I know this website is about lighthouses, but I do not plan these things! After posting the story on FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform) doing oceanographic research I was alerted to this story on the World’s Ugliest Ship which also does research of sorts. It is too interesting to ignore. Hey, it’s also red and white like the Canadian Coast Guard ships!

A seismic vessel, the Ramform Titan, has sometimes been dubbed “the world’s ugliest ship” as it has a 70 meter wide stern, making it one of the widest boats in the world. It is owned by Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS). – more

Launch of the Ramform Titan from the Mitsubishi shipyard in Nagasaki, Japan (below):

[private] 

The ship was launched on April 26 from the Mitsubishi shipyard in Nagasaki, Japan (see video at the end of this article).
The giant oil-services vessel has docked in Bergen, Norway for the first time on Saturday morning and will remain in port until the weekend, when it sails off to the South Atlantic to shoot seismic in the Falkland Islands.
The ship’s captain, Cato Grasdal told Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian), “The ship has tremendous power and is therefore okay to manoeuvre.”
“The most unusual thing is that she is so short compared to the width, which makes her difficult to get onto the pier.”

On the Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) website a statement reads: “The new Ramform Titan Class puts PGS further ahead as the leader in safe, productive and efficient 3D seismic acquisition.”
The boat’s wide stern is designed to drag up to 24 seismic cables, capable of shooting seismic over a 12 km² area. The boat is powered by the ship’s own on-board 18 megawatt power station.

The vessel provides an enhancement of many established features, all incorporated for one single purpose – “to collect maximum amounts of seismic data: quickly, safely and reliably.”
As can be seen in the videos, on board there is comfortable space for an 80-man crew, and offers them a 225m² sports arena, a swimming pool, sauna, fitness room, 3 television lounges and an auditorium. [/private]