In the mid 1970s Ulstein sharpened their pencils and produced a design for a very large platform ship. Actually it was a pipe carrier and sea intended to lie alongside pipelayers. The deck length was controlled by the number of lengths of pipe which could be carried in the case of the UT705 three lengths. As time passed it became possible for these large ships to lie beam on to offshore installations so that the cranes could access any area of the deck. This was due to the increasing skills of the drivers, and the number of transverse thrusters - in this case of this ship, two forward and two aft.

TYPE: UT 705		NAME: Highland Champion		PHOTO: Oddgeir Refvik, Peter Taylor
GENERAL		PROPULSION		CARGO CAPACITY
Length OA	81.8 m	Engines	2 x MAK 6M453AK	Fuel	741m3
Breadth	18 m	BHP	4800	Pot water	487m3
DWT	3910 t	kW	3530	Mud	418m3
Deck area	784.5 m2	For'd Thrusters	2	Base oil
		Aft Thrusters	2	Brine
Year built	1979	Joystick	Simrad Albatros	Dry bulk	170m3
Shipyard	Ulstein Hatlo	DP		Tank Cleaning
Comments	Sold to Nor Sea and renamed NSO CHampion
Previous names	Tender Champion, Balblair