By joining forces with the world’s largest manufacturer of sonar systems, Raytheon Company, Harbor Branch’s Engineering Division took the lead in designing, fabricating, deploying, operating, and then recovering the largest freestanding aluminum structure ever to be placed on the ocean floor. The massive tower spanning 120 feet loomed 90 feet above the ocean’s floor for five months measuring acoustic signals and sending them back to shore via six miles of fiber-optic cable. Mounted on top of the structure was a 100 foot long pressure housing filled with electronic sensors and instrumentation. The structure’s design and fabrication represented a formidable engineering undertaking as well as its deployment and recovery. Harbor Branch coordinated the entire operation which required four ocean going vessels, an ROV, two barges, a North Sea derrick crane and a U.S. Navy construction ship.
Raytheon Acoustic Tower
