RRS Discovery (2013)

For Scott's 1901 ship, see RRS Discovery. For the 1929 research vessel, see RRS Discovery II. For the 1962 research vessel, see RRS Discovery (1962).
History
Name: RRS Discovery
Owner: NERC Research Ship Unit
Builder: C.N.P. Freire, S.A
Cost: £68 million
Laid down: 16 February 2011
Launched: 6 April 2012
Completed: 3 June 2013
Identification: IMO Number: 9588029
Status: in service
General characteristics
Class and type: Lloyd’s +100A1, Ice 1D, LMC, UMS, DP(AM), IWS, EP, Research Vessel
Displacement: 6260 tonnes
Length: 99.7 m
Beam: 18 m
Draught: 5.1 – 6.6 m
Installed power: Wärtsilä 8L20 - 4x 1770 Kw
Propulsion:
  • 2 × Azimuth Thrusters(5-bladed, fixed pitch)
  • One retractable azimuth forward (1,350kW)
  • One Tees Gill water-jet thruster (1,700 kW)
Speed: 12 knots
Crew:
  • 24 marine crew
  • 28 scientists
Notes: Endurance 50 days

RRS Discovery is a Royal Research Ship operated by the Natural Environment Research Council. The ship is the third such vessel to be built and named for the ship used by Robert Falcon Scott in his 1901-1904 expedition to the Antarctic.

Discovery was built as a replacement for the previous Discovery in the "blue ocean" research role.[1] The ship was ordered in 2010 from the C.N.P. Freire shipyard in Vigo, and was launched in April 2012. Discovery was delivered to the NERC in the summer of 2013 for a period of sea trials prior to her planned initial deployment.[2]

The ship is fitted with flexible laboratory spaces, allowing the laboratories to be tailored to the nature of the different scientific activities intended to take place on each cruise. Discovery is also fitted with an advanced hydroacoustic system in three major parts; a pair of major echosounders plus a hydrophone are installed in a special "blister" installation on the ship's keel, while she also carries a pair of "drop keels" containing more echosounders, hydrophones and CCTV cameras.[3] Discovery is also capable of operating the National Oceanography Centre's ROUV Isis.

References

  1. ↑ "RRS Discovery Replacement Project". National Oceanography Centre. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  2. ↑ Cooper, Edward (2012). "The future RRS Discovery" (PDF). Ocean Challenge. The Challenger Society for Marine Science. 19: 10–11. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "RRS Discovery". National Oceanography Centre. Retrieved 25 April 2014.


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