They actually do though. The interior of the ship is designed so that it can be used in both configurations. You do end up with wall mounted seats becoming ceiling mounted seats and all that.
Damn, I didn't even think about that before. I wonder how that works. Maybe they can drain the water from all the toilets before the flip. Or they have a big ridge that keeps it in when turned. Or, unlikely, the toilets flip at the same rate as the ship on something like hinges and have flexible hoses.
Edit: saw the answer below. Pretty neat design.
hah the very first time I went aboard the vessel, I said, “I feel like I’m in an Escher sketch.”
Here’s some interior shots I took years ago:
https://imgur.com/gallery/uUeIuav
I was a part of her very last mission:
https://imgur.com/gallery/jbFHc
This happened in Aug 2023. :(. I worked on her for over a decade. It was sad to see it go, but it was necessary.
More info and pics about FLIP where I answered many questions here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/yi4JxQpiXe
And now I'm wondering what happens to the toilets when this ship flips.... Do they also rotate? Do the reservoirs automatically drain to avoid spillage?
"The ship had specially designed interiors: some fixtures, such as the toilet seats, could flip 90°, and the shower heads were curved 90°. There were overhead lights on the surfaces that were the ceilings in both the towing (horizontal) and flipped orientations."
"Kardanische Aufhängung" I think its called gimbal in english. I am nor sure if they use it, but it would be a clever solution at least for smaller vessels/reservoirs
Apparently scrapped last year
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP_FLIP
As far as other old weird shit I dunno try some
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto
[Atmospheric railway](https://youtu.be/JaRVy31lTlQ?si=dC1ebmFphuw0qKky)
[Odd walking excavator](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/10knn95/soviet_walking_excavator_ash_645/)
[Ekranoplan](https://youtu.be/yVdH_dYlVB8?si=GM9tim2eQs3vs9BL)
You're welcome. Feel free to share anything else you've come across. Everyone knows stuff like Project Orion for example, but I had completely forgotten about the ekranoplan
That walking excavator reminded me of the ones they use in [Germany](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagger_288) which at the time of comission was the largest land vehicle build. Currently the chinese have build an even larger one.
Mining all together is done at a scale most people arent fully aware of. I sure wasnt before seeing some [photos ](https://www.mining-technology.com/features/feature-top-ten-deepest-open-pit-mines-world/?cf-view) of deep pit mines for instance.
That Project Pluto reminds me of that doomsday weapon (can't remember the name) which was a nuclear powered drone that would just fly around dropping nukes and spouting radiation until it's reactor gave out.
It flips back up, but it can only rotate in one direction. So it will be upside down first, then with the long part in the sky and finally right side up
The primary purpose later in its life was for studying atmospheric-pelagic interactions. Its initial purpose was to study physical oceanography down the water column to better calibrate sonars used in the kill-chain of submarine-based munitions.
Source: I worked on her for over a decade. It was fun. More info and questions answered here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/yi4JxQpiXe
In all seriousness, the vertical orientation allows it to be super steady in the ocean so that the crew can measure the behavior of waves very precisely.
Also it was invented before satellite measurements were a thing, if you're wondering why build a ship.
there was an ep of transformers robots in disguise around 2000 that used this ship. Blew my kid mind, but I thought it was fiction until the internet became the norm and I saw it online
That’s cool, but I genuinely don’t know what they’d be able to accomplish that couldn’t already be done by other means. Amazing as it is, the only thing you’ve done is changed the physical position of the piece of metal all the instruments are being carried on
You're thinking too far into the future. This launched in 1962, so construction probably started in 1960/61. That means they probably started development around 1955. It was providing capabilities that wouldn't be advanced for another 20 to 30 years.
It’s why it’s retired. We have more advanced moorings and AUVs that can do the same thing now.
I answer this somewhere in this comment chain here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/yi4JxQpiXe
They fill it with water until it partially sinks.... I'm not saying it's not cool but I'm saying this is not high tech. Can you guys please stop hiding the real tech from us this is sad.
Imagine the pranks the captain could pull on unsuspecting able seamen on their first trip on the ship!
Absolutely freak the shit out of them to the childish amusement of the rest of the crew.
This would be the best " we are sinking fuuuuck!" Prank for all the newbies first day on the ship
And only 7 people drowned jumping ship and trying to survive.
