CLAMP ASSEMBLY FOR PIPE-LAYING VESSEL AND METHOD OF LAYING A PIPELINE

摘要

A pipe-laying vessel 100 including a pipe-laying tower 300 extending upwardly from the vessel, the vessel comprising a welding station 500 for joining a new pipestring to an end of the pipeline held by the tower, a clamp assembly 800 on the tower for engaging a pipestring with a lower end adjacent to the end of the pipeline held by the tower and with the pipestring extending upwardly from its lower end alongside the tower, wherein the clamp assembly 800 comprises a pipestring clamp that serves both the function of a transfer clamp for transferring the pipestring from a position 408 alongside the tower but displaced from the pipe-laying path to a position approximately aligned with the pipe-laying path 303, and the function of a line-up clamp for lining up the pipestring with the end of the pipeline.