hunters could

no longer access them by free diving.

So, in 1863, American engineer Julius
Kroll dove deep and developed something

audacious, a hand -powered submarine.

This mysterious wreck is what remains of
it.

What's so special about this submarine
is that it used a water ballast system

submerge. And it was actually the most
sophisticated system of its time.

Pressurized with air pumped into it from
a ship above, Julius Kroll pioneered a

system of flooding and blowing water
ballast tanks that allowed this

vessel to go even deeper.

The way the people inside the submarine
fetched the pearls is that since the

submarine was completely pressurized, it
was able to go to the bottom of the

ocean, and then it had a hatch at the
bottom of the structure that they could

just open, and the water wouldn't come
in. So it could just reach out to the

bottom of the sea and fetch all the
oysters.

So, how did the water ballast tanks
inside Kroll's submarine work?

So this is the principle of the
submarine explorer.

We have a tank here, and as we fill it
with water, it will sink to the bottom.

So when they wanted to bring the
submarine back up to the surface, they

compressed air tank.

And they compressed air into the water
tank to put all the water up.

So now I've blown air into the tank full
of water.

Some of the water has come up, and it
has allowed the tank to come back up to

the surface.

What was so innovative about this water
balance system is that the submarine

actually had the tanks placed in
different parts of its structure.

So it allowed it to control if it wanted
to go down nose first or tail first.

It also allowed it to control the trim
of the submarine as it was descending.

This was still a very technologically
advanced piece of engineering, and it's

amazing to be able to see it and feel it
and touch it, something that has been

with us for over 150 years.

Inspired by Kroll's work, engineers of
pioneering spirit are adapting this

ballast system on a gargantuan scale.

And Captain Fred Regtoop mans the
controls.

We got over 87 ballast tanks, of which
are four big drop tanks.

The biggest single tank is already 15
,700 cubic meters, which is normally a

vessel. In total, we can occupy about
750 ,000 cubic meters of

ballast water.

But now, to position the vessel under
the rig, Pioneering Spirit must fill its

numerous ballasts with water to submerge
55 more feet.

What we don't want is once the yokes or
the beams are close to the platform,

that they will hit the platform.

Once in place. pioneering spirit begins
the lift process.

First, the ship must connect a series of
yokes to the platform.

But this poses a dangerous problem.

You have to be able to compensate for
all the vessel motions when you're

in the platform. If you don't have that,
then the collision impact will be

enormous and the project will finish.

So how can engineers accurately connect
to the rig when water constantly moves

the ship?

The team looks to innovations of the
past to make the impossible possible.

As the biggest ship on the planet,
pioneering spirit faces an equally

task, to lift this gargantuan oil rig in
one fell swoop. But the constant motion

that the sea exerts on the ship poses a
monumental challenge.

To connect to the rig, engineers must
turn to the breakthroughs of the past.

This is the Lennis Montlary Racetrack
near Parrot.

And physicist Susie Shee is putting the
pedal to the metal of an extraordinary

car.

This is the Citroen DS, a true icon of
French motoring.

And while she's undoubtedly a thing of
absolute beauty, it's actually the

engineering underneath the bodywork that
makes it truly remarkable.

By the 1950s, mass production and new
technologies made cars more affordable.

But their comfort left much to be
desired.

Here in France. A combination of poor
quality roads and the early spring

suspension system meant that if you
wanted to travel at speed, the ride was

going to be pretty uncomfortable.

So in 1955, Citroën engineer Paul Maget
devised a solution that completely

overrode suspension and handling.

Now, conventional suspension systems are
based on springs.

So if I have a soft spring like this
one, it's pretty good at absorbing fast

bumps and jolts in the road.

But when I'm going around corners, the
softness means my handling is a little

bit compromised.

If I go, though, instead for a stiffer
spring like this big one here, it's not

very good at absorbing bumps in the
road, but it's much better through

with handling.

So essentially there's a catch -22 here.

If you want a really comfy ride, your
handling is going to be affected.

But if handling is your top priority,
then it's not going to be a very

comfortable experience.

To provide both comfort and handling,
Majest got rid of the springs

In their place, he connected a rod from
the wheel to a spear divided by a rubber

membrane.

The top contains gas.

which compresses and absorbs any shock,
while hydraulic fluid in the bottom

transfers that force.

