HMS Endurance (A171)
 Endurance berthed at HMNB Portsmouth |
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| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | 1990: MV Polar Circle 1991: HMS Polar Circle 1992: HMS Endurance |
| Operator: | Royal Navy |
| Builder: | Ulstein Hatlo |
| Completed: | 1990 |
| Commissioned: | 21 November 1991 |
| Out of service: | 2008 |
| Homeport: | Portsmouth |
| Identification: | Pennant number: A171 |
| Motto: | Fortitudine Vincimus (Latin: "By Endurance We Conquer") |
| Nickname: | The Red Plum (from the colour of her hull). |
| Status: | Laid up |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Class 1A1 icebreaker |
| Displacement: | 6,100 t (6,004 long tons) |
| Length: | 91 m (298 ft 7 in) |
| Beam: | 17.9 m (58 ft 9 in) |
| Draught: | 8.5 m (27 ft 11 in) |
| Ice class: | 1A1 |
| Propulsion: | 2 × Bergen BRG 8 Diesels, 8,160 hp (6,085 kW) |
| Speed: | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Range: | 24,600 nmi (45,600 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Boats and landing craft carried: |
James Caird, Nimrod, Eddie Shackleton and Dudley Docker |
| Complement: | 126 |
| Crew: | Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Civilian researchers |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Type R84 and M34 surface search radar, Type 1006 navigation radar |
| Armament: |
2 × 7.62mm Mk.44 Miniguns |
| Aircraft carried: | 2 × Ice-modified Lynx HAS 3 helicopters |
| Aviation facilities: | Full aircraft facilities and double hangar |
MV Polar Circle was built in Norway in 1990, chartered by the Royal Navy as HMS Polar Circle, and finally purchased as HMS Endurance. She is a former Antarctic ice patrol ship, and is a class 1A1 icebreaker. She has been out of service since 2008, when she was seriously damaged by flooding following a routine maintenance error.
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[edit] Career
Endurance was built in Norway in 1990 by Ulstein Hatlo for Rieber Shipping as MV Polar Circle. The Royal Navy chartered her for eight months as HMS Polar Circle from 21 November 1991. She was bought outright and renamed HMS Endurance on 9 October 1992.
Endurance provides a sovereign presence in polar waters, performs hydrographic surveys and supports the British Antarctic Survey in Antarctica. Her usual deployment has seen her in the South Atlantic and returning to the UK through tropical waters each year. More recently a longer, 18-month deployment was designed to maximise her time available for BAS usage.
In 1997, she made the first visit to Buenos Aires after the Falklands War and returned in 2002.[1]
In 2005, Endurance was chosen to carry HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at the International Fleet Review as part of the Trafalgar 200 celebrations.
Although she enjoyed a varied, purposeful career as the UKs sole ice patrol vessel, Endurance's later years were problematic and ended in ignominy. After her 2004 docking period in Falmouth, the ship suffered a minor accident which resulted in her listing badly when the drydock she was situated in flooded up. The subsequent months after the refit were troublesome and the ship suffered numerous debilitating machinery failures. This was to become something of a theme over the next four years as the ship's crew struggled to keep her serviceable, set against more demanding challenges.[citation needed]
During survey work in Antarctica in January 2006, the ship's engineering staff discovered her rudder was apparently loose on the stock. Her work period was cut short and she returned to Mare Harbour in the Falkland Islands for further inspections. Det Norske Veritas, the ship's assurance certification company instructed that the ship should dock at the nearest available port - the nearest large enough being Puerto Belgrano, Argentina's largest naval base, where Endurance docked in mid-March 2006. Without hotel services on board, the ship's company moved to shore-side accommodation in the city of Bahía Blanca, some twenty kilometres west of Puerto Belgrano. The rudder was removed for repairs and once on the floor of the drydock, a dockers' strike followed.[2][3] The ship remained there for nearly three weeks. Picket lines formed at the gates of the naval base, preventing Endurance's crew from relieving the stranded duty watch on board. When the strike broke, the rudder was replaced and welded into position and the ship left Puerto Belgrano in early April 2006. She returned to Portsmouth via Lisbon and to drydock again for further engineering work on the rudder and stock.
In July 2007 the United Kingdom offered Endurance to supply Argentine Antarctic bases after their ARA Almirante Irizar icebreaker suffered extensive damage in a fire.[4][5]
[edit] 2008 near loss
In December 2008, while on an 18-month deployment, Endurance suffered extensive lower deck flooding resulting in the near loss of the ship.[6] A serious engine room flood left her without power or propulsion,[7] and she was towed to Punta Arenas by a Chilean tug. After an extensive survey was completed, the estimates to refit the ship were put at around £30M.[8] On 8 April 2009 Endurance arrived off Portsmouth, on the semi-submersible transporter ship MV Target.[9]
The Royal Navy inquiry found that the flood happened while a sea water strainer was being cleaned, in an attempt to improve the production of fresh water. The air lines controlling a hull valve were incorrectly reconnected, resulting in the valve opening and an inability to close it.[6] The pipe installation fell below generally accepted standards, which made reconnection of the air lines ambiguous. The inquiry also found that due to manpower constraints the ship did not have a system maintainer and clarity of engineering command had been lost, with no-one clearly in charge of risk management. It was fortunate that, once without propulsion, Endurance drifted over an area shallow enough for anchors to hold. Otherwise, Endurance would probably have been lost by flooding or running aground. The ship’s company responded well to control damage in challenging conditions.[6][10]
Many of the named ship’s company dispute the conclusions reached by the inquiry, citing the alleged systemic and administrative shortcomings were known and overlooked by shore-based authorities, and pressure was placed upon the ship to deploy for 18 months in a less-than ready material state. Personal accounts of the ship’s machinery suffering badly through high-tempo cyclic usage and poor logistic support were commonplace. Endurance completed an expensive maintenance period in Portsmouth before deploying including dry docking to fix a multitude of problems encountered during the 2006–2007 deployment. This was intended to replace the scheduled docking period programmed for 2007, which would have included a full restorative ship work package. Whatever the outcome, it remains clear Endurance badly lacked the capability to evacuate large amounts of seawater from her main machinery space in the event of emergencies like this, something that was apparent during an earlier, undocumented flooding incident in December 2006.[citation needed]
In 2009, National Geographic Channel ran a four-episode documentary series on Endurance. Five ran the same series the following year, with the final episode showing what happened the day the ship almost sank.[11] This was called Ice Patrol.
