During the early 1950's, offshore
drilling was, for the most part, limited to
non-mobile (fixed) platforms that were
embedded in the sea floor by permanent
foundations and/or pilings. The use of
these non-mobile platforms was an
expensive proposition since recovering
the cost of the foundation had to be
achieved from a single drilling location.
The very few mobile platforms operat-
ing during that era were supported by
sunken refloatable vessels, and were
considered unsuitable for use in the tur-
bulent waters of open seas and, there-
fore, confined to inland waters.
R.G. LeTourneau, an inventor, innova-
tor, and pioneer (with literally hundreds
of U.S. patents) had an idea for a vessel
that could safely drill for oil and gas off-
shore. During a career that had spanned
nearly 40 years, LeTourneau had
become renowned for designing and
building machines that elevated the
earthmoving industry to new levels of
efficiency and productivity. He was the
first to develop all-wheel electric drives
for these heavy-duty machines, a key
technological component in the success-
ful development of a mobile offshore
drilling platform.
LeTourneau envisioned a stable and
secure mobile platform that could safely
operate in often-treacherous open
waters. He knew that such a vessel
would greatly reduce the costs of off-
shore drilling by being able to move
from site-to-site rather than being per-
manently fixed to one location. His
company, R.G. LeTourneau, Inc., after
conducting extensive engineering stud-
ies in oceanography, hurricane winds,
and tidal waves, began design work on a
mobile, self-elevating offshore drilling
platform. The objective was to build an
all-weather offshore drilling platform
that could be floated to the drill site then
quickly converted to a stabilized struc-
ture by lowering open lattice tripod-type
support legs to the sea floor.
Although the concept of a deep-sea,
mobile, offshore platform aroused con-
siderable interest among the oil compa-
nies, none were prepared to help finance
the construction of such an expensive
(nearly $3 million) and unproven proj-
ect. That is until LeTourneau proposed
the idea to Zapata Off-Shore Company
of Houston, Texas, headed by future
United States President, George Bush.
Bush later described LeTourneau in
his autobiography, Looking Forward.
"A kind of George Patton of engineer-
ing. … He'd come to us with a proposi-
tion: he'd build the Scorpion at his own
expense. We'd advance him $400,000 -
refundable if the completed rig didn't
work; if it did, he'd get an added
$550,000 and 38,000 shares of Zapata
Off-Shore common stock. Our feeling
was that anybody who had that much
confidence in himself was worth the
gamble."
The contract to deliver the first mobile
offshore platform was signed on
November 11, 1954 and construction
began in late 1954 near the company's
Vicksburg plant on the shores of the
Mississippi River. With the need to
overcome the design constraints of con-
ventional platforms, its construction was
considered by many in the offshore oil
industry to be quite a daring attempt.
The LeTourneau Mobile Offshore
Platform was basically a large, shallow-
draft barge, equipped with three electro-
mechanically-operated lattice type legs.
Dimensions of the platform were 186
feet long, 150 feet wide, and 24 feet in
section with a 24-foot by 28-foot derrick
slot.
The hull structure comprised two 20-
foot diameter barge-like hulls, which
were reinforced by corrugated steel
plate and utilized for fuel storage, mud
tanks, and water supply storage. The
three 140-foot lattice type steel legs
(also known as spuds) were located on
two sides and one end of the hull.
Living quarters for the crew and heli-
copter landing pads were fitted to the
deck.
In December 1955, the 4,000-ton plat-
form "walked" into the Mississippi
River under its own power.
Construction of the platform was com-
pleted with the installation of a drilling
derrick, pumps, and associated equip-
ment.
The platform was handed over to
Zapata Off-Shore and officially chris-
tened "Scorpion" on March 20, 1956 in
a ceremony where R.G LeTourneau pre-
sented a three-foot "Key to the Gulf" to
Zapata's president, George Bush.
Scorpion went into service off the coast
of Port Aransas, Texas and drilled its
U.S. Report
28 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News
LeTourneau Celebrates
50th Anniversary of the First Jack-Up Rig
Scorpion on location in the Gulf of Mexico.
R.G. LeTourneau, George Bush and Dick LeTourneau.
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