New polar ship equipment
The newly announced £200m British polar research vessel announced by Chancellor George Osborne in April will have state of the art deck equipment, including launch and recovery equipment able to deploy subs and other ocean survey and sampling gear.
It will join the Royal Research Ships Ernest Shackleton and James Clark Ross, and will support operations in both the Arctic and Antarctic.
Built to around 130m this vessel will have a stronger hull likely dwarf both the 80m Shackleton and the 99m Ross, but in one important way it will more like its smaller sister as it will have a helipad, an essential element for effective Antarctic operations.
By Stevie Knight
