Swath ship designs for oceanographic research

This paper describes several different SWATH vessel designs with relation to their value for oceanographic research operations. All of these vessels follow the same SWATH design rules, but are of different size and provide different capabilities to cover a wide range of research requirements. The vessel lengths vary from 64 ft to 247 ft. A common feature is low motion, both at rest and underway, which permits research work to be conducted in 1 to 2 sea states beyond that of a similar-sized monohull. The ability of SWATH vessels to maintain transit speed and provide a steady working platform in rough sea conditions gives them high potential for increasing the efficiency, reliability, and safety of seagoing research operations.