Built at the Stocznia Remontowa SA yard in Gdansk, Poland, Galatea was launched on 26th July 2006 by Mrs Jane de Halpert, wife of the Trinity House Executive Chairman, Jeremy de Halpert. Stocznia Remontowa was responsible for all three vessels in the GLA building programme. The smaller Rapid Intervention Vessel 'Alert' was commissioned in April 2006 for Trinity House and Galatea followed hard on the heels of the Northern Lights vessel Pharos commissioned in Scotland in May of this year.

A visit to Galatea by Maritime Journal revealed an interesting, highly sophisticated and versatile vessel that will undoubtedly prove a worthy replacement to its predecessor and considerably enhance the capabilities of Trinity House as an organization. The list of services Galatea is designed and equipped to carry out illustrates the careful attention that has been paid to its versatility and future utilization, undertaking a wide range of commercial operations. Included in that list are:

- Hydrographic surveys including bathymetry, sidescan sonar, and wreck investigations.

- Deployment, maintenance, repair and examination of navigation aids.

- Research platforms for deployment and recovery of scientific equipment.

- Sampling projects.

- Marine hazard marking.

- Lifting, towing and accurate positioning of marine equipment.

- Sea trials of electronic and specialist equipment.

- Helicopter support.

- Safety boat assignments.

- Guard duties for cable and pipe laying projects.

The Lloyds Register of Shipping class notations are equally impressive, comprising - LR +100A1 +LMC UMS MCM EP LA CAC DPAA IMO CLASS II. The vessel also complies with the requirements of UK MCA Class VII and GMDSS sea area 2.

Galatea is a vessel of 84.2m in length overall, with a moulded breadth of 16.5m, a depth moulded (to main deck) of 7.2m and draft of 4.32m. Its extensive specification includes tank capacities for 296.9 tons of fuel oil, 14.2 tons of lubricating oil, 170.8 tons of fresh water and the ability to produce a further 20 tons per day from it onboard RO plant. The ship has a service speed of 13 knots, an endurance of 35 days and a useful bollard pull of 33 tons. A high specification Dynamic Positioning System meeting the requirements of DP class AA gives the ship the ability to manoeuvre and maintain position with extreme accuracy.

At the heart of this versatile vessel is it’s diesel-electric propulsion system powered by five Wartsila diesel engines. Three Wartsila 8L20 engines and their associated alternators, rated at 1,368 kWe each, supply electrical power for the propulsion system and thrusters. Two further Wartsila 4L20 generator sets, rated at 684 kWe each, provide auxiliary shipboard electrical supplies but can be utilised for other services via the main switchboard power management system when required. The propulsion system has exceptional built-in redundancy and capacity to comply with the ship’s DP-AA rating.

Galatea is propelled by two Rolls-Royce, electrically powered, fully azimuthing, propulsion units rated at 1,500 kW each located beneath the stern. The inherent manoeuvrability provided by the azimuthing propulsion system is enhanced further with the installation of two electrically powered bow thrust units of 750 kW each.

Propulsion controls on the main bridge console include individual master controllers for each propulsion unit and manual controls for each bow thruster. Alternatively, the vessel can be manoeuvred by means of the Kongsberg SDP22 dynamic positioning system, offering several modes of operation. When manoeuvring, the ship can be controlled by a single lever system with or without automatic control of the vessel’s heading, or under full DP control for precise positioning on predetermined coordinates.

A particularly interesting feature is the provision of a roll damping system claimed to be up to 60% effective. The passive roll reduction system is combined with an anti-heeling capability for use when lifting with the shipboard crane. This makes Galatea an exceptionally stable platform for survey, helicopter operation, and offshore maintenance work. Combined with the ship’s enhanced stability is an antenna motion compensation feature provided in the Kongsberg DP package.

A large work deck is available aft and there is a helicopter platform on the forecastle. Deck equipment aft includes an electrically powered Liebherr crane located on the portside. This crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 30 tons at an outreach of 22m and full heave compensation rated for offshore use. A smaller (offshore rated) hydraulically operated PK 1200000MG ‘knuckle boom’ crane of 1.6 tons at 18m is mounted on the starboard side of the work deck. Two further 1.44 ton PK32080M stores cranes are also provided on the foredeck.

