ufo (unidentified floating object)

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i don't even want to imagine where you guys might take this thread but just to start with a serious question. can anyone identify this ship spotted off fort lauderdale beach today? sorry that i don't have better pic, only had camera phone with me.

basically it first, from almost head-on, it looked like some sort of regular ol' cargo ship but for three pylons sticking up high into the air. i was thinking maybe some kind of deepwater dredging operation. but then when i got around to the side of it, the ship has separated into three sections. i'm sure it was still just one boat. maybe two of five sections lowered into the water or something? i don't know. maybe a yacht carrier? i've never seen a ship configured like this before. it was very far away out in the anchoring field where ships wait their turn to the port.

ps. that's not an illusion and the seas were quite calm today. that ship shows in three distinct sections.

here, i tried blowing it up without distorting it...

 

[Westernskies]

submersible heavy lift ship carrier?

 

[two4theroad]

Looks like a jack up rig to me. For oil or gas drilling.
2fer

 

[TromboneAl]

This is the closest I could find (a jackup rig).

 

[ls99]

Looks like a drilling ship.

The first one IIRC was the Glomar Explorer, built by Howard Hughes. It could drill in deep ocean. However its true mission was to pick up sunken Russian submarine.

There was also the Glomar Challenger.

 

[SecondCor521]

I bet it was this carrying one of the things in T-Al's post. I saw the Discover channel show mentioned in the article.

2Cor521

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

thanx all. looks like you nailed it. also looks like i'm thinking about getting out of here just in time if that's the look of our horizon to be. at least i was here while it was good. checked local papers, haven't seen a write-up. hopefully it is just laying wait before moving on. we've got living reefs around here that would surely destroy.
YouTube - Fort Lauderdale Coral reef