Guarantee docking before the next winter seaon?:
On the Saturday, 29th July, the Russian icebreaker “URAL” arrived back in Baltic. The 3rd ship of the Project 22220 from Rosatom is on the way from the Kara Sea to Kronstadt for a drydocking periode. Frank spotted her during the passing of the Fehmarnbelt between Denmark and Germany. The “URAL” is the sister of the “ARKTIKA” and “SIBIR”.
Photo: Frank Behling ©
Could anybody predict this?:
Pretty much the moment I heard who had won the contract…
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So who would you recommend?
New Japanese Research vessel (not amounting to Icebreaker) to be manned and managed by MOL:
Today the best course of action is likely to continue with the current shipyard and design. Changing either now would mean even further delays.
However, if it was 2019, the answer is simple: the Fincantieri team which included both VARD and Aker Arctic.
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That make sense.
Fincantieri Marine Group, USA has the shipyard with the capacity to handle this size and type of vessels:
The expertise on design and construction of heavy icebreakers are available within other Fincantieri companies, especially VARD and Aker Arctic.
Of those two, only Vard is owned by Fincantieri. The parent company also has experience from building the Rolls-Royce-designed Kronprins Haakon in Italy.
According to this article the ship would have been built at Philly (who was not mentioned by name in the brochure):
Last year, a VT Halter team won a detail design and construction competition against Bollinger Shipyards in Louisiana and a group comprised of Philly Shipyard of Philadelphia and Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Wisconsin.
see they are diesel - electric. There were big issues with the variable pitch props on the Polar Sea and Polar Star when they came out
That was in the 70’s. Many icebreakers have had success with variable pitch props since. Looks like it will have fixed pitch azimuthing pods anyway.
Controllable Pitch Propellers (CPP) has been around since the mid-1930s:
Maybe the Polar Star was one of the USCG vessels being equipped with A.M.Liaaen CPPs?
Polar Star and Polar Sea were indeed the first icebreakers with controllable pitch propellers. KaMeWa had a bit better luck with their high ice class CPPs in the early 1980s. Visually they even appear to be more robust if you compare the hub size to the propeller diameter:
While I know why CPPs and mechanical drivetrain have been preferred in e.g. icebreaking offshore vessels, I would never put them in a heavy icebreaker.
Did Deep Freeze 80 on the Glacier, Polar Sea (i think) did the main channel breakout for McMurdo, but had issues that took it out of service for a couple of weeks. With tongue in cheek, we were using them as a “light ship” for positions. But the Sea and the Star were a real step change for the Coast Guard in capability over the Wind Class and the Glacier.
Article I read this morning on Motley Fool:
How Bollinger Shipyards Privateered Away Billions in Icebreaker Profits from Lockheed Martin and Huntington Ingalls (msn.com)
What the article fails to mention is that neither Ingalls or Lockheed submitted a bid for the Polar Security Cutter; as per the article I mentioned earlier, the contenders were Fincantieri/Philly, Bollinger, and VT Halter.
In a way, Bollinger got in via the kitchen door but still ended with VT Halter’s Polarstern 2 -derived design rather than what they had developed with Knud E. Hansen presumably based on the Australian Nuyina:
Next door they are also busy building new icebreakers:
This thick steel will enable the vessel to operate at higher latitudes in the Arctic, enabling us to support year-round operations such as icebreaking, search and rescue and deliver goods to northern communities. Built by Seaspan under the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the first of our two new Polar icebreakers will help Canada become a world-class leader in science with an improved platform for research programs and enhance our presence in the Arctic.
Who are the designers for these vessels?
On the other side of Canada Irving Shipbuilding is busy completing a series of six Polar Patrol Vessels:
NoCGV Svalbard was designed by Aker Yards (now VARD) and built at Aker Langsten in 2002:
PS> She reached the North Pole in 2019:
The sixth and last of this class is under construction:
It’s a contunuation of the project that started already in 2012 with STX Canada Marine (today Vard Marine) and Aker Arctic. Elomatic also has a big role:
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