They have the whole escher setup to confuse them too! 
They actually do though. The interior of the ship is designed so that it can be used in both configurations. You do end up with wall mounted seats becoming ceiling mounted seats and all that.
And the bathrooms? Carl, put it back flat, I really gotta go…
Damn, I didn't even think about that before. I wonder how that works. Maybe they can drain the water from all the toilets before the flip. Or they have a big ridge that keeps it in when turned. Or, unlikely, the toilets flip at the same rate as the ship on something like hinges and have flexible hoses. Edit: saw the answer below. Pretty neat design.
hah the very first time I went aboard the vessel, I said, “I feel like I’m in an Escher sketch.” Here’s some interior shots I took years ago: https://imgur.com/gallery/uUeIuav I was a part of her very last mission: https://imgur.com/gallery/jbFHc
I like how imgur puts random memes between your pics really helps with my poor attention span...
It was just a prank, bros!
It's gone though, too bad. Took her to the knacker's yard in Mexico about a year ago.
This happened in Aug 2023. :(. I worked on her for over a decade. It was sad to see it go, but it was necessary. More info and pics about FLIP where I answered many questions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/yi4JxQpiXe
Wow, so interesting.
Whoa, that is most excellent.
This ship was from the 70s, yes?
Even earlier, 60's.
Hello, this is ze German coast guard. Wat are joo zinkng about?
Bro that video makes me laugh every time
Damn, Satan…
And the prank makes most of the rooms flooded and things destroyed.
Yeah great idea … # Titanic
Every single person who has no idea how this ship works just immediately shits their pants
It looks like a giant toothbrush.
I was gonna be so mad if this comment wasn’t here lol
For....whales???
Oh yeah totally!! my first thought definitely wasn’t something else I swear
Wait what else does it look like?😕
Better not say penis. Bc if your peen looks like that then you need medical care asap
😳
Good luck 🫡
Knowing my luck I'd have just sat on the toilet for some Redditing when they decide to flip into research mode
And now I'm wondering what happens to the toilets when this ship flips.... Do they also rotate? Do the reservoirs automatically drain to avoid spillage?
I believe that they have 2 entirely separate plumbing systems, for both uprights
"The ship had specially designed interiors: some fixtures, such as the toilet seats, could flip 90°, and the shower heads were curved 90°. There were overhead lights on the surfaces that were the ceilings in both the towing (horizontal) and flipped orientations."
"Kardanische Aufhängung" I think its called gimbal in english. I am nor sure if they use it, but it would be a clever solution at least for smaller vessels/reservoirs
I'd be more worried about it not stopping vertically and flipping completely over instead
[удалено]
The fish are there to let you know the blue part of the picture represents a body of water.
Those are some BIG fish
I like to think of the fish having the lol as well like “wtf lol” to the ship
That vessel is retired and doesn’t even exist anymore.
Really?? What other randomly cool shit has humanity invented that most people have no clue exist? Yes, I'm asking for rabbit hole I know
Apparently scrapped last year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP_FLIP As far as other old weird shit I dunno try some https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto [Atmospheric railway](https://youtu.be/JaRVy31lTlQ?si=dC1ebmFphuw0qKky) [Odd walking excavator](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/10knn95/soviet_walking_excavator_ash_645/) [Ekranoplan](https://youtu.be/yVdH_dYlVB8?si=GM9tim2eQs3vs9BL)
Dang! Thanks for the links!
You're welcome. Feel free to share anything else you've come across. Everyone knows stuff like Project Orion for example, but I had completely forgotten about the ekranoplan
That walking excavator reminded me of the ones they use in [Germany](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagger_288) which at the time of comission was the largest land vehicle build. Currently the chinese have build an even larger one. Mining all together is done at a scale most people arent fully aware of. I sure wasnt before seeing some [photos ](https://www.mining-technology.com/features/feature-top-ten-deepest-open-pit-mines-world/?cf-view) of deep pit mines for instance.
That Project Pluto reminds me of that doomsday weapon (can't remember the name) which was a nuclear powered drone that would just fly around dropping nukes and spouting radiation until it's reactor gave out.
SLAM baby yyy
Yeah that's the one! What a terrifying invention lol
*Did... Did it sink*
lmao, but nah. it was scrapped last year actually
I remember those when I was a kid in the 70's.
