OCEAN DRILLER FIRST PURPOSE-BUILT SEMI-SUBMERSIBLE

Blue water Rig No1 is known as the first submersible to drill in floating mode, Ocean Driller became in 1963 the first purpose-built semi-submersible.
Alden J. Laborde young graduate from the US Naval Academy founded ODECO in New Orleans in 1953. He first designed the first submersible drilling unit: Mr Charlie. A few years later, in 1961, Blue water Rig No1 became the first submersible to drill accidentally in floating mode. As the drillers wanted to explore the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the need for floating units quickly came. In 1963, A.J. Laborde designed and constructed the first purpose-built semi-submersible drilling rig, the V shaped and very stable Ocean Driller. The semi-submersible was built at Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans in 1963. It was the start of Odeco’s firsts in the offshore drilling industry, Ocean Viking discovering Ekofisk in the North sea in 1970, Ocean Victory the Piper and Claymore fields, also in the North Sea.