# History of the UT 704
**URL:** https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163
**Category:** Professional Mariner Forum
**Created:** [April 25, 2016, 7:37am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163 "2016-04-25T07:37:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ombugge](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/ombugge)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2016, 7:37am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/1 "2016-04-25T07:37:49Z")
I don’t know if anybody here has worked on AHTSs of the UT 704?
It is regarded as the forerunner of all modern OSVs and the Chief Designer at Ulstein Trading at the time, Sigmund Borgundvaag, as the Grandfather of the modern OSV. He received his just reward at the OSV Conferance in London in 2014: [http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/guides/UT\_704\_Anchor-Handling\_Tug/Supply\_Vessel](http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/guides/UT_704_Anchor-Handling_Tug/Supply_Vessel)
But where did he get his inspirations from? Tidewater ordered two AHTS from Ulstein in the early 1970s, the Mammouth Tide:
> **[Vessel details for: MAMMOTH TIDE (Anchor Handling Vessel) - IMO 7368712, MMSI...](http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:12573/mmsi:-7368712/imo:7368712/vessel:MAMMOTH_TIDE)**
>
> Vessel details: MAMMOTH TIDE. Discover the vessel's basic Details, including the vessel IMO / vessel MMSI and vessel Call Sign. Type: Anchor Handling Vessel Vessel, Registered in Vanuatu. Find dead-weight-tonnage, Gross Tonnage and the Year of Build...
And the Goliath Tide: [http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2261996](http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2261996)
Combing that with his experience from designing Factory Trawlers he came up with the UT 704 design, which by many is regarded as the best offshore vessels ever built: [http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/guides/UT\_704\_Anchor-Handling\_Tug/Supply\_Vessel](http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/guides/UT_704_Anchor-Handling_Tug/Supply_Vessel)
Many of these vessels are still in operation today, some owned by American companies.
---
### Author:  [@Fraqrat](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Fraqrat)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2016, 11:06am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/2 "2016-04-25T11:06:50Z")
This was the forerunner of ALL OSV’s and it wasn’t designed by Tormund Giantsbane or whatever his name was.
> **[MV Ebb Tide](https://www.maritimeprofessional.com/blogs/post/mv-ebb-tide-13523)**
>
> Offshore drilling for oil and gas began tentatively shortly after the end of World War II with work off piers in California. By 1947…
---
### Author:  [@ombugge](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/ombugge)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2016, 12:44pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/3 "2016-04-25T12:44:57Z")
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;183681]This was the forerunner of ALL OSV’s and it wasn’t designed by Tormund Giantsbane or whatever his name was.
[http://www.maritimeprofessional.com/blogs/post/mv-ebb-tide-13523[/QUOTE]](http://www.maritimeprofessional.com/blogs/post/mv-ebb-tide-13523%5B/QUOTE%5D)
Yes the Ebb Tide was the first, but does not have much resemblance to the modern day OSVs used world wide:
I actually worked with one of these early Tidewater boats in S.E.Asia in 1970, called the Missouri, but better known as the “Mighty Mou” (or however it should be spelled)
There were several with the straight bow and no flare. I remember the Rig Service and one that had been converted to Seismic, called the Rio das Contas. All built in the late 1950s or early 1960s.
Back in 1970 I served as Navigator on the next version, the earl Halter Marine boats from the mid 1960s, with 16- 1800 IHK:
---
### Author:  [@c.captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/c.captain)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/4 "2016-04-25T20:46:37Z")
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;183681]This was the forerunner of ALL OSV’s and it wasn’t designed by Tormund Giantsbane or whatever his name was.[/QUOTE]
hard to believe 6 decades have passed but moreso how the boats have all evolved to where they are today
this old timey girl was hanging around Ballard like forever but is now gone to where I know not
---
### Author:  [@ombugge](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/ombugge)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/5 "2016-04-27T14:59:25Z")
Would any American Owner dare to order, or any US Shipyard dare to take on building anything like this: [https://gcaptain.com/edda-accommodation-cancels-delayed-next-generation-newbuild-at-hyundai-heavy-industries/?utm\_source=gCaptain+Newsletter&utm\_campaign=df9f3a0d19-Mailchimp\_RSS\_CAMPAIGN&utm\_medium=email&utm\_term=0\_f50174ef03-df9f3a0d19-169863069](https://gcaptain.com/edda-accommodation-cancels-delayed-next-generation-newbuild-at-hyundai-heavy-industries/?utm_source=gCaptain+Newsletter&utm_campaign=df9f3a0d19-Mailchimp_RSS_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f50174ef03-df9f3a0d19-169863069)
I know it doesn’t look much like the UT 704, but it owe a lot to that design still.
