At the end of a mission, compressed air is pumped into the ballast tanks in the flooded section and the platform, which has no propulsion, returned to its horizontal position so it can be towed to a new location.

[1] FLIP was originally built to support research into the fine-scale phase and amplitude fluctuations in undersea sound waves caused by thermal gradients and sloping ocean bottoms.

FLIP was designed to study wave height, acoustic signals, water temperature and density, and for the collection of meteorological data.

Research conducted on FLIP[12] has included studies of: Following the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced funding, the decision was taken to scrap the platform.

In August 2023, Rob Sparrock, the program officer overseeing ONR’s research vessel program noted that it “... would cost about $8 million to make FLIP useable for another five or 10 years, but that funding could be better used elsewhere.”[13] On August 3, 2023, the storied vessel departed for a scrap yard in Mexico, apart from an instrument boom which will be installed on a pier at Scripps.

[14][15] At the decommissioning, Scripps’ Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL) Director Eric Terrill lauded the system and the spirit that inspired it, saying “FLIP set the stage for thinking big about what could be done with technology to enable new scientific discoveries ...