Next Generation Polar Research Vessel June Newsletter

Home , Moon pool

U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration Office of Shipbuilding and Marine Technology New Generation Polar Research Vessel

Issue 1 June 2003

Introduction Design Studies Begin for New Polar This is the first newsletter of a series that is Research Vessel for NSF designed to keep our readers informed of The National Science that effort, the NSF es- task, now in progress, recent and pending Foundation (NSF) has tablished a Memoran- is to conduct feasibil- events and project ac- tivities related to the initiated a program to dum of Agreement ity-level design studies design of a new polar assess, and possibly (MOA) with the Mari- for a new research ves- research vessel. implement, the leasing time Administration sel. of a Polar Research (MARAD), under- This issue contains ar- Vessel (PRV) to sup- which various aspects This effort includes the ticles on the beginning stages of the design, the port science in the Ant- of technical support development of vessel design team’s visit to arctic as a replacement related to the design of design criteria from a Scandinavian ice- for the NATHANIEL B. the vessel will be pro- set of science and op- breakers, and the cur- PALMER. As part of vided. The first such (Continued on page 2) rent status of the program.

For your convenience, acronyms are identi- Visit to Scandinavian Icebreakers fied on page 6. In mid-March 2003, the Your comments on the Polar Research Vessel newsletter are wel- design team visited the comed. Finnish Maritime Ad- ministration and its icebreaker BOTNICA as well as the Swedish This issue: icebreaker ODEN. The Design Studies Begin 1 purpose of the trip was for New Polar to gain insight into the Research Vessel design and operation of Visit to Scandinavian 1 some of the innovative Icebreakers icebreakers in the Bal- Status of Design Effort 3 tic. The icebreakers have advanced hull European Drilling 4 Some members of the Polar Research Vessel design team forms, propulsion sys- observing icebreaking operations aboard the Swedish ice- Research Icebreaker tems, and specialized breaker ODEN in the Gulf of Bothnia, March 2003. Left to Web Site Information 6 capabilities. These in- right: Paul Olsgaard, RPSC; Al Sutherland, NSFOPP; Alex clude ice shedding bow Iyerusalimsky, STC; Jim St. John, STC; Captain Anders Acronyms 6 Backman, Swedish Maritime Administration; and Dick (Continued on page 5) Voelker, MARAD. PAGE 2 NEW GENERATION POLAR RESEARCH VESSEL ISSUE 1

(Continued from page 1) Remotely Operated Vehicle scientists, 5) an 80-day endur- (ROV) operations and geotech- ance, and 6) enhanced icebreak- Design Studies Begin nical drilling from a moon pool. ing capabilities. erational requirements that In addition to these require- evolved from a series of recent ments, the vessel should be: To achieve the desired science workshops. Current require- 1) acoustically quiet, 2) incorpo- and operational requirements, ments include, among others, the rate environmentally sensitive several special technical studies need to conduct acoustic profil- design features such as reduced will be performed to better un- ing and bottom mapping during air emissions from diesel en- derstand the implications of the icebreaking, the towing of nets gines and incinerator operations, requirements on the vessel de- and instruments from the stern 3) comply with the new Interna- sign and cost. The studies and during icebreaking and the abil- tional Maritime Organization project milestones are shown in ity to conduct Autonomous Un- (IMO) guidelines for Arctic ves- the following figures. derwater Vehicle (AUV) and sels, 4) accommodations for 50 (Continued on page 6)

Special Technical Studies Project Milestones

1. Towing in ice – seismics and nets. Recommend a Project started on March 11, 2003 hull form, stern arrangement, and propulsion system that improves towing in ice. 1) End of April 2003 2. Bathymetry in ice – Recommend a hull form and a. Trip report on the visit to Baltic ice- appendages that promote improved ice management breakers and AWI and reduce bubble sweep down over the acoustic windows for the multi-beam swath bottom mapping b. Outline of vessel technical specifica- system, sub-bottom profilers, ADCP, fish finding tion (feasibility-level design studies) sonars, and other acoustic sensors. c. Presentation of work at ARVOC meeting - May 1 and 2 3. Geotechnical drilling – Recommend a hull form, propulsion system, thruster system, and drilling 2) End of May 2003 arrangement for shallow water drilling in landfast a. Interim report on the special design ice and open water. studies 4. Establish requirements for a moon pool to deploy b. Meet with RPSC and geotechnical and recover ROVs and AUVs in ice and consider drilling contractor CTD/rosette deployment through the moon pool. 3) End of June 2003 5. Evaluate increased icebreaking capability and a. Final report on the special design evaluate one or more propulsion concepts to satisfy studies mission requirements and develop recommendation. b. Draft of the design arrangements and 6. Examine compliance with new IMO requirements hull form for Arctic vessels including the provision for no 4) End of July 2003 pollutants to be carried directly against the outer shell. a. Design history b. Design technical specifications 7. Investigate and recommend an approach to improve the ship’s self-generated noise signature and to im- c. Design drawings prove scientific acoustic sensor performance. d. Cost estimate

