THE world’s largest offshore construction vessel, North Sea Giant, has lost a submarine worth millions of pounds off the coast of Orkney.
Owned by Norwegian company North Sea Shipping, the 500ft multi-purpose vessel had the unmanned observation pod Sealion 4 attached to it by an umbilical cable.
During a storm on July 29, the connection was severed and the mini-submarine became detached in deep waters, as it travelled south-east of Eday. It has not been seen since.
Shetland Coastguard watch assistant Charlie Smith said: “The submarine was in around 100ft of water and going at quite a speed so it could have ended up anywhere.
“There were strong tides when it was lost so it’s looking very unlikely they’re going to find it in one piece.
“Probably what will happen is that so many fragments will break off it and what is left will get washed ashore somewhere.”
Owned by Fugro Subsea, which also has divisions in Aberdeen, the two-and-a-half tonne submarine has a high-visibility yellow shell and is around seven square feet in size.
Mr Smith warned skippers and crews of small boats to look out for Sealion 4 as it could cause damage if there is a collision but conceded that this was “unlikely”.
Sealion 4 had been chartered to do preparatory work at a site owned by renewable energy company the European Marine Energy Centre.
It was a one of a fleet of more than 60 stand-alone underwater remote observation vehicles operated by the company worldwide.
Among the many tasks it undertakes is drill support, construction support, inspection repair maintenance, survey and subsea intervention tasks.
Local people on the surrounding islands, and farther afield, are being asked to keep a lookout for Sealion 4 in case it is washed ashore.
No one was available for comment at Fugro’s offices in Oslo, Norway.
A spokesman from the firm’s Aberdeen office said the company owned a range of ROVs which are adaptable to a range of offshore activities.