In place of MV Polar Bear
She arrived at her new home port few days ago after a quickfire refit in Denmark which saw some major changes completed in just ten days.
That included the stripping down of the engine and gearbox, the moving of the flight deck from bridge roof to the stern (which took just three days) and the fitting of a state-of-the-art multibeam echo sounder survey system to the hull requiring the cutting of steel plates 4in thick.
The work of navalising what was the MV Polarbjørn (Polar Bear) will continue in Portsmouth with the fitting of gun mountings, Navy communications kit and RN paraphernalia including a picture of the Queen, without which no wardroom would be complete.
The exploration/research support ship was designed to operate in any waters, from the Antarctic (she is an icebreaker) to the tropics her last job was supporting BP oil operations in the Caribbean.
She is on a three-year charter from a Norwegian commercial shipping company to cover for HMS Endurance, out of action since a flooding incident off Chile almost three years ago in which the Red Plum came close to foundering.
Protector entered Portsmouth under the Norwegian flag, going alongside at the South West Wall, within a snowball-throw of Endurance, and will formally transfer to the Royal Navy on June 1.
She commissions on June 23, a red-letter day in ice-patol ship terms as it marks the 50th anniversary of the enactment of the international Antarctic Treaty.
After that her Commanding Officer, Capt Peter Sparkes, and her ships company (which will include one Norwegian civilian Chief Engineer throughout her RN service) will spend the summer and early autumn familiarizing themselves with the ten-year-old ship and bringing her up to Naval operational standards ready for her inaugural deployment to the Southern Ocean in late November.
When she sails south for the first time under the White Ensign, Protector will not carry the familiar pair of red-and-grey Mk 3 Lynx which deployed with Endurance; she has a flight deck but no hangar to protect the kerosene budgies, so will sail with a flotilla of seven boats, including a new survey motor boat (James Caird IV), two Pacific RIBs and a fast rescue craft.
She will also take three BV 206 all-terrain vehicles and three quad bikes, complete with trailers, which can be placed directly onto the ice by using one of Protectors cranes.
Next year she is expected to take landing craft with her to help with the re-supply of British Antarctic Survey stations.
Source: Royal Navy