8. Analyze and recommend an approach on methods 5) A presentation to NSF, RPSC and ARVOC is to reduce emissions from diesel engines and the scheduled for July 30 and August 1. incinerator. PAGE 3 NEW GENERATION POLAR RESEARCH VESSEL ISSUE 1 Status of the Design Effort

Although some design decisions have been made that satisfy the scientific and operational requirements, there are several issues that must undergo further study. One of the scientific requirements that has a major im- pact on the design is the size of the moon pool and the adjacent area for winches, supplies, and support equipment.

For example, the moon pool, while originally considered for geotechnical drilling, has been expanded to include the ability to support CTD, ROV, AUV, NATHANIEL B. PALMER (Length Overall 308 ft, Beam 60 ft, Draft 21.8 ft, and diving operations. The size Displacement 6,500 Tons, and 12,700 Shaft Horsepower) of the moon pool to satisfy these scientific needs is 16 ft by 20 ft for the range of scientific and including underwater electro- with the ROV requirement being operational requirements cur- magnetic interference and noise. the largest. rently envisioned. While the exact horsepower is being stud- Additionally, icebreaking capa- Moreover, it appears that twin ied, a number of other investiga- bility and endurance are being podded propulsors are superior tions will have to be undertaken studied. Because of the need to operate in the thick, landfast ice of Antarctica and with some pos- sible missions to the Arctic, the vessel will be designed for operation in multiyear ice with approximately 4.5 ft first-year level icebreaking capability at 3 knots. This capability will be substan- tially more than the NATHAN- IEL B. PALMER (3.5 ft) and should be similar in capability to the USCGC HEALY and CCG LOUIS S. ST. LAURENT.

Development of the parent hull form has been completed and it incorporates a box keel of 3.0 ft depth that will contain the bot- USCGC HEALY (Length Overall 420 ft, Beam 82 ft, Draft 29.3 ft, Dis- (Continued on page 4) placement 16,000 Tons, and 30,000 Shaft Horsepower) ISSUE 1 NEW GENERATION POLAR RESEARCH VESSEL PAGE 4

(Continued from page 3) mit bottom mapping Status of Design Efforts during icebreaking tom mapping transducers and operations. The bow other echo sounding systems. form also reflects This system has been demon- recent research on strated aboard POLARSTERN to improving icebreak- avoid bubble sweep down over ing capability. the transducer array and to per-

CCG LOUIS S. ST. LAURENT (Length Overall 392.5 ft, Beam 79.9 ft, Draft 31.2 ft, Displacement 14,500 Tons, and 24,000 Shaft Horsepower)

Current requirements also include a seakeeping performance equal to that of the NATHANIEL B. PALMER. The station keeping requirements for the geotechnical drilling are in development. POLARSTERN (Length Overall 387 ft, Beam 82 ft, Draft 34 ft, Displace- ment 15,000 Tons, and 17,000 Shaft Horsepower)

European Drilling Research Icebreaker

The European Polar Board, with AWI leading the effort, has en- dorsed the plan to design and build in the context of an Euro- pean consortium, a drilling vessel capable of operations in Arc- tic pack ice. The vessel is re- ported to have two moon pools approximately 13 ft by 16 ft to support drilling and AUV/ROV Executive Summary http://www.polar.se/assw/infofiles/thiede.html operations. The vessel has been Jörn Thiede, AWI, Bremerhaven, Germany named AURORA BOREALIS and is expected to cost about $250 million. The principal character- placement 23,000 tons and be found on the web site istics are: length overall 499 ft, 67,000 shaft horsepower. Addi- www.wissenschaftsrat.de/test beam 118 ft, draft 28 ft, dis- tional program information can e/5369-02.pdf ISSUE 1 NEW GENERATION POLAR RESEARCH VESSEL PAGE 5

