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HMS Endurance (A171)
Encyclopedia
MV Polar Circle was built in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
in 1990, chartered by the Royal Navy as HMS Polar Circle, and finally purchased as HMS Endurance. She is a former Antarctic
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...
ice patrol ship, and is a class 1A1 icebreaker
Icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...
. She has been out of service since 2008, when she was seriously damaged by flooding following a routine maintenance error.
Career
Endurance was built in NorwayNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
in 1990 by Ulstein Hatlo for Rieber Shipping
GC Rieber Shipping
GC Rieber Shipping is a Norwegian shipping company that operates offshore subsea support vessels, marine seismic vessels and polar logistics and research expeditions. Based in Bergen, Norway it is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. A major owner is GC Rieber....
as MV Polar Circle. The Royal Navy chartered her for eight months as HMS Polar Circle from 21 November 1991. She was bought outright and renamed HMS Endurance on 9 October 1992.
Endurance provides a sovereign presence in polar waters, performs hydrographic survey
Hydrographic survey
Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/drilling and related disciplines. Strong emphasis is placed on soundings, shorelines, tides, currents, sea floor and submerged...
s and supports the British Antarctic Survey
British Antarctic Survey
The British Antarctic Survey is the United Kingdom's national Antarctic operation and has an active role in Antarctic affairs. BAS is part of the Natural Environment Research Council and has over 400 staff. It operates five research stations, two ships and five aircraft in and around Antarctica....
in Antarctica. Her usual deployment has seen her in the South Atlantic and returning to the UK through tropical waters each year. More recently a longer, 18-month deployment was designed to maximise her time available for BAS
British Antarctic Survey
The British Antarctic Survey is the United Kingdom's national Antarctic operation and has an active role in Antarctic affairs. BAS is part of the Natural Environment Research Council and has over 400 staff. It operates five research stations, two ships and five aircraft in and around Antarctica....
usage.
In 1997, she made the first visit to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
after the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
and returned in 2002.
In 2005, Endurance was chosen to carry HM The Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
at the International Fleet Review
International Fleet Review
For a full list of ships present, see List of ships present at International Fleet Review, 2005The International Fleet Review took place on 28 June 2005, as part of the Trafalgar 200 celebrations to commemorate the 200th year after the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.- 2005 Review Line-up :During the...
as part of the Trafalgar 200
Trafalgar 200
Trafalgar 200 was a series of events in 2005 held mostly in the United Kingdom to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, where a British fleet led by Admiral Nelson defeated a joint Franco-Spanish fleet during the Napoleonic Wars. During the summer of 2005 there was an...
celebrations.
Although she enjoyed a varied, purposeful career as the UKs sole ice patrol vessel, Endurances later years were problematic and ended in ignominy. After her 2004 docking period in Falmouth, the ship suffered a minor accident which resulted in her listing badly when the drydock she was situated in flooded up. The subsequent months after the refit were troublesome and the ship suffered numerous debilitating machinery failures. This was to become something of a theme over the next four years as the ship's crew struggled to keep her serviceable, set against more demanding challenges.
During survey work in Antarctica in January 2006, the ship's engineering staff discovered her rudder was apparently loose on the stock. Her work period was cut short and she returned to Mare Harbour
Mare Harbour
Mare Harbour Mare Harbour Mare Harbour (Spanish: Puerto Yegua is a small settlement on East Falkland, on Choiseul Sound. It is mostly used as a port facility and depot for RAF Mount Pleasant, as well as a deepwater port used by the Royal Navy ships patrolling the South Atlantic and Antarctica,...
in the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
for further inspections. Det Norske Veritas
Det Norske Veritas
Stiftelsen Det Norske Veritas is a classification society organized as a foundation, with the objective of "Safeguarding life, property, and the environment". The organization's history goes back to 1864, when the foundation was established in Norway to inspect and evaluate the technical condition...
, the ship's assurance certification company instructed that the ship should dock at the nearest available port - the nearest large enough being Puerto Belgrano
Puerto Belgrano
Base Naval Puerto Belgrano is the largest naval base of the Argentine Navy, situated next to Punta Alta, near Bahía Blanca, about south of Buenos Aires...
, Argentina's largest naval base, where Endurance docked in mid-March 2006. Without hotel services on board, the ship's company moved to shore-side accommodation in the city of Bahía Blanca
Bahía Blanca
Bahía Blanca is a city located in the south-west of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean, and seat of government of Bahía Blanca Partido. It has a population of 274,509 inhabitants according to the...
, some twenty kilometres west of Puerto Belgrano. The rudder was removed for repairs and once on the floor of the drydock, a dockers' strike followed. The ship remained there for nearly three weeks. Picket lines formed at the gates of the naval base, preventing Endurances crew from relieving the stranded duty watch on board. When the strike broke, the rudder was replaced and welded into position and the ship left Puerto Belgrano in early April 2006. She returned to Portsmouth via Lisbon and to drydock again for further engineering work on the rudder and stock.
