The Ernest Shackleton (1999–2019), nowadays N/R Laura Bassi (2019-) | |
History | |
---|---|
Norway | |
Name | Polar Queen |
Owner | GC Rieber Shipping |
Port of registry | Bergen [1] |
Builder | Kværner Kleven Leirvik A/S, Leirvik, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway |
Cost | $27,352,000 [1] |
Yard number | 267 |
Laid down | 26 November 1994 |
Launched | July 1995 |
Completed | 27 September 1995 |
In service | 1995–1999 |
Fate | Transferred to British Antarctic Survey |
United Kingdom | |
Name | Ernest Shackleton |
Namesake | Sir Ernest Shackleton |
Owner | GC Rieber Shipping |
Operator | British Antarctic Survey |
Port of registry | Stanley, Falkland Islands |
In service | 1999–2019 |
Fate | Sold to Italy |
Italy | |
Name | Laura Bassi |
Namesake | Laura Bassi |
Owner | Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS) |
Acquired | 2019 |
Identification | IMO number: 9114256 |
Status | In service |
General characteristics | |
Class and type |
|
Displacement | 5455 tonnes loaded |
Length | 80 m (262 ft) |
Beam | 17.0 m (56 ft) |
Draught | 6.15 m (20 ft) |
Ice class | DNV ICE-05 Icebreaker |
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 [2] |
Speed |
|
Range | 40,000 nautical miles (74,000 km; 46,000 mi) |
Endurance | 130 days |
Complement | 72 (22 Officers/Crew, 50 expedition personnel) |
Aviation facilities | Helicopter deck, max helicopter weight 10 tonnes |
Laura Bassi (formerly Polar Queen and RRS Ernest Shackleton) is an icebreaking research vessel operated by the Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Applied Geophysics, (in Italian: Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale - OGS). Between 1999 and 2019, she was the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) logistics ship, primarily used for the resupply of scientific stations in the Antarctic.
Launched in July 1995 as MV Polar Queen for GC Rieber Shipping, she was operated in the Antarctic by other national programmes.[ specify ] The BAS acquired her on a long-term bareboat charter in August 1999 to replace RRS Bransfield. She was renamed RRS Ernest Shackleton in 2000, after the Anglo-Irish polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, [3] but was known to users as "The Shack". After 20 years of polar duties for BAS, Ernest Shackleton was returned to her owners on 30 April 2019. [3]
OGS (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale) acquired the ship on 9 May 2019. They renamed her RV Laura Bassi , in honour of the first woman to earn a professorship in physics at a university and the first woman in the world to be appointed a university chair in a scientific field of studies. [4] In February 2023, she set a record by becoming the first vessel to sail further south in the Antarctica than any ship has done before. [5]
N/R Laura Bassi is ice strengthened with a double hull construction. In November 2020, she was certified Category A PC5 according to the Polar Code rules. She is capable of a wide range of logistic tasks, as well as having a scientific capability.
Between 1999 and 2019, RRS Ernest Shackleton was the main logistic ship for the BAS. She was used to resupply the survey's Antarctic research stations and also had a research capability. "Tula", a cargo tender stored on deck, allowed transfer ashore of stores and equipment when the ship could not berth alongside. [3] During the northern summer, she was commercially chartered, often working in the North Sea. [3] On charter to Crystal Cruise Line, she escorted its 68,000 ton liner Crystal Serenity through Canada's Northwest Passage in late August/September 2016 and 2017. In the austral summer 2019/2020, she carried out the first Antarctic mission under the Italian flag, completing two rotations between New Zealand and Zucchelli Station, the Italian Antarctic base.
HMS Endurance was an icebreaker that served as the Royal Navy ice patrol ship between 1991 and 2008. Built in Norway as MV Polar Circle, she was chartered by the Royal Navy in 1991 as HMS Polar Circle, before being purchased outright and renamed HMS Endurance in 1992 as a replacement for the previous HMS Endurance whose hull had been weakened by striking an iceberg.
The RRS Discovery is a barque-rigged auxiliary steamship built in Dundee, Scotland for Antarctic research. Launched in 1901, she was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in the United Kingdom. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, and highly successful, journey to the Antarctic, known as the Discovery Expedition.
