Seabed Constructor
# Seabed Constructor

Seabed Constructor is a multipurpose offshore vessel owned by Swire Seabed and contracted since December 2016 to British-owned hydrographic survey company Ocean Infinity, based in Houston, Texas, United States. Previously known as Olympic Athene and originally Olympic Boa, the ship was launched in 2013 and is flagged in Norway. The ship is designed to conduct geophysical and geotechnical surveys of the seabed, support the construction or demolition of underwater structures, conduct trenching and excavation operations, and serve as a ROV platform for the company's autonomous underwater vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles. The ship is 114 metres (374 ft) in length, with a 22 metres (72 ft) beam, a gross tonnage of 7,883, and deadweight tonnage of 6,480 metric tons. Its maximum speed is 14.1 knots (26.1 km/h; 16.2 mph).

Seabed Constructor participated in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. It was operated by Ocean Infinity on a 90-day search contract for the missing aircraft; the mission ended unsuccessfully in mid-June 2018.

Seabed Constructor was then contracted by the Argentine Navy to search for the missing submarine ARA San Juan. On 17 November 2018, Seabed Constructor found San Juan a year and two days after the submarine's disappearance. The submarine lies on the seabed at a depth of 920 metres (3,020 ft) below sea level.

On 22 July 2019, the French government announced that drones launched from Seabed Constructor had found the French submarine Minerve, lost at sea in 1968.

On 4 December 2019, search teams from Seabed Constructor located the wreckage of SMS Scharnhorst, the flagship of the German Empire's East Asia Squadron during World War I, at a depth of 1,610 m (5,280 ft), some 98 nmi (181 km; 113 mi) southeast of the Falkland Islands.

