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Southern Lights sea trials
The 160m gigantic vessel arrived at the Damen shipyard in Vlissingen in August 2020, where it’s undergoing fnalisation.
IT HAS BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE THE CONTRACT FOR THE AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC SUPPLY AND RESEARCH VESSEL (ASRV) NUYINA WAS SIGNED. AND AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS, THE FINISHING TOUCHES ARE FINALLY BEING PERFORMED ON THE VESSEL AT THE DAMEN NAVAL SHIPYARD in Vlissingen. The vessel is almost ready for its Arctc sea trials in July. RSV Nuyina is an icebreaker and a research vessel in one, and according to a proud Damen, the most complex ship that they ever built.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF DAMEN. The project for a new polar research and icebreaking vessel started in 2013 with a request for proposal, issued by the Australian Antarctc Division. The design, build, operate and maintain contract was given to Serco, who in turn gave Damen Naval the contract for the design and build. The shipyard used a concept design developed by Knud E. Hansen from Denmark, who is part of the Damen Shipyards Group. The contract with Damen was signed in April 2016 and afer the design process in Vlissingen, the build commenced at the
Length o.a. Beam moulded Depth to main deck Draught Displacement full load
Speed max. Range at 12 knots Icebreaking at 3 knots Silent operation Endurance
16+ knots 16,000+ nm 1.65+ m 8 knots 90+ days
Propulsion system Diesel-Direct + PTI (electric hybrid) Propulsion power 26,600kW Propellers 2x CPP Thrusters 3x bow, 3x stern
Solid cargo
1,200t, 6,500m3 96x TEU containers in hold Liquid cargo 1,900m3 diesel oil 200t fresh water Cargo cranes 2x 55t offshore knuckle boom 1x 15t knuckle boom
Flight deck Hangar
760m2 330 m2 Aircraft 2x medium or 4x light helicopters Landing craft 2x 35t / 40ft container barges 4x 5t amphibious LARC
Tenders
3x 10 person fast RHIB
Damen Shipyards Galat in Romania. The 160m gigantc vessel arrived at the Damen shipyard in Vlissingen in August 2020, where it’s undergoing fnalisaton. Delivery to Serco is expected to take place shortly afer the fnal sea trials in July 2021. Afer that, Serco will sail the ship to Australia with its own crew.
Mission
Nuyina, the name of the vessel, means ‘Southern Lights’ in the language of the Tasmanian Aboriginals. The 160m long ASRV will replace the previous vessel, 94m Aurora Australis, launched in 1989, and is designed for resupplying the statons and supportng scientfc research in the Antarctc and Southern Ocean for the Australian Antarctc Division. Staton resupply concerns the delivery of personnel, cargo, liquids and equipment from the Port of Hobart, Australia. Each staton requires a unique means of transportaton through water by small boats, through air by helicopters or over the ice by vehicles and the vessel is able to deal with these diverse situatons. Scientfc research will be focused on global warming and protecton of the (sub) Antarctc ecosystems. It also addresses the protecton of wildlife and ecosystem-based fsheries.
Manoeuvring in ice
The main size increase as compared to its predecessor Aurora Australis was achieved by extra length, up to a point that manoeuvring in ice is stll feasible. Ice breaking operatons must be carried out in sea ice of up to 1.65m thickness at a speed of 3 knots. Where large sea ice sheets have collided, ridges may occur when crushed ice is piled up and frozen. It requires the vessel >>
Nuyina is designed for resupplying the stations and supporting scientifc research in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean for the Australian Antarctic Division.
to ram on the ridge, followed by repeat actons astern and ahead. If a ridge is too strong, the vessel must manoeuvre itself free by astern and ahead movements whilst turning, so called star manoeuvring. This means helicopter reconnaissance fights are essental for fnding a suitable passage elsewhere.
Resistance and seakeeping
Seakeeping and icebreaking hull shapes are basically diferent. A lot of efort has been spent in fnding the best compromise to ft the mission requirement. As water depth is restricted near the statons, the vessel’s draught could not be increased too much. Likewise, the beam should not be too wide to prevent stf rolling behaviour. The main dimensions of the ASRV and Aurora ft the collected icebreaker characteristcs. The ASRV is the longest vessel in this collecton, but an L/B rato of 5.9 is a common value for cargo ships navigatng in open water. These proportons are favourable for resistance and seakeeping.
The bow of an icebreaker is designed for bending and breaking the ice layers ahead, rather than crushing.
Icebreaking hull form design
The bow of an icebreaker is designed for bending and breaking the ice layers ahead rather than crushing. The typical icebreaker bow has a small stem angle from the waterline down to the keel. The vertcals in the bow area are designed with similar angles. In the horizontal plane, the waterlines are shaped with gentle curvature untl joining the parallel hull. The cross sectons in the bow area are also designed with gentle fare angles near the waterline. The ASRV hull design refects these design guidelines very well. When moving in ice, the sheet will be forced downward. The bending results in its failure and pieces of broken ice will submerge under the moving bow. The ship’s botom is designed with a slightly raised foor, which helps the broken and submerged pieces of ice sliding aside rather than travelling the hull length. It avoids additonal hull resistance and propeller-ice interacton.
