NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2007 9
SITTING in an empty arena on a
her unique in the RN. “I was initially shocked that it would take During the first work period around
glorious autumn day by the Solent,
First, there’s the ‘ice knife’, reinforced steel about 40,000 chocolate bars to keep the ship the ice, the ship will carry the son of Dr
this eco-warrior prepares for her next
on her bow which allows her to slice her way afloat,” said logistics officer Lt Cdr Johanna Reginald James, the physicist accompanying
through two metres (6ft) of solid ice. Christian. Shackleton’s abortive 1914-16 expedition.
battle with the elements. Punching your way through ice is, of course, “My shipmates assured me that they were Also joining the icebreaker will be BBC
HMS Endurance makes regular not natural... and generally not good for a ship essential medical supplies. teams from the World Service, their nature
appearances in the pages of Navy News, (take the Titanic, for example). “There’s no local supplier of fresh food department and, hopefully, Blue Peter.
but you won’t often see her like this. Ice can not merely pierce a hull, it can also on the ice, so we have to take it all “Eighteen months away is a marathon,
The Red Plum entered No.9 dry dock wreak havoc with the propeller. with us. I just hope that penguin not a sprint,” said CO Capt Bob
in her home base of Portsmouth A large chunk striking Endurance’s and seal don’t make it on to the Tarrant.
for final pre-deployment checks propeller as she sails through menu.” “We’ve been training hard to
and maintenance work pack ice could cripple the ship Endurance won’t spend ensure that we can maintain
on her brightly-coloured – hence the protective casing the entirety in the Antarctic the highest standards in the
hull. which surrounds it. environs, however. remote corners in which
And it’s The Red Plum has been Once the austral winter only Endurance can
only out of through a ‘mini refit’ since starts setting in next operate.”
the water returning from the Antarctic March-April, Endurance
that you notice in June. will head for Africa
two of the
Picture: Surg Lt Cdr Matthew
That should prepare where she’ll undergo
Turner, HMS Endurance
features her for an 18-month maintenance, rotate
which deployment to the crew and generally
make Southern Hemisphere fly the flag for Britain
– the longest she has before returning to
mounted in her 15-year polar waters for the
career – which begins 2008-09 season.
this month.
Dry ice
0009_NN_Nov.indd 109_NN_Nov.indd 1 119/10/07 10:43:129/10/07 10:43:12
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