---
### Author:  [@z-drive](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/z-drive)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/6 "2016-04-27T15:07:24Z")
> [@"ombugge"](#):
>
> Would any American Owner dare to order, or any US Shipyard dare to take on building anything like this: "[Edda Accommodation Cancels Delayed Newbuild at Hyundai Heavy Industries](https://gcaptain.com/edda-accommodation-cancels-delayed-next-generation-newbuild-at-hyundai-heavy-industries/?utm_source=gCaptain+Newsletter)
```
if there was economic reason to do so....they do build nuclear submarines after all. Why build one if you can hire one and just get a waiver though?
```
---
### Author:  [@Jamesbrown](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Jamesbrown)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/7 "2016-04-27T15:22:42Z")
[QUOTE=ombugge;183769]Would any American Owner dare to order, or any US Shipyard dare to take on building anything like this: [https://gcaptain.com/edda-accommodation-cancels-delayed-next-generation-newbuild-at-hyundai-heavy-industries/?utm\_source=gCaptain+Newsletter&utm\_campaign=df9f3a0d19-Mailchimp\_RSS\_CAMPAIGN&utm\_medium=email&utm\_term=0\_f50174ef03-df9f3a0d19-169863069](https://gcaptain.com/edda-accommodation-cancels-delayed-next-generation-newbuild-at-hyundai-heavy-industries/?utm_source=gCaptain+Newsletter&utm_campaign=df9f3a0d19-Mailchimp_RSS_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f50174ef03-df9f3a0d19-169863069)
I know it doesn’t look much like the UT 704, but it owe a lot to that design still.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, diesel electric with those six azimuthing thrusters, three fore and three aft, SPS code notation with exemptions up the wazoo for carrying what, 800 folks? Swimming pools, SOLAS passenger standards of stability and compensated heave gangway and cranes, I can see the UT 704 relation… No, wait, I can’t. She’s built on cruise vessel and mega yacht designs. The UT 704 approximates the Ebb Tide more than this thing relates to the UT 704.
But, no, no American owner or shipyard would try. We’d git er done with portable quarters on the original ebb tide and charge the same day rate as this monster. Cost savings would be enormous.
---
### Author:  [@z-drive](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/z-drive)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/8 "2016-04-27T17:14:51Z")
> [@"Jamesbrown"](#):
>
> We’d git er done with portable quarters on the original ebb tide and charge the same day rate as this monster. Cost savings would be enormous.
well said.
---
### Author:  [@Fraqrat](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Fraqrat)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/9 "2016-04-27T18:44:42Z")
> [@"ombugge"](#):
>
> Would any American Owner dare to order, or any US Shipyard dare to take on building anything like this: [https://gcaptain.com/edda-accommodation-cancels-delayed-next-generation-newbuild-at-hyundai-heavy-industries/?utm\_source=gCaptain+Newsletter&utm\_campaign=df9f3a0d19-Mailchimp\_RSS\_CAMPAIGN&utm\_medium=email&utm\_term=0\_f50174ef03-df9f3a0d19-169863069](https://gcaptain.com/edda-accommodation-cancels-delayed-next-generation-newbuild-at-hyundai-heavy-industries/?utm_source=gCaptain+Newsletter&utm_campaign=df9f3a0d19-Mailchimp_RSS_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f50174ef03-df9f3a0d19-169863069) I know it doesn’t look much like the UT 704, but it owe a lot to that design still.
