RRS Ernest Shackleton

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RRS Ernest Shackleton
Career (UK) Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg
Namesake: Ernest Shackleton
Owner: GC Rieber Shipping AS
Operator: British Antarctic Survey
Builder: Kverner Klevin Leirvik A/S, Norway
Yard number: 267
Launched: 1995 as MV Polar Queen'
Homeport: Stanley, Falkland Islands
Identification: IMO number: 9114256[1]

MMSI Number: 740357000

Callsign: ZDLS1
Status: in service
Notes: [1][2][3]
General characteristics
Class and type:

Royal Research Ship

DnV +1A1 Icebreaker Ice 05 EO Helidk ICS Dynpos-Autr W1 (Research/Survey/Cargo)
Displacement: 4,028 tonnes (Gross)
5,455 tonnes (loaded)
Length: 80 metres (262 ft)
Beam: 17.0 metres (56 ft)
Draught: 6.15 metres (20 ft)
Installed power: 2 x Bergen Diesel BRM 6 each 2550 kW
Propulsion: Thrusters : 816 Hp x 3 + 1088 Hp x 1 + 1 Azimuth 1088 Hp[1]
Speed: 11 knots (max: 14)
Range: 40,000 nautical miles
Endurance: 130 days
Complement: 72 including crew

RRS Ernest Shackleton is a Royal Research Ship operated by the British Antarctic Survey. She is primarily a logistics ship used for the resupply of scientific stations in the Antarctic.

History

Launched in 1995 as MV Polar Queen for GC Rieber Shipping AS, she was operated in the Antarctic by other national programmes. The British Antarctic Survey acquired her on a long-term bareboat charter in August 1999 and renamed her RRS Ernest Shackleton after the British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.[4] She replaced RRS Bransfield.

Construction

RRS Ernest Shackleton is ice strengthened with a double hull construction and is capable of a wide range of logistic tasks as well as having a scientific capability. She has a cargo tender "Tula" on deck for ship to shore transfer of equipment when the ship cannot berth alongside.[4]

Service

RRS Ernest Shackleton is primarily a logistic ship, used for the resupply of the Survey's Antarctic research stations. She loads cargo and science equipment in the Humber and sails to the Antarctic in September/October each year, returning in May/June. After annual refit/drydock, Ernest Shackleton is chartered for commercial survey work for the northern summer.[5]

See also

Footnotes

External links