RRS Ernest Shackleton

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RRS Ernest Shackleton BB.jpg
RRS Ernest Shackleton
Career (UK) Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg
Namesake: Ernest Shackleton
Owner: GC Rieber Shipping
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
(Research/Survey/Cargo)
Displacement: 4,028 tonnes (Gross)
5,455 tonnes (loaded)
Length: 80 m (262 ft)
Beam: 17.0 m (56 ft)
Draught: 6.15 m (20 ft)
Ice class: DNV ICE-05
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 kn (20 km/h), max: 14 kn (26 km/h)
Range: 40,000 nmi (74,000 km)
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.

Contents

[edit] History

Launched in 1995 as MV Polar Queen for GC Rieber Shipping, 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.

[edit] 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]

[edit] 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]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

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