[16] The ship operates mainly in the Pacific and the Indian Oceans and is owned by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

An A-frame crane at the stern has a lifting capacity of 30 t. This can be used for deploying submersibles and other heavy equipment.

These systems can be disturbed by air bubbles created near the water surface and/or along the hull and swept down under the arrays.

A dent runs along both sides of the hull to guide water and bubbles behind the echo sounding arrays installed within an integrated gondola near the bow.

Furthermore, the outer hull surface was kept as smooth as possible to prevent production of air bubbles through cavitation processes.