10.18453/rosdok_id00005796 Hops, Dirk Hinrich Dirk Hinrich Hops http://d-nb.info/gnd/1419608029 Universität Rostock 2026 620 Engineering & allied operations 2026 en https://purl.uni-rostock.de/rosdok/id00005796 urn:nbn:de:gbv:28-rosdok_id00005796-4 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are widely used, but their launch and recovery (L&R) from moving vessels remains challenging, especially under dynamic sea conditions. This work develops a submerged towed docking device to establish initial physical contact with the AUV. Using CFD, scaled model experiments and multibody simulations, the system behaviour is analysed. The results show the motion characteristics of the system under a wide range of environmental and operational parameters, from which parameter regimes with robust docking behaviour can be derived.