The UK’s new £200m polar research ship has officially been named the “Sir David Attenborough” after the famous BBC broadcaster and naturalist, reports BBC.
Ship to deal with climate crisis
Several thousand people had gathered at the Cammell Laird shipyard on the Wirral to witness the event.
Sir David was there also and spoke of the “greatest possible honour” that had been bestowed on him.
The ship’s role, he said, would be to address the climate crisis. “This astonishing ship… will find the science with which to deal with the problems that are facing the world today and will increasingly do so tomorrow.”
“There has never been a more important moment for this ship to get to work, and there is no person more fitting for this beacon of scientific research to be named after than you, David,” he added.
Union flag into Arctic and Antarctic
The Royal Research Ship (RRS) was commissioned to replace the James Clark Ross and the Ernest Shackleton, which between them gave almost 50 years’ service in support of UK polar science.
The RRS Sir David Attenborough will now carry the union flag into the Arctic and the Antarctic.
This is the vessel an online poll had cheekily suggested be called “Boaty McBoatface” before ministers stepped in to end the joke.
That humorous moniker was given instead to the long-range robotic yellow submarines that will in future operate from the Attenborough.
Massive impact in Shipping sector
The naming ceremony was a moment for great celebration and pride in Birkenhead. Yard workers, their families, VIPs and local residents thronged the quayside to see the royals inaugurate the vessel.
Mackenzie Boyd joined Cammell Laird as an apprentice. This has been his first project, working as a plater. “It’s amazing,” he told BBC News.
“This ship is already famous and it hasn’t even gone to sea yet. But it’s going to have a massive impact.”
The 130m-long, 15,000-tonne “floating science lab” represents the largest commercial ship built in Britain in three decades.
Salient features of Sir David Attenborough
It is an icebreaker. There are different classes for this type of vessel but the specification says the Attenborough should be able to plough through 1m-thick sea ice at three knots (3.5mph/5.5km/h).
This will soon be tested when the ship is taken out on trials in the Arctic. “That’s an exciting prospect. Our careers are spent trying to avoid things but in the Arctic and the Antarctic we get to throw our ships at the ice,” said BAS Captain John Harper who’ll lead the first polar trials.
The Attenborough also has a helipad (helicopters are essential), cranes and onboard labs, and it has the ability to deploy subs and other ocean survey and sampling equipment.
One of its key features is an enclosed “moon pool“. This is essentially a huge hole running right through the middle of the hull. It will allow instruments to be lowered into – and recovered from – the sea when weather or dense sea-ice conditions would normally make such work very difficult.
The ship design, put together by Rolls-Royce, also enables near-silent running when required, meaning scientists can study sea creatures without disturbing them.
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Source: BBC
