L'Astrolabe is a French icebreaking research vessel. Her duties include bringing personnel and supplies to the Dumont d'Urville research station in Antarctica. The vessel has been making regular voyages between Hobart and the Dumont D’Urville research station for fifteen years. L'Astrolabe is among the smallest research vessels working in Antarctic waters.
The vessel is frequently serviced in the Tasmanian shipyard Southern Marine Shiplift in Launceston. The yard's maximum ship displacement is 2150 Tonnes.
L'Astrolabe will be replaced by a new icebreaker bearing the same name in 2017.
History
1992 Northeast Passage
The vessel has also traversed the Northeast passage. The European Space Agency reports a 1992 traverse "was the first civilian expedition through the NSR since the Russian revolution." L'Astrolabe was escorted on her transit by Russian icebreakers.
2013 Antarctic Ocean rescue mission
L'Astrolabe attempted to reach Akademik Shokalskiy, trapped by an outbreak of old glacial ice in the Antarctic Ocean. L'Astrolabe didn't match Chinese research vessel Xuě Lóng's 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) from the trapped Russian ship, but got closer than the Australian Aurora Australis' 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi). Withdrawing after encountering heavy ice, she subsequently supported further attempts by Xuě Lóng and Aurora Australis to reach Akademik Shokalskiy and rescue her passengers.
Seven ships of the French Navy have borne the name Astrolabe, after the instrument astrolabe
Ships
See also
Notes and References
Notes
References
Bibliography
The Astrolabe was a horse barge converted to an exploration ship of the French Navy and was originally named Coquille. She is famous for her travels with Jules Dumont d'Urville. The name derives from an early navigational instrument, the astrolabe, a precursor to the sextant.
Voyage under the command of Louis Isidore Duperrey
Louis Isidore Duperrey commanded Coquille on its circumnavigation of the earth (1822–1825) with Jules Dumont d'Urville as second. René-Primevère Lesson also travelled on Coquille as a naval doctor and naturalist. On the return to France in March 1825, Lesson and Dumont brought back to France an imposing collection of animals and plants collected on the Falkland Islands, on the coasts of Chile and Peru, in the archipelagos of the Pacific and New Zealand, New Guinea and Australia.
During the voyage the ship spent two weeks in the Bay of Islands in the north of New Zealand in 1824. On the return voyage to France the ship sailed through the Ellice Islands (now known as Tuvalu).
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 completition, she will replace the 1986-built L'Astrolabe.
Development and construction
In June 2015, the Ministry of Overseas France awarded the construction of a 50 million euro polar logistics vessel to the Chantiers Piriou from Concarneau. The vessel, which will be based on a concept developed by French naval architecture company Marine Assistance, will combine the functions of the two existing French ships it will replace: the 1966-built patrol vessel L'Albatros and the 1986-built icebreaker L'Astrolabe. The new vessel will be owned and operated by the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF) administration, the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV) and the French Navy.
Since Chantiers Piriou had no experience of building an ice-going vessel, the French shipyard joined forces with the Finnish engineering company Aker Arctic in order to be able to bid against foreign shipyards such as the German Nordic Yards. Later, Aker Arctic was also chosen to carry out basic design and ice model testing for the vessel.