M/V Alucia

Deep Ocean Expeditions LLC brought the M/V Alucia, a 183 foot luxury yacht/submersible support ship/scientific exploration vessel, to Seattle for renovation after it was heavily damaged in hurricane Katrina. As a primary contractor, IRI’s experience with high end marine support and fishing vessels gave them an active role in nearly every area of the ship.

IRI’s work touched every area of the ship where they:

• Repaired and opened the hull in several areas and made possible a new submersible hangar
• Installed many hull penetrations for transducers and two fair waters for hydrophones
• Opened the main deck and rigged in three compressors, plumbed in sink and ran air to the area to the dive locker
• Installed a winch on the helicopter deck that covers a 6’x6’ area and can run cable from a depth of 10,000 feet for scientific research
• Built deck pockets, sea containers and the cradle for the 33-foot Northwind skiff on the helicopter deck
• Installed all the piping for the air, salt and fresh water, plumbing, fuel systems and aft fueling station including JP5 fuel for a helicopter

M/V Alucia information:

• Alucia was originally built in France in 1974 as a support ship for Jacques Cousteau’s government sponsored research organization
• Accommodates 38 people including 12 first-class passenger
• There are accommodations for a crew of 14, 6 submersible team members and 15 to 18 additional births for scientists, filmmakers and guests
• Scuba and mixed-gas diving facilities include all standard diving equipment, compressors, a our-person decompression chamber
• A suite of modern watercraft, including a powerful tender, which performs submersible tracking duties, ship-to-shore transfers and recreational activities
• Carries three deep-diving manned submersibles for sub-sea exploration