On bumpy rides, the rod pushes the
fluid, transferring force to the

compressing the gas above and absorbing
the impact.

Any excess force dissipates when the non
-compressible hydraulic fluid pushes up

through a valve.

To find out how effective this novel
suspension system might be, Dr. Sheehy

the Citroën to the test.

This is really quite amazing.

I mean, driving down this really bumpy
road in my car or a normal car, I'd be

feeling lots of jolts and bumps, but in
this car I can't feel them.

Because I'm riding on this kind of
cushion of air.

Not only can it cope really well with
bumps in the road, but it actually has

another trick up its sleeve.

It has an automatic self -leveling
system so that regardless of how much

you put in the car or where it's placed,
extra hydraulic fluid will be pumped

around into the spheres, which will
compensate for the weight and bring it

up to its optimal ride height.

In fact, the system is so clever that it
can even compensate for having a wheel

missing.

Absolute genius.

Because of its revolutionary hydromantic
suspension system, the Citroën DS is

one of the most influential cars of all
time.

Engineers on Pioneering Spirit are
taking Majest's stabilizing system to

breathtaking heights.

When the vessel is moving around the
platform and we switch on to AMC, how we

call it, we call it active motion
compensating.

The topside lift system consists of 16
giant beams, 8 per hull, each weighing

2 ,000 tons.

Each beam houses cylinders containing
pressurized air separated from hydraulic

fluid, similar to Majasis spheres.

These beams act as a buffer and help
reduce any movement caused by rough

The combination of the hydraulics and
the air system that we have, that makes

actually a big and a giant shock
absorber.

Alongside the ship's motion compensation
technology, this cutting -edge

hydropneumatic system cushions the
impact of rough seas.

All beams can move in all three degrees
of freedom, so X, Y and Z direction.

The key aspect in the whole beam system
is all the hydraulics and the pneumatics

involved make sure that the beams can
compensate for all the vessel emotions

to the wave.

We always say that the beams are
standing still in the world and the

moving.

To begin the epic lift, the team
positions the beam under the oil rig's

and activates the motion compensation
system.

Cutting torches inside the jacket legs
cut the oil rig free.

Then, pioneering spirit engages its
hydraulic system and picks up the rig's

topside in one Herculean lift.

We simply push one button, which
eventually pushes more than two meter

between. The top side and the legs.

We can lift 48 ,000 tons on the bow, 25
,000 tons on the stern, which is quite

unique.

For the whole industry, it will be a
big, big game changer.

But salvaging rigs is only one of the
jobs this Colossus must perform.

To tackle missions further out in the
deep sea, pioneering spirit must draw on

the innovations of the past.

And this was it. The Lombard Steam Log
Hauler.

To make the impossible possible.

Pioneering Spirit is the biggest and
most innovative ocean vessel on the

The length of five jumbo jets, this
monster salvages 53 ,000 -ton oil rig

platforms in one gargantuan lift.

But even this incredible accomplishment
is not enough to be worth the $3 billion

price tag.

Vice President of Innovation André
Steenhaus must keep this colossal

running at all times.

Time is money, so we have to keep on
working as long as possible.

We want to have the double functionality
on this vessel, because when you do the

heavy lifting, the vessel is occupied
for a very short time.

And the other time, when we are waiting,
we can also lay pipe.

But laying extreme lengths of large
-scale oil and gas pipelines in the

waters on the planet is no small feat.

Because each individual pipe can weigh
up to 2 ,200 tons, the pipelines can

buckle under their own weight.

We have to find another way to explore
the deeper findings of oil.

And therefore you need to have a vessel
which has lots of capacity and

possibilities to install pipelines.

To lay heavy pipes in deep water, it is
difficult.

So how do you safely control and lay
heavy pipes in deep and difficult

Once again, engineers must turn to a
groundbreaking innovation of the past.

Roughly 90 % of Maine is forest, more
than any other state in the U .S.

Mechanical engineer Michael Tobias is
exploring the logging history of the

tree state of Maine.

As far back as the early European
settlers, these timbers have been used

valuable source of income.

Traditionally, loggers cut down trees
closest to the river.

Then, log drivers used the river's
current to send the trees to Riverside

Sawmill.