I’ve worked a job with a similar vessel and everyone that stayed onboard said it smelled like a gorilla cage and wasn’t all that great.
[https://flic.kr/p/FJMU62](https://flic.kr/p/FJMU62)
We have a similar vessels already no need to build that piece of shit.
> **[Featured Fleet | Hornbeck Offshore Services](http://hornbeckoffshore.com/fleet/featured/hos-accommodation-support-fleet/hosmpsv-flotel/hos-riverbend)**
>
> Hornbeck Offshore Services is a leading supplier of offshore transport services, including supply vessels, tankers and barges, primarily to support offshore and particularly deepwater petroleum exploration worldwide
> **[Featured Fleet | Hornbeck Offshore Services](http://hornbeckoffshore.com/fleet/featured/hos-accommodation-support-fleet/hosmpsv-flotel/hos-achiever)**
>
> Hornbeck Offshore Services is a leading supplier of offshore transport services, including supply vessels, tankers and barges, primarily to support offshore and particularly deepwater petroleum exploration worldwide
---
### Author:  [@Kraken](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kraken)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2016, 10:23pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/10 "2016-04-27T22:23:15Z")
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;183782]
We have a similar vessels already no need to build that piece of shit.
[http://hornbeckoffshore.com/fleet/featured/hos-accommodation-support-fleet/hosmpsv-flotel/hos-riverbend](http://hornbeckoffshore.com/fleet/featured/hos-accommodation-support-fleet/hosmpsv-flotel/hos-riverbend)
[http://hornbeckoffshore.com/fleet/featured/hos-accommodation-support-fleet/hosmpsv-flotel/hos-achiever[/QUOTE]](http://hornbeckoffshore.com/fleet/featured/hos-accommodation-support-fleet/hosmpsv-flotel/hos-achiever%5B/QUOTE%5D)
That’s a barge with a superstructure, not exactly similar.
Or do you mean similar like in that they both float? 😃
Yes I see what you meen, Edda Fides must really smell like a gorilla cage after a while. It have the same standard as our prisons, better treat those offshore monkeys like the prisoners they are.
---
### Author:  [@skycowboy](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/skycowboy)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 4:46am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/11 "2016-04-28T04:46:44Z")
According to guys on the Eata fetus the house keepers provide additional services
---
### Author:  [@Fraqrat](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Fraqrat)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 7:44am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/12 "2016-04-28T07:44:20Z")
> [@"Kraken"](#):
>
> That’s a barge with a superstructure, not exactly similar. Or do you mean similar like in that they both float? 😃 Yes I see what you meen, Edda Fides must really smell like a gorilla cage after a while. It have the same standard as our prisons, better treat those offshore monkeys like the prisoners they are.
The only thing remotely interesting about the Eata Fetus was it was equipped with these…
> **[vsp-types-and-dimensions.pdf](https://voith.com/corp-en/vsp-types-and-dimensions.pdf)**
>
> 649.64 KB
---
### Author:  [@ombugge](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/ombugge)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2016, 5:22am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/13 "2016-05-04T05:22:09Z")
You will be happy to know that Ostensjo has cancelled the Edda Fortis: [http://ostensjo.no/?p=2633](http://ostensjo.no/?p=2633)
So you will not be forced to live on board yet another foreign Accommodation vessel that smell like a “Gorilla cage” (I don’t know what that smells like, but I can guess)
It must be a “Cultural shock” to come on board something that looks like this: [http://eddaaccommodation.com/?page\_id=2](http://eddaaccommodation.com/?page_id=2)
When you are used to something like this: [http://4barges.com/en/marine-equipment/accommodation-units](http://4barges.com/en/marine-equipment/accommodation-units)
Of cause there are better accommodation barges available in the GOM: [http://themarineinstallersrant.blogspot.no/2010/11/fishermans-paradise-amazing-five-star.html](http://themarineinstallersrant.blogspot.no/2010/11/fishermans-paradise-amazing-five-star.html)
PS\> Edda Fides Specs for those who may wonder what this disinteresting “gorilla cage” actually has of equipment and facilities: [http://eddaaccommodation.com/?fleet=eddafides](http://eddaaccommodation.com/?fleet=eddafides)
PPS\> In Norwegian waters she would be limited to the Lifeboat capacity on either side, i.e max. 300 pers.
