| 摘要 |
A turret (16) journaled in a vessel (15) used in an offshore location wherein the mooring system is carried by the turret (16) and the vessel (15) is free to weathervane over a subsea wellhead (22) or the like. Illustrated is a VLCC sized ship-shape vessel (15) of approximately 300,000 ton displacement for waterdepths of up to 6000 feet, but the latter is no limit. The turret (16) uses segmented bearings (37, 38) under liquid pressure to obtain low friction and allows the vessel (15) to rotate with turret (16) under static and dynamic, and symmetrical and asymmetric loads (e.g., may exceed 30,000,000 pounds). The turret (16) provides a carousel about the moonpool (29) (e.g. 120 feet in diameter) for carrying compartments (51, 52) with winches (54, 56), utility and storage functions (58, 59), and topside skids (63, 64) for drilling rigs or other heavy machinery. |