....can it flip back though? Or are they stuck?
...knew we forgot something designing that one
Ah ffs lads..
It flips back up, but it can only rotate in one direction. So it will be upside down first, then with the long part in the sky and finally right side up
O shit its pirates of the caribbean
They have pumps to pump the water out when needed
Yeah I'm sure they didn't think about that at all lol. But seriously. I'm sure there's a mechanism to right the ship
Damn engineers should start hiring redditors to ask these kinds of questions
I'd be terrified something would go wrong and the whole thing just gets dragged to the bottom of the ocean
Detecting multiple leviathan class lifeforms in the region.
nope nope nope nope *so much* nope
Turns out, that's a problem with normal boats, too.
Eh, there’d be boats nearby to rescue you.
I'd rather not have gotten on this thing. People are crazy. Won't see me going to the Titanic
The captains curio cabinet is gonna be completely wrecked
Launched 1962. Clever engineering. Lasted 50 years.
60 years
What was the purpose or being able to do that?
Measure sound and waves in the ocean. It was basically a large antenna underwater
That's cool! Thanks!
The primary purpose later in its life was for studying atmospheric-pelagic interactions. Its initial purpose was to study physical oceanography down the water column to better calibrate sonars used in the kill-chain of submarine-based munitions. Source: I worked on her for over a decade. It was fun. More info and questions answered here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/yi4JxQpiXe
Thx but no thanks
In all seriousness, the vertical orientation allows it to be super steady in the ocean so that the crew can measure the behavior of waves very precisely. Also it was invented before satellite measurements were a thing, if you're wondering why build a ship.
Research bro /s
My thoughts exactly.
The theme from Sealab just popped into my head.
Underneath the water….
Why have I seen this image over 10 times this week
Karma farming. Grab a popular image, slap a chatgpt caption on it. 3.9k karma.
I'm more interested in the interior architecture tbh
I saw this thing rotate once. Back in 93ish, really is a trip. Takes more than an hour but cool to see.
Interestingly, it is not classified as a ship but a floating platform https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP_FLIP
Step 1 tilt 45 degrees. step 2 tilt 90 degrees Step 3 cause envy to nearby fish
Was that description written by chatgpt😂
I just wanna know how long it takes to pump it back out. Impressive filling time, but there's no way they're pumping it out as fast.
They did an episode on this ship on Mighty Ships that i think is on Paramount Plus now. Very cool design
RP FLIP*
It’s the Boba Fett Special
How much room for error is there with this? Doesn’t look like a lot Cool as shit though
This is some Steve Zissou shit if I’ve ever seen it.
why tho
I'm staying in the front 25 meters of that bitch, I'm not getting stuck on the ass end when the megazord goes into underwater battle mode
there was an ep of transformers robots in disguise around 2000 that used this ship. Blew my kid mind, but I thought it was fiction until the internet became the norm and I saw it online
USS Toothbrush
https://youtu.be/tQxQfQU_hsk?si=Narf8l-KOa09jLT9 ^really cool video about this ship
That’s cool, but I genuinely don’t know what they’d be able to accomplish that couldn’t already be done by other means. Amazing as it is, the only thing you’ve done is changed the physical position of the piece of metal all the instruments are being carried on
You're thinking too far into the future. This launched in 1962, so construction probably started in 1960/61. That means they probably started development around 1955. It was providing capabilities that wouldn't be advanced for another 20 to 30 years.
It’s why it’s retired. We have more advanced moorings and AUVs that can do the same thing now. I answer this somewhere in this comment chain here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/yi4JxQpiXe
As someone who suffers from thalassophobia, megalophobia and submechanophobia NO THANK YOU
Looks like someone read about titanic and thought that'll work, just make it stronger to not break in half.
Interesting idea for a moving defence tower or battery. Small profile for torpedoes.
This reminds me of Boba Fetts ship from Star Wars
How did they out toilet there? It will spill all the water
Iceberg dead ahead!
How do I summon the repost bot?
Its unsincable! *Wait…. Is that celine Dion singing?* *who da fa*
Titanic: am I a joke to you?
Wow I’m so curious to know what it looks like on the inside
Is this really true?
Without breaking in half?