In July 2007 the United Kingdom offered Endurance to supply Argentine Antarctic bases after their icebreaker suffered extensive damage in a fire.
2008 near loss
In December 2008, while on an 18-month deployment, Endurance suffered extensive lower deck flooding resulting in the near loss of the ship. A serious engine room flood left her without power or propulsion, and she was towed to Punta ArenasPunta Arenas, Chile
Punta Arenas is a commune and the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antartica Chilena. The city was officially renamed Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to Punta Arenas...
by a Chilean tug. After an extensive survey was completed, the estimates to refit the ship were put at around £30M. On 8 April 2009 Endurance arrived off Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, on the semi-submersible
Semi-submersible
A semi-submersible is a specialised marine vessel with good stability and seakeeping characteristics. The semi-submersible vessel design is commonly used in a number of specific offshore roles such as for offshore drilling rigs, safety vessels, oil production platforms and heavy lift cranes.The...
transporter ship .
The Royal Navy inquiry found that the flood happened while a sea water strainer was being cleaned, in an attempt to improve the production of fresh water. The air lines controlling a hull valve were incorrectly reconnected, resulting in the valve opening and an inability to close it. The pipe installation fell below generally accepted standards, which made reconnection of the air lines ambiguous. The inquiry also found that due to manpower constraints the ship did not have a system maintainer and clarity of engineering command had been lost, with no-one clearly in charge of risk management. It was fortunate that, once without propulsion, Endurance drifted over an area shallow enough for anchors to hold. Otherwise, Endurance would probably have been lost by flooding or running aground. The ship’s company responded well to control damage in challenging conditions.
Many of the named ship’s company dispute the conclusions reached by the inquiry, citing the alleged systemic and administrative shortcomings were known and overlooked by shore-based authorities, and pressure was placed upon the ship to deploy for 18 months in a less-than ready material state. Personal accounts of the ship’s machinery suffering badly through high-tempo cyclic usage and poor logistic support were commonplace. Endurance completed an expensive maintenance period in Portsmouth before deploying including dry docking to fix a multitude of problems encountered during the 2006–2007 deployment. This was intended to replace the scheduled docking period programmed for 2007, which would have included a full restorative ship work package. Whatever the outcome, it remains clear Endurance badly lacked the capability to evacuate large amounts of seawater from her main machinery space in the event of emergencies like this, something that was apparent during an earlier, undocumented flooding incident in December 2006.
In 2009, National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
ran a four-episode documentary series on Endurance. Five ran the same series the following year, with the final episode showing what happened the day the ship almost sank.
Replacement
On 9 September 2010 speculation in the press suggested it was likely that Endurance would be scrapped and replaced with another icebreaker from Norway.On 22 March 2011 it was announced that the Royal Navy intended to hire , to be renamed , for three years whilst a final decision on whether to repair or scrap Endurance is made.
Traditions
Red Sea RigRed Sea rig
Red Sea rig, sometimes known as gulf rig or schooner rig, is a dress code for semi-formal evening events, which in general consists of black tie attire with the jacket removed, a red bow tie and red cummerbund, although there are local variations....
is semi-formal evening dress worn on board by Royal Navy officers. It consists of black trousers with a white short-sleeved shirt with boards and the ship’s double-sided red cummerbund
Cummerbund
A cummerbund is a broad waist sash, usually pleated, which is often worn with single-breasted dinner jackets . The cummerbund was first adopted by British military officers in colonial India as an alternative to a waistcoat, and later spread to civilian use...
. On one side is the ship’s crest, but down south, the cummerbund is worn the other way round, with a penguin showing.
Layout
Endurance is a class 1A1 icebreakerIcebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...
. Her two diesel engines produce over 8000 shaft horsepower and can move her through up to 1 metres (3 ft) of ice at 3 knots (5.9 km/h). Her propulsion system uses a computer-controlled variable-pitch propeller and stern and bow thruster
Thruster
A thruster is a small propulsive device used by spacecraft and watercraft for station keeping, attitude control, in the reaction control system, or long duration low thrust acceleration.-Spacecraft thrusters:...
s.
She carried 2 Lynx helicopter
Westland Lynx
The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led to the development of both battlefield and naval variants...
s.
Link to Sir Ernest Shackleton
Endurance is named after the shipEndurance (1912 ship)
The Endurance was the three-masted barquentine in which Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed for the Antarctic on the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition...
which Sir Ernest Shackleton used in his Antarctic expedition of 1914-1917
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent...
. The names of Endurances boats and landing craft continue the Shackleton connection: James Caird
James Caird (boat)
The voyage of the James Caird was an open boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean, a distance of...
and Dudley Docker are named after boats carried by Shackleton's Endurance, Nimrod is named after the ship which Shackleton used on his Antarctic expedition of 1907-1909
Nimrod Expedition
The British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09, otherwise known as the Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to the South Pole...
, and Eddie Shackleton is named after the explorer's son. The motto of Endurance, "fortitudine vincimus" ("by endurance, we conquer"), was also the Shackleton family motto.