HUSKY is operated by a Wicklow based Company
called Hydroserv, she arrived summer 2005 and is based at Arklow to
work on the wind farm . She spent a week last year working out of
Wicklow on a survey in the bay .
HUSKY was designed and built to Lloyds
Classification in Kuching, Sarawak - East Malaysia. She entered
service in 1987 in the South China Sea on contract to Shell mooring
tankers in the oil and gas fields there. She does not have funnels as
might have been expected of a tug - but she has wet exhausts, a
requirement for vessels working in oil and gas operations to be spark
free. She also has a sea water drenching system in the steel frame
around her wheelhouse.
HUSKY is referred to as an 'intrinsically safe
vessel' i.e. spark free. Since bringing HUSKY into Ireland, a winch
and an 'A' Frame have been added to enable the vessel to carry out
seabed sampling and underwater construction works. It is planned to
add a hydraulic deck crane and a 10 tonne towing winch in the near
future. HUSKY can be quickly configured for many different tasks, such
as towing, diving, salvage, survey/sampling, pollution cleanup.