Newly launched French icebreaker & Polar Logistics Vessel L'Astrolabe under tow in The Solent on her way from Poland to Brittany
L'Astrolabe is a French icebreaker that will be used to bring personnel and supplies to the Dumont d'Urville Station in Antarctica. The vessel, currently under construction, is expected to enter service in 2017. Upon completion, she will replace the 1986-built L'Astrolabe. Since the Chantiers Piriou shipyard is fully booked with ship orders from the French Navy, the construction of the hull was subcontracted to a Polish shipyard. The production of the vessel began on 16 December 2015 at CRIST in Gdynia, Poland. On 22 December 2016, approximately one year later, the vessel was floated out from the dry dock. The unfinished vessel will then be towed to France for final outfitting. The ship, which was given the name L'Astrolabe after her predecessor, is scheduled to be delivered in the summer of 2017. She is seen here under tow in The Solent - presumably on the way to Concarneau for completion. L'Astrolabe is 72 metres (236 ft) long and 16 metres (52 ft), making her somewhat larger than her 66-metre (217 ft) predecessor. She can carry 1,200 tons of cargo and has accommodation for up to 60 personnel, including the crew of the vessel. She can accommodate a helicopter below decks. L'Astrolabe will be deployed in the Indian Ocean in 2017 and will carry out her first resupply mission to the Dumont d'Urville Station in Adélie Land, Antarctica, in 2018. Her ice class, Icebreaker 5, means that she is allowed to operate independently in medium first-year-ice up to metres ( ft) thick during the summer and autumn and up to 1 metre ( ft) thick during the winter and spring. She is also allowed to ram ice at a speed of knots ( km/h; mph), but the ramming shall not be repeated if the ice does not fail at the first attempt.[
Size: 3235px × 2311px
Location: Hillhead, Hampshire, UK
Photo credit: © Niall Ferguson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: antarctic, astrolabe, french, icebreaker, logistics, p800, plv, polar, ship, solent, tow, towed, tug, tugboat, vessel
