Patent ID: 9315242
Filing Date: 2016-04-19
CPC Classification: B63B

Claim Text:
1. A releasable mooring system for a seagoing drilling vessel configured to conduct drilling operations below the surface of the water with a drill string, the system comprising: at least one dockable mooring buoy configured for coupling to one or more mooring lines anchored to a seafloor, the at least one mooring buoy having a buoyancy configured to float in the water at an equilibrium depth between a surface and the seafloor; where the at least one dockable mooring buoy is configured to be engaged and retained in at least one retention feature provided on the seagoing drilling vessel to moor the vessel to the seafloor during drilling operations in which a drill string extends from the drilling vessel to the seafloor; where the at least one dockable mooring buoy is provided with a connection feature to allow the seagoing drilling vessel to connect to and retrieve the at least one mooring buoy into selectable locking engagement with the at least one retention feature to moor the vessel to the seafloor for the drilling operations; where: where the at least one dockable mooring buoy is configured to be selectably released from locking engagement with the at least one retention feature to release the vessel from being moored to the seafloor; and where the at least one retention feature is a conical-shaped receptacle; and where the at least one dockable mooring buoy is a complementary shaped dockable conical-shaped buoy that is dimensionally configured to fit and lock into the conical-shaped receptacle.