An electrically powered Rapp single drum towing winch is installed at the forward end of the work deck. The winch is self tensioning, has a maximum line pull of 38 tons, and carries a 38mm diameter steel wire towline of 300m in length. Winch controls on the bridge enable both rope tension and length to be preset. A set of retractable Karm tow pins and line-chain handling gear is fitted forward of the open stern. Two Rapp 5 ton tugger winches are also provided. The 550 m2 work deck has a protective wood covering and provision is made to ‘lock down’ standard ISO10 & 20ft containers and supply 220-400v electrical supplies if required. A large equipment hold is located beneath the work deck and extensive workshop facilities are available on the tween deck.

The helicopter deck is rated ‘D’ Value 13.00 and provision is made for refuelling and fire fighting. Radio communication suitable for ship to air use is installed along with an electronics package capable of assessing acceptable weather and sea conditions for helicopter operation under various international regulations.

Galatea has a spacious bridge divided into a number of operational areas. The forward portion of the bridge has a full width ‘U’ shaped central console where all of the main propulsion and navigational controls and instruments are located. The bridge is certified for one man operation and all of the necessary controls to manoeuvre the ship are ergonomically positioned within easy reach of the Captain’s chair. Included among the impressive array of instrumentation are two Decca Bridgemaster radars, BME343 ‘S’ band and a BME342 ‘X’ band; two MX Marine MX420/8 DGPS installations; a Navipol1 TMC magnetic compass; a Navigat 2100 gyro compass with 3 fibre optic repeaters; a Dual axis SRD500 speed log and multifunctional F/AIS-R4 ECDIS/Navigational displays. The autopilot installed is a digital-adaptive Nav/Pilot 4000.

In the bridge area aft of the main navigational console are located two further desks. To starboard is the communications desk where a Satcom Sat-CH2095V high speed voice and data transceiver is housed along with a Sailor Iridium ST4110 voice system. VHF equipment, also from Sailor includes RT4722 DSC radio telephones and TRX 1012 handsets. For MF/HF single sideband communications a Sailor HC 4500 set with DSC is fitted. On the portside is located a ship security desk housing alarm systems concerned with safety and security throughout the ship. Included in that installation is a CCTV system enabling a wide range of areas to be monitored visually including ‘controlled’ access points as required by the ISPS code.

The aft section of the bridge offers an excellent view of the work deck, cranes and towing gear. Duplicate propulsion controls and repeaters for the essential instrumentation and communications are provided to enable Galatea to be operated from this area that also contains a comprehensive survey desk. The latter incorporates computing equipment and a variety of displays relating to the Kongsberg Simrad EM 3002D multi-beam echosounder; a Kongsberg Simrad EA 400 38/200kHz single beam echosounder; a PosMV Kongsberg DGPS 116 Fanbeam position and orientation systems; and a Simrad SEN-218377 sound velocity/pressure and profiling probe. A Simrad GeoAcoustics 159D dual frequency side-scan sonar system is also fitted along with a Simrad SL 30/35 sonar wreck finder. Incoming data can be processed offline by a Fiedermous, Caris HIPS/SIPS post processing system. The Fiedermous system is capable of combining various inputs to produce impressive 3D images of seabed features, wrecks and other objects on interest.

Galatea has a regular crew of 17 persons in well appointed, air conditioned accommodation with a wide range of facilities. In all the ship has 30 single berth cabins, 13 of which can be made available for visitors, clients and contractors staff.

By Jack Gaston

Photos: Captions;

1. THV Galatea passes through the Thames Barrier after visiting the Pool of London.

2. Galatea has a fully equipped heli-deck on the forecastle and a spacious bridge.

3. The ship has a large work deck, four cranes, two workboats and a full outfit of towing gear.

4. A Rapp electrically operated towing winch is located on the work deck.

5. Capt John Mallett, master of Galatea, explains the Rolls-Royce propulsion controls.

6. All aspects of the diesel-electric propulsion system and the ships systems are monitored in the machinery control room.