Scale: 1:200. Commissioned by the NMM in 1980, the model was made with the assistance of Mr G. Ridout, one of ‘Norman Lady’s’ (1973) captains. It’s an unusual and striking subject with its five huge, orange-painted gas tanks projecting though the ship’s deck and interconnected by a maze of valves, companionways and pipe work. At close quarters, the model looks more reminiscent of an oil refinery or industrial complex.

Miracles of modern shipbuilding, ‘Norman Lady’, and its smaller, four-tank sister ‘Venator’, were the first liquefied natural gas carriers with spherical tanks. Both ships were built by Moss Rosenberg Verft AS who achieved a considerable degree of success with their spherical tank system. The company subsequently formed licence agreements with shipbuilders across the world including the Quincy division of General Dynamics, who built the fleet of LNG carriers depicted by the Museum’s model of ‘Aquarius’ (SLR2505).

One of the disadvantages of this tank design is the high cubic capacity of the hull required to house the spheres, thus half of each tank is above the main deck. This results in a very ‘open’ ship with the protective tank domes being of a relatively heavy construction and providing some of the hull strength.