Triton will gather, process and deliver data which will be used to update British Admiralty charts. Work is expected to start in April in the UK's Western Approaches.

The RV Triton was built by Vosper Thornycroft (now VT Group) at Southampton and launched in August 2000. Later that year the vessel embarked on a two year risk reduction trial programme for the UK Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defence, the main purpose of which was to seek out storms at sea so that trials could be conducted in the most challenging conditions.

Operating in a variety of sea states and at different speeds, Triton was found to have good directional stability and proved to be far more comfortable in higher sea states than a monohull of comparable size.

The trials included towing operations, helicopter landings, replenishment at sea, structural loading, working with the US Coastguard, and the launch and recovery of a small ship's boat.

Triton successfully demonstrated that trimarans are not only able to perform the same missions as monohull ships but can do so more economically and in more severe sea conditions.

Using the sea trials data, QinetiQ developed and validated a design toolset and now has the knowledge and ability to design trimarans for all types of future applications.

MJ Information No: 20309