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CONTROLLABLE PITCH PROPELLERS • Improved Maneuverability • Stepless Speed Control • Reduces Engine Maintenance . n The Coolidge-Stone Vickers CP Propeller MODEL XL Features: • A Patented Blade Seal Arrange- ment that Works • Simplified Hub Design for Ease of Installation • Simplified Hydraulics CP Propellers provide a vessel with reduced stopping time and distance thus increasing control and safety. They allow adjustment of pitch to engine R.P.M. for optimum engine performance during varying loads and weather conditions. For informative literature and instal- lation list, call or write today. 56 Squirrel Road Auburn Hills, Ml 48057 (313) 852-6604 Circle 300 on Reader Service Card 28 Third Rowan Gorilla Drilling Rig Delivered By Marathon LeTourneau The Rowan Gorilla III departed from Belle Chasse, La., recently bound for the east coast of Canada where the drilling rig will operate under contract to Mobil Oil Canada, Ltd. offshore Sable Island, Nova Scotia. The new unit is the third in a series of the largest self-elevating jackup rigs built to date by Mara- thon LeTourneau Offshore Compa- ny for Rowan Companies, Inc. of Houston. The first unit has been working successfully offshore Sable Island for the past year under con- tract to a Husky/Bow Valley joint venture, while the second recently arrived in the North Sea. The Gorilla rigs are of a new and heavier class intended to drill up to 30,000 feet in water depths up to 328 feet in any ice-free hostile envi- ronment in the world. In less hostile environments, they are capable of drilling in water depths of more than 400 feet. These 15,000-ton units require twice the amount of fabricated steel used in the pre- viously largest jackups. At 297 feet long by 292 feet wide, Gorilla Class rigs are nearly 40 percent larger than the Marathon LeTourneau 116 Class jackups. Construction of the Rowan Goril- la III was completed at Marathon's Vicksburg, Miss., shipyard, with materials purchased by both the builder and the owner from manu- facturers located in 33 states throughout the U.S. For example, the rig stands on structural steel plate and tubular parts made in Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, Massa- chusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illi- nois, and Texas, all purchased by the shipyard. Owner-furnished equipment that Rowan purchased to perform the drilling functions was manufactured in many of these same states, plus others. When Gorilla III left Belle Chasse it was towed by the Smit London, a 22,000-bhp oceangoing tug owned by Smit Tak International Towage and Salvage Company of Rotter- dam. The journey took approxi- mately 20 days, and brought the rig from the Gulf of Mexico around the Florida peninsula and up the U.S. and Canadian east coast to Nova Scotia. During the voyage the tug received propulsion assistance from the operation of the Gorilla Ill's twin 112-inch propellers in Kort nozzles driven by eight electric mo- tors with 6,800 hp total output. The Gorilla III is the 23rd rig in Rowan's offshore fleet. During its 60 years of experience in the contract drilling business, the Houston com- pany has drilled more than 7,000 oil and gas wells throughout the world. ROWAN GORILLA III Suppliers & Equipment Argo International . . . Electrical parts Argo Marine Bearing staves Bethlehem . . Steel plate & structural Buffalo Forge Aerofin coil Cameron Iron Works . Choke Manifold, BOP and diverter valves Caterpillar Diesel engines Coolidge Propellers & shafts Dean Steel .... Hospital equipment Drew Chemicals Eureka Chemical L.F. Gaubert Electrical cable General Electric Transformers & SCRs Global Cathodic . Cathodic protection GTE Electrical parts Gulf Radio (distributor) Radio equipment Halliburton Bulk system Hartzell Fans Hose McCann . . . Telephone system International Paint Coatings Koomey Hydraulic hose Krotos Electrical parts Marathon . .Cranes, winches, skidder gear elevating unit motors & components, fabricated struc- tures, steel plate Lucian Moffitt Stuffing boxes Lee C. Moore Derrick MSI Monitoring system National Supply SCRs O&M Manufacturing . . Engine coolers Riley-Beaird Muffler Ross (Boston Metals) Heat exchanger Timken Alloy bars Tri Tex Marine Antifreeze US Steel .... Steel plate, structurals & bars Whittaker Survival capsules Winslow F-0 filters PUMPS: Houston Systems, Lovejoy, Marlow, Peerless, Roper, S&N Pumps The Rowan Gorilla III departs Belle Chasse. La., on a journey of more than 2,000 miles to the east coast of Canada for drilling off Nova Scotia. Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