However, once the trees closest to the
bank were chopped down, a problem

to arise.

Pulling heavy timber through the forest
on traditional carts proved impossible

because the cart's wheels got bogged
down in mud and snow.

With thousands of acres of forest being
rendered untouchable, a solution had to

be found.

And quickly.

In 1901, inventor and lumberjack Alvin
Lombard developed a groundbreaking hack

based on his own experience as a logger.

As I step onto the mud, I slip and I
sink.

A lot of weight is resting on a small
amount of surface area. To overcome

I need to spread my weight on a larger
surface area, keeping myself afloat.

And when I get the piece from behind me
and lay it down in front of me, I'm able

to continue moving forward with evenly
distributed weight.

Lombard mechanized this process step by
step, and his invention changed the

logging industry forever.

And this was it, the Lombard Steam Log
Hauler.

What an amazing machine.

Incredible.

The secret of its success lies beneath
the machine itself.

The genius of Lombard's design is a
continuous track, spreading the

weight across the ground.

and providing even traction.

It effectively lays its own roadway.

The Lombard would typically tow eight
sleds, laden with lumber, weighing in a

massive 300 tons.

Loggers used this visionary machine all
year round, even in snow, and it became

the first commercial continuously
tracked vehicle.

Lombard's design was a stroke of genius,
and this machine would revolutionize

the way engineers around the globe would
design and build vehicles for

agriculture, construction, and military
use.

What an incredibly engineered machine.

Pioneering Spirit employs four gigantic
tensioners.

Each one fitted with over 300 feet of
continuous track.

Like the Lombard log hauler, these
tracks increase the surface area in

with the pipe.

And this technique evenly distributes
tension, allowing for a precisely

controlled delivery of pipes to the
ocean floor.

Here we are at the end of the production
line. Here you can see one of the four

tensioners which we have on the Pioneer
Spirit.

One of the six tensioners.

It can have a capacity of 500 tons.

The pipe is clamped in between tensioner
shoes.

Shoes can move a little bit so they've
got the optimum position.

So they've got the optimum pressure on
the pipe so you don't damage the pipe.

This tracks on the pipe, hold the pipe
continuously on the vessel.

The tensioners play a crucial role in
the onboard pipe assembly line.

where the joints are welded together at
different stations.

The welding platforms that the guys are
standing on are moving along with the

pipe during the production of the pipe.

Engineers on the ship can produce 1 ,300
feet of large -gauge pipe every hour.

The tensioners grip these megaton pipes
and push them out over a giant stinger

to the seafloor.

Because we have this tenseness, we can
lay deeper pipes.

We have less environmental issues with
the pipe.

There's no scene in the world where the
pioneering spirit cannot lay a pipe.

Pioneering spirit stands at the cutting
edge of deep sea oil exploration.

But even this robust vessel is
vulnerable.

If the weather changes or suddenly big
waves come, they have to stop and

the whole operation.

To protect this massive ship from the
violent ocean storms that roll in,

engineers must once again draw
inspiration from the past. It really

mean, it's surprisingly strong.

To achieve even more impossible
engineering.

Pioneering Spirit is a $3 billion ocean
colossus. This extraordinary vessel

holds the world record for the
displacement of over 1 million tons of

also making it the heaviest floating
object on Earth.

But not even this marine behemoth can
stop Mother Nature.

You have to go more out in deeper
waters, so you're much more exposed to

difficult weather conditions.

During deep -sea pipeline missions,
unpredictable storms and unwieldy waves

threaten the ship.

And site coordinator Dan Ackerboom must
protect both the ship and the crew.

If the weather changes or suddenly big
waves come, they have to stop and

the whole operation.

So, just how do you safely disengage the
ship from hundreds of tons of pipe?

that extend over a mile down onto the
ocean floor amidst a raging sea.

To accomplish this complex task,
engineers must turn to the innovators of

past.

Physicist Dr. Susie Sheehy is in Germany
exploring an earth -shattering

invention that revolutionized another
important industry, mining.

This is the upper heart, one of the most
historically important mining regions

in Germany.

Mining has taken place in these hills
for centuries.

But 19th century mining engineers faced
an uphill battle in procuring valuable

ore.

Once it was chiseled free from the rock,
it was loaded into large wooden buckets

so it could be hauled up to the surface.