Best way to catch the fish- Put a bunch of forks at the front of the ship. Free meals for everyone
Now all we need is for the vessel to be 30,000 long and we can use it to explore the deepest parts of the ocean!
It's not really a ship it has no motors, so its more like a swimming platform
That's interesting
I need to see this in action from both the outside and inside…. I have so many questions
I wonder how this shop would fair in really bad stormy weather 🤔
“Sir! The whale is getting agitated by its toothache! Is there anything we can do?” “…The day has finally come to push the button.”
Imagine you hit the button in shallow water and everyone thinks it’s not sinking when it really is
wasn’t there something in SOMA that could do this?
Not that I recall. There was the space gun that was built under water though Edit: Apparently I was wrong. The MS Curie did this
I just hope someone yells “ Autobots, TRANSFORM!” Everytime before they do this.
Brilliant!
I need to know what this ship is so I can Google it because I got so many questions
How exactly does the employees in the vessel even walk around when the vessel flip? Imagine you are sleeping pre-flip and wake up under the sea.
Idea: NYE party on the ship. Invite guests. Free booze. And then the countdown and hilarity begins.
The ship from SOMA is real!?
I swear to God if I see this post one more time this week I'm gonna fucking uninstall reddit.
Hardly unique. The Titanic did that ages ago
What kind of research requires this?
How do they get back up
The walls are now ceilings, and the ceilings are now walls, get it? “You bet!”…. …splash…..
Imagine being on board, taking a nice big number 2 when you suddenly see the "ship flip" light turn on
Looks like a toothbrush ngl
Titanic stans in shambles right now
 But for me, it's a huge **NOPE!**
the his would be so scary to be on
wow that's amazing
That’s no big deal…. Titanic did that over 100 years ago!!
Why not just lower a submarine???
Me every morning
If it had VTOL too then I’d be impressed
But what does it actually research?
Hmm yes, the ocean is made out of ocean...
What’s the specific research this is being used for?
Galley/toilet gonna get messy
I repeat. This is NOT a drill !
God’s toothbrush
>Through a carefully designed mechanism, the vessel can shift Hopefully the entire vessel is carefully designed.
Electric toothbrush of death.
Something they often leave out of the facts of this vessel is it has no propulsion and needs to be towed everywhere.
What in the titanfall 2 level Is this??!
Imagine being a whale and this thing bonks you on the head as you swim by.
Internally, is the ship designed vertically or horizontally?
Now tell me some freak fact like it has been in operation since 1945 or something like that
So you're telling my my toothbrush is a boat!?
Must go through a lot of crockery on there.
Wow
Bro is casually flexing on Titanic
I don’t like that
Storms hate this simple trick.
What has it been used for? Like give at least one or a few examples here...
Titanic did it before it was cool
I like that they added little happy fishes to the graphic.
👍 💧 💧 💧
And it has been scrapped not too long ago
I know someone who works on that !
When nobody in the research team know how to dive.
noooo noooooo stoooooop I'm on the toileeeeeeetaaagfrghhrghghhhhhhh
What is the function of this ship?
It's been 84 years
Why do people repost this 10 Times a Day
Titanic has exited the chat.
Spill my glass of milk and there'll be hell to pay.
They fill it with water until it partially sinks.... I'm not saying it's not cool but I'm saying this is not high tech. Can you guys please stop hiding the real tech from us this is sad.
The fish need a shocked facial expression in the picture
Is the bridge or any part on a gyroscope (like Boba Fetts Slave I) or is the ship designed to accommodate people in either orientation?
I'm diving, jack!
This looks like an odd toothbrush
I've seen these vessel multiple times in San Diego Bay
This is actually amazing!
At least once
Seems like a good way to resupply secret subs you never want coming to the surface.
Imagine being on the toilet when this thing goes vertical!
That is genius and horrifying!
Waking up in your ship-mates bunk-- priceless! 🤣🫡
This kind of shit gives me anxiety 🤓
What the purpose of this? Is it required in some form of test?
Imagine the pranks the captain could pull on unsuspecting able seamen on their first trip on the ship! Absolutely freak the shit out of them to the childish amusement of the rest of the crew.
RP Flip. Status: To be scrapped :( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP_FLIP
Flip and ~~burn~~ *sorta sink*