---
### Author:  [@ombugge](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/ombugge)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2016, 10:54am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/14 "2016-06-14T10:54:17Z")
The Edda Fides is out of the GoM and back in Norway without a job.
What do they do, put her into “Fjord Blue” and wait for someone to want her back in the GoM?
NO THEY DON"T, they create a niche market for her as a Cruise ship: [http://norwaytoday.info/travel/new-cruise-deals-north-sea/](http://norwaytoday.info/travel/new-cruise-deals-north-sea/)
If you haven’t seen enough Oil & Gas Fields, or lived the luxurious Offshore life, now you can get the experience. (Without being paid, that is)
WHY??? Because they can and the facilities on board is good enough to do so: [http://eddaaccommodation.com/?page\_id=2](http://eddaaccommodation.com/?page_id=2)
For those who haven’t had the honour to see her, or living on board, while she was working in the GoM, here is a video for you: [https://vimeo.com/107226713](https://vimeo.com/107226713)
I don’t think you could take the HOS Achiever and do the same, even if it is advertised as a “top-of-the-line” Offshore Accommodation Unit, with “state-of-the-art” galley and gymnasium: [http://www.marinelink.com/news/accommodation-features364463.aspx](http://www.marinelink.com/news/accommodation-features364463.aspx)
They may have had more luck advertising it as a floating prison without escape possibilities. Replacement for “Angola”??
---
### Author:  [@Fraqrat](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Fraqrat)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2016, 11:41am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/15 "2016-06-14T11:41:45Z")
> [@"ombugge"](#):
>
> The Edda Fides is out of the GoM and back in Norway without a job.
Good riddance…
---
### Author:  [@c.captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/c.captain)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2016, 2:18pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/16 "2016-06-14T14:18:05Z")
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;185808]Good riddance…[/QUOTE]
and don’t y’all be comin on back!
dya hear?
---
### Author:  [@ombugge](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/ombugge)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/17 "2016-06-14T14:50:05Z")
[QUOTE=c.captain;185812]and don’t y’all be comin on back!
dya hear?[/QUOTE]
No I don’t think they want to. After having managed to get rid of the “gorilla cage” smell and the tobacco spittle, it is not something that is uppermost on the wish list of those who had to do the cleaning at least.
---
### Author:  [@c.captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/c.captain)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/18 "2016-06-14T16:25:05Z")
[QUOTE=ombugge;185813]No I don’t think they want to. After having managed to get rid of the “gorilla cage” smell and the tobacco spittle, it is not something that is uppermost on the wish list of those who had to do the cleaning at least.[/QUOTE]
here I am caught in the middle between filthy dippin Southern cretins and stuck up anal retentive Norwegians…which is worse?
---
### Author:  [@KPChief](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/KPChief)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/19 "2016-06-14T20:42:30Z")
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;185808]Good riddance…[/QUOTE]
Fragrat - not to reignite the Norge-American hostilities but did you see they tried to sink Noah’s Ark? [http://gcaptain.com/noahs-ark-crashes-into-coast-guard-vessel-you-read-that-right/](http://gcaptain.com/noahs-ark-crashes-into-coast-guard-vessel-you-read-that-right/)
Gotta give them extra points for doing it while moored. Biblical, just Biblical proportions.
---
### Author:  [@Kraken](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kraken)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163/20 "2016-06-14T21:01:11Z")
[QUOTE=c.captain;185816]here I am caught in the middle between filthy dippin Southern cretins and stuck up anal retentive Norwegians…which is worse?[/QUOTE]
Since you are a asshole I would think you feel right at home with us Norwegians.
[Next page](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/history-of-the-ut-704/16163.md?page=2)