[edit] Replacement
On 9 September 2010 speculation in the press suggested it was likely that Endurance would be scrapped[12] and replaced with another icebreaker from Norway.[13]
On 22 March 2011 it was announced that the Royal Navy intended to hire MV Polarbjorn, to be renamed HMS Protector, for three years whilst a final decision on whether to repair or scrap Endurance is made.[14]
[edit] Traditions
Red Sea Rig is semi-formal evening dress worn on board by Royal Navy officers. It consists of black trousers with a white short-sleeved shirt with boards and the ship’s double-sided red cummerbund. On one side is the ship’s crest, but down south, the cummerbund is worn the other way round, with a penguin showing.[15]
[edit] Layout
Endurance is a class 1A1 icebreaker. Her two diesel engines produce over 8000 shaft horsepower and can move her through up to 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) of ice at 3 knots (5.6 km/h).[16] Her propulsion system uses a computer-controlled variable-pitch propeller and stern and bow thrusters.
She carried 2 Lynx helicopters.[16]
[edit] Link to Sir Ernest Shackleton
Endurance is named after the ship which Sir Ernest Shackleton used in his Antarctic expedition of 1914-1917. The names of Endurance's boats and landing craft continue the Shackleton connection: James Caird and Dudley Docker are named after boats carried by Shackleton's Endurance, Nimrod is named after the ship which Shackleton used on his Antarctic expedition of 1907-1909, and Eddie Shackleton is named after the explorer's son. The motto of Endurance, "fortitudine vincimus" ("by endurance, we conquer"), was also the Shackleton family motto.[17]
[edit] Gallery
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: HMS Endurance (A171) |
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Endurance in Portsmouth
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "Endurance calls in at Buenos Aires". Navy News. http://www.navynews.co.uk/articles/2002/0204/0002040402.asp. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ "Argentine dock workers 'capture' Royal Navy ship". The Scotsman. 20 March 2006. http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=76&id=434572006. Retrieved 7 June 2007.
- ^ "Argentine Navy site" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070609150229/http://www.ara.mil.ar/noticia01.asp?IdNoticia=6. Retrieved 7 June 2007.
- ^ "British support to replace Argentina’s stricken “Irizar”". Mercopress. 26 April 2007. http://www.falklands.com/vernoticia.do?id=10342&formato=HTML. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
- ^ "Reparar el rompehielos costará US$ 113 millones" (in Spanish). La Nación newspaper. 10 July 2007. http://buscador.lanacion.com.ar/Nota.asp?nota_id=924403&high=garr%E9. Retrieved 12 July 2007.[dead link]
- ^ a b c "Service Inquiry into the flooding of HMS Endurance 16 December 2008" (pdf). Ministry of Defence. March 2010. http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B53F6F66-AD2C-40B6-A460-456C96ECCC8D/0/service_inquiry_flooding_hms_endurance.pdf. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ "HMS Endurance > News". Royal Navy. 17 December 2008. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.14762. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
- ^ Matt Jackson (14 August 2009). "Two ships to go and Endurance future in doubt". Portsmouth News. http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Two-ships-to-go-and.5911360.jp.
- ^ "Damaged Endurance set for repairs". BBC News. 8 April 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7989166.stm. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
- ^ "HMS Endurance flood a 'near loss' incident, report says". BBC News. 18 March 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8574629.stm. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ "Ice Patrol on Channel 5". Five (TV channel). 30 April 2010. http://demand.five.tv/Series.aspx?seriesBaseName=IcePatrol. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ Matt Jackson (16 December 200). "The Red Plum is still facing exit". The News (Portsmouth). http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/defence/The-Red-Plum-is-still.5914794.jp. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
- ^ Euan Stretch (9 September 2010). "Navy scrap ice breaker HMS Endurance". Daily Mirror. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/09/09/navy-scrap-ice-breaker-hms-endurance-115875-22547884/. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ Navy News (22 March 2011). "New Antarctic patrol ship announced". http://www.navynews.co.uk/news/1122-new-antarctic-patrol-ship-announced.aspx. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
- ^ "A Day in the Life - Alison Dewynter". Visit and Learn. http://www.visitandlearn.co.uk/trackendurance/Dewynter.asp. Retrieved 8 April 2009.[dead link]
- ^ a b "HMS Endurance 3 (Ex- Polar Circle) Ice Patrol Ship". GlobalSecurity.org. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/hms-endurance-3.htm. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
- ^ "HMS Endurance (archived)". Royal Navy. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/operations-and-support/surface-fleet/antarctic-patrol-ship/hms-endurance/index.htm. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
[edit] External links
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