Naval vessel converts to research usage

The 56.5m long, 10.8m wide ship, drawing 3.65m and with diesel-electric propulsion providing 12.5 knots, has served with the Bundesmarine since 1987.

It was acquired recently by the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern under a deal pledging Schwedeneck to 70 days of scientific research work a year for the German Defence Ministry for a further ten years. In return Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern together made available €6.5m for its purchase and conversion.

The ship is being extensively converted and renamed up to June and will be managed after that by shipowner Reederei Briese, which signed the conversion contract with P & S and already manages a fleet of research ships for various German research institutes.

The renamed Schwedeneck will serve in the Baltic and North Sea for the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Warnemuende (IOW), with duties which will also include ocean monitoring.

The IOW’s Barbara Hentzsch told MJ the ship was being converted in order to gain more research laboratory space. She also said deck equipment would be expanded to include lifting and launching gear for conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) probes.

Hentzsch also said there will be five laboratories on the ship as well as hydro-acoustic and other new equipment to measure sea water properties, as well as a pure water plant and computer and data processing equipment. No changes will be made to the ship’s existing engines or propulsion plant.

The converted Schwedeneck will replace the 60 year old Prof. Albert Penck. That 38.6m long and 7.28m wide research ship, driven by a Type 8 NVD 36 engine of 220kW and with a 620kW Schottel Pump Jet, has just been sold to German interests, reportedly for a mere €70,000.

By Tom Todd