Some of the shafts reached a staggering
depth of 800 meters, which was below the

sea level, so that ore had a long
journey all the way up to the surface.

Originally, miners lifted the buckets
with hemp fiber ropes.

In these damp conditions, the moisture
would cause ropes to disintegrate, so

instead they used chains.

But chains weren't much better in terms
of safety, because a single weak link

could cause a catastrophic failure with
no warning.

In 1831, mining engineer Wilhelm Albert
wound up developing something

revolutionary.

Albert determined that there were a few
key factors as to why chains were

breaking. He realised that if you load a
chain again and again, eventually the

metal will become fatigued and that will
reduce its tensile strength.

And breaks in the chain are more likely
to happen where there's joins and links.

All it takes is a single point breakage
for the whole system to fail.

It just completely failed.

This is incredibly dangerous.

I mean, you can imagine a thousand
pounds of silver ore crashing down on

head. After experimenting with chains
for a while, Albert realized that he

needed an entirely new solution.

And what he came up with was simple but
ingenious.

Albert's idea was to take four
individual strands of wire and then

together to form a helix.

He'd then take three of those and twist
those together to make it even stronger.

So this made a kind of wire rope, and
you can tell already it seems much

stronger, and it should be able to take
a much heavier load. So let's try it

out.

So it really worked. I mean, it's
lifting a surprising load. It's

strong, even though it's made of tissue
paper.

The secret to its success is the
continuous strands.

There's no individual joins or linkages
that can fail.

And here I have an original piece of
wire rope, and you can see that it's

up of individual strands, just like the
demonstration.

Albert Rope, named after its inventor,
was so successful that he soon installed

it in mine shafts all across this
region.

In fact, wire rope caught on all across
the globe and not just in mine.

You can see versions of it in the modern
world from suspension bridges to cable

cars.

But just how can this game -changing
invention save pioneering spirit from

torrential wrath of Mother Nature?

Pioneering Spirit is the largest vessel
on the planet.

It's capable of laying oil pipes over a
mile deep onto the ocean floor. But to

save lives during the most devastating
deep sea storm, engineers must use wire

rope, originally developed in the 19th
century, but on a colossal scale.

Wire cables play a key role in the
ship's deep sea abandon and recovery

When you are installing a pipeline and
you are midway and the weather is

up, bad weather or even a hurricane, you
have to abandon the pipe. So in that

situation, you weld on the end of the
pipe, you weld ahead.

The cap welded onto the end pipe is
watertight, and the heavyweight wire

lower the end pipe to the ocean floor.

There, an underwater robot cuts the
cables, freeing the ship.

This is the cable, 5 -inch cable, quite
big,

and 4 ,850 meters of length,

able to lay down the pipe with 500 tons
each, so a total of 2 ,000 tons of lay

-down capacity.

This system looks very large, but it has
to act very precisely.

To achieve such precision during abandon
and recovery, or A &R, engineers must

supersize the way the cables are
deployed.

Our A &R system has four of these
winches.

These are the biggest winches you can
buy.

For the biggest pipelines, you need all
four of them.

And to ensure accuracy when using all
four giant winches, engineers have built

in a fail -safe design.

Here I've got a right -handed cable, so
you can see the helix is going up to the

right. And the other side of the vessel,
we've got also two of these winches.

They are left -handed, so the helix is
going the other way.

The left and right helices prevent the
cables from getting intertwined and

tangled. We can play with the tensions
and we can rotate the cable so we can

connect the cable to the pipeline.

This is unique to the world and to the
pioneering spirit.

With breakthrough engineering and
design, pioneering spirit is raising the

for the entire oil industry.

We can lift over 48 ,000 tons.

We're twice as big as the second biggest
pipe layer in the world, so we create

our own jobs.

If you're an engineer, this is...

The dream of everybody to be involved in
this project.

To be involved in development and
designing and building a festival like

very unique.

You never get a chance to make something
which changes the industry.

By drawing from the innovators of the
past, adapting and making trailblazing

discoveries of their own.

The engineers and designers behind
Pioneering Spirit have succeeded in

the impossible possible.

People ask me, oh, what are you going to
do afterwards? I said, I don't know. I

mean, have you built the biggest ship in
the world? So what's next? I don't

know.

Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0