are a 20 ft by and BOTNICA were similar. 20 ft moon pool de- At AWI, it was learned that the signed for POLARSTERN’s box keel (one both drilling meter below the vessel’s keel) and ROV was very effective in minimizing operations, the effect of bubble sweepdown the use of on bottom mapping in open wa- twin electric ter. Furthermore, the vessel was podded pro- able to continuously collect data pulsors during most icebreaking opera- (Azipods) tions. built for operations in Representatives at AWI felt that ice, station all ships have the same basic dis- Finnish icebreaker BOTNICA in a broken ice channel keeping, and tribution of broken ice behind (Length Overall 317 ft, Beam 78.7 ft, Draft 25.6 ft, Displace- other fea- vessels, regardless of bow form. ment 7,300 Tons, and 13,500 Shaft Horsepower) tures such as

an advanced A more complete description of pilot house control station. the trip, including pictures, ob- (Continued from page 1) While onboard, a series of tests servations and conclusions can were performed in ice that dem- Visit to Icebreakers be found in a presentation given onstrated the outstanding maneu- to the Antarctic Research Vessel verability and performance of forms, podded propulsion sys- Operators Committee (ARVOC) the podded propulsion system in tems, and moon pools. on May 1, 2003, in Arlington, the prevailing ice conditions. VA. A copy is available upon

Subsequent to these visits, a one- request. Of equal importance, was the day meeting was planned with visit to the Swedish icebreaker the Alfred Wegener Institute for ODEN. It provided additional Polar and Marine Research insight on ice (AWI), owners of the icebreak- flow around ing research/supply vessel PO- the vessel LARSTERN, in Bremerhaven, with her Germany. The team’s objective novel hull was to learn of AWI’s experi- form, the use ence with box keels which house of reamers to bottom mapping transducers and improve ma- other echo sounding instrumen- neuverability tion and to discuss other ice- in ice and the breaking research vessel issues. effectiveness

of the bow The visit to the Finnish multipur- water wash pose icebreaker BOTNICA fo- system. The cused on observations and dis- broken ice cussions on the special features channels be- View of Swedish icebreaker ODEN (Length Overall 353.7 ft, Beam 101.7 ft, Draft 26 ft, Displacement 11,900 Tons and 23,300 of this recently constructed ves- hind ODEN sel. Among the vessel’s features Shaft Horsepower) Web Site Under Construction

Web Site for the PRV U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration Design and Specifications Office of Shipbuilding and Marine Technology A web page for the project is under development by RPSC and MARAD and should be operational shortly. It will con- 400 Seventh Street, SW tain the technical specifications for the vessel with a format Washington, DC 20590 suitable for review and comment by the scientific commu- nity. The site will also allow reviews and changes to be Newsletter comments and distribution made on an on-going basis, recognizing that access to make inquiries: point of contact changes will be limited to desig- [email protected] nated individuals. In addition, this resource will contain links to other sites as well as the results of the current design effort and C HECK OUT OUR WEB SITE future editions of this newsletter. www.marad.dot.gov/nmrec

Acronyms

ADCP (Continued from page 2) Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler ARVOC Design Studies Begin Antarctic Research Vessel Operators Committee The design effort is being performed by Science and Technology Cor- AUV poration’s Polar Technology Office under contract to MARAD and in Autonomous Underwater Vehicle concert with Raytheon Polar Services Corporation (RPSC), who AWI Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and would be responsible for and management of the procurement process Marine Research for a replacement vessel. The e-mail address of each project team CTD member is shown below. Conductivity, Temperature, Depth IMO International Maritime Organization MARAD Maritime Administration Al Sutherland NSF [email protected] MOA Memorandum of Agreement Jim Holik RPSC [email protected] NMREC National Maritime Resource and Paul Olsgaard RPSC [email protected] Education Center NSF Skip Owen RPSC [email protected] National Science Foundation PRV Dick Voelker MARAD [email protected] Polar Research Vessel Jim St. John STC [email protected] ROV Remotely Operated Vehicle Alex Iyerusalimskiy STC [email protected] RPSC Raytheon Polar Services Corporation David Karnes STC [email protected] STC Science and Technology Corporation