OCEAN98-Seahorse Amphibious Operations

DAISY
OUR AMPHIBIOUS BEAUTY

seahtksm 15 K

The UN SEAHORSE is a relatively large vessel (length 270ft/90m and draught 22.5ft/7,5m). What to do, if you are going to an area where there are no port facilities_ Sure, we do have our 2 launches and our rubber boats. However, if goods would have to be ferried from ship to shore, we would need something else than just a floating device.

After much consideration, we came up with a more than 50 year old solution: DUKW.

The DUKW is an amphibious vehicle used in World War II to transport supplies from ships to areas that did not have port facilities. DUKW, is a US military acronym that designated the vehicle as amphibious military personnel carriers. D Stands for the year it was designated, 1942; U for its amphibious nature; K for its all-wheel drive; and W for its dual rear axels. Commonly, they were called DUCK. Basically, they were standard 2 1/2 ton GM trucks in a water-tight shell with an added propeller.

DUKWs provided an easy method of getting personnel (25 pers.) or supplies (more than 5,000 pounds) from ship to shore and around the land through otherwise difficult terrain. Six wheel drive capacity on land and the ability to float in water, the DUKW were considered to be one of the most successful amphibious vehicles ever made.

About 21,000 of them were produced. After the war, many DUKW were left where they had operated in different countries around the world. They were used for a variety of reasons. Today, DUKW are hard to find and have rather become collector's items. They require a lot work to restore them and keep them in operational condition.

We were able to find two of them rusting away on an island in the Pacific. One of them was in a hopeless condition. It was used to provide spare parts for the other one. Eventually after many long hours, our 1942 DUKW was fully restored. We didn't want to name it Duck or Ducky. We decided to name this beauty DAISY.

DAISY DUKW

Now we can easily serve scientists on remote islands. Bringing supplies and picking up earth samples has become an amphibious pleasure operation. We are also able to advance far from the beaches. Daisy has a range of about 200miles/350km on roads and 50miles/95km in water. It can go as fast as 40 miles/hr on roads, and about 6 miles an hour in the water. It is 31 ft/10m long, 8.3 ft/2,7m wide and 7.1 ft/2,4m high.