Gabe Newell’s Inkfish builds a $816 million, 162-metre deep-sea research vessel

Image Credit: Vard/Marine Insight Gabe Newell’s marine research organisation Inkfish has ordered a 162-metre deep-sea research vessel from Norwegian shipbuilder VARD. The ship, named RV11000, is valued at nearly €700 million, or about $816 million, and is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2030. According to Marine Insight, the vessel will be designed to work at depths of up to 11,000 metres, allowing it to support some of the deepest ocean research missions. The project is VARD’s largest order ever for a single vessel and will expand Inkfish’s ability to study remote parts of the ocean.Capabilities of Gabe Newell’s 162-metre deep-sea vesselRV11000 is being developed specifically for deep-ocean scientific work rather than general-purpose shipping. Fincantieri, VARD’s parent group, said the vessel will be used for seafloor mapping, coring and sampling, submarine operations and remotely operated vehicle missions.The ship will be 162 metres long and 28 metres wide. Its design is based on the VARD 9 42 platform and has been developed by Vard Design in Alesund, Norway, with Inkfish and technical partner YTMC. Fincantieri said the project builds on the engineering and design ...