Decks become bulkheads and bulkheads become decks aboard the Department of the Navy's Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP), which is celebrating 50 years of service to the scientific community. The 355-foot research vessel, owned by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and operated by the Marine Physical Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, is towed to research locations in the horizontal position. Once on site the vessel transitions to the vertical position by partially flooding ballast tanks located in the stern.