Halley Research Station is a research facility in Antarctica on the Brunt Ice Shelf operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The base was established in 1956 to study the Earth's atmosphere. Measurements from Halley led to the discovery of the ozone hole in 1985. The current base is the sixth in a line of structures and includes design elements intended to overcome the challenge of building on a floating ice shelf without being buried and crushed by snow. As of 2020, the base has been left unstaffed through winter since 2017, due to concerns over the propagation of an ice crack and how this might cut off the evacuation route in an emergency. The Halley Bay Important Bird Area with its emperor penguin colony lies in the general vicinity of the base.
Ernest Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish polar explorer.
Noosfera is a polar supply and research ship operated by the National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine. Until 2021, she was operated by the British Antarctic Survey and named RRS James Clark Ross.
Laura Maria Caterina Bassi Veratti was an Italian physicist and academic. Recognized and depicted as "Minerva", she was the first woman to have a doctorate in science, and the second woman in the world to earn the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Working at the University of Bologna, she was also the first salaried female teacher in a university. At one time the highest paid employee of the university, by the end of her life Bassi held two other professorships. She was also the first female member of any scientific establishment, when she was elected to the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna in 1732 at 21.
The flag of the British Antarctic Territory was granted on 21 April 1998. It features the coat of arms granted on 1 August 1963, a year after the British Antarctic Territory, a British Overseas Territory, was created. Previously, the Territory was a part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies and used the same flag. On 30 May 1969, a blue ensign with the British Antarctic Territory coat of arms in the fly was introduced as a civil ensign.
A Royal Research Ship (RRS) is a merchant navy vessel of the United Kingdom that conducts scientific research for His Majesty's Government. Organisations operating such ships include; the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). A warrant from the monarch is required before a ship can be designated as an RRS.
The RRS John Biscoe was a supply and research vessel used by the British Antarctic Survey between 1956 and 1991.
James William Slessor Marr was a Scottish marine biologist and polar explorer. He was leader of the World War 2 British Antarctic Expedition Operation Tabarin during its first year, 1943–1945.
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on behalf of the UK. It is part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). With over 400 staff, BAS takes an active role in Antarctic affairs, operating five research stations, one ship and five aircraft in both polar regions, as well as addressing key global and regional issues. This involves joint research projects with over 40 UK universities and more than 120 national and international collaborations.
RRS Bransfield was an ice-strengthened cargo vessel, purpose-built for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
RRS Shackleton was a Royal Research Ship operated by the British scientific research organisations the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in the Antarctic from 1955 to 1983. She was subsequently operated as a seismic survey vessel under the names Geotek Beta, Profiler and finally Sea Profiler before being scrapped in 2011.
Quest, a low-powered, schooner-rigged steamship that sailed from 1917 until sinking in 1962, is best known as the polar exploration vessel of the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922. It was aboard this vessel that Sir Ernest Shackleton died on 5 January 1922 while the vessel was in harbour in South Georgia. Prior to and after the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition, Quest operated in commercial service as a seal-hunting vessel or sealer. Quest was also the primary expedition vessel of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition to the east coast of the island of Greenland in 1930–1931.
HMS Protector is a Royal Navy ice patrol ship built in Norway in mid 2000. As MV Polarbjørn she operated under charter as a polar research icebreaker and a subsea support vessel. In 2011, she was chartered as a temporary replacement for the ice patrol ship HMS Endurance and was purchased by the British Ministry of Defence in early September 2013. As DNV Ice Class 05 the vessel can handle first year ice up to 0.5 metres (20 in).
RRS Discovery II was a British Royal Research Ship which, during her operational lifetime of about 30 years, carried out considerable hydrographical and marine biological survey work in Antarctic waters and the Southern Ocean in the course of the Discovery Investigations research program. Built in Port Glasgow, launched in 1928 and completed in 1929, she was the first purpose-built oceanographic research vessel and was named after Robert Falcon Scott's 1901 ship, RRS Discovery.
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RRS Sir David Attenborough is a research vessel owned by the Natural Environment Research Council and operated by the British Antarctic Survey for the purposes of both research and logistic support. The ship replaces a pair of existing vessels, RRS James Clark Ross and RRS Ernest Shackleton. The vessel is named after broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough.