6.30am AEDT Sunday 05 January 2014
US Coast Guard ice breaker to assist ships beset in ice in Antarctica
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) has requested the US Coast Guard’s Polar Star icebreaker to assist the vessels MV Akademik Shokalskiy and Xue Long which are beset by ice in Commonwealth Bay.
The US Coast Guard has accepted this request and will make Polar Star available to assist.
The Polar Star has been en route to Antarctica since 3 December, 2013 – weeks prior to the MV Akademik Shokalskiy being beset by ice in Commonwealth Bay. The intended mission of the Polar Star is to clear a navigable shipping channel in McMurdo Sound to the National Science Foundation’s Scientific Research Station. Resupply ships use the channel to bring food, fuel and other goods to the station. The Polar Star will go on to undertake its mission once the search and rescue incident is resolved.
RCC Australia identified the Polar Star as a vessel capable of assisting the beset vessels following MV Akademik Shokalskiy being beset by ice overnight on 24 December, 2013. RCC Australia has been in discussion with the US Coast Guard this week to ascertain if the Polar Star was able to assist once it reaches Antarctica.
The request for the Polar Star to assist the beset vessels was made by RCC Australia to the US Coast Guard on 3 January, 2014. The US Coast Guard officially accepted this request and released the Polar Star to RCC Australia for search and rescue tasking at 8.30am on 4 January, 2014.
The Polar Star will leave Sydney today after taking on supplies prior to its voyage to Antarctica.
It is anticipated it will take approximately seven (7) days for the Polar Star to reach Commonwealth Bay, dependent on weather and ice conditions.
At 122 metres, the Polar Star is one of the largest ships in the US Coast Guard fleet. It has a range of 16,000 nautical miles at 18 knots. The Polar Star has a crew of 140 people.
The Polar Star is able to continuously break ice up to 1.8 metres (6ft) while travelling at three (3) knots and can break ice over six (21ft) metres thick.
RCC Australia will be in regular contact with the relevant US Coast Guard RCC at Alameda, California, and the Captain of the Polar Star during its journey to Antarctica.
Media Enquiries: 1300 624 633
www.amsa.gov.au/media
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The ‘Clitanic’ Hot Sheet – News from the #SpiritofMawson fiasco
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I wonder about “RESCUE”….. I believe, rescue assistance concerns the BOAT. Its not
a rescue just lifting some of the people off who party and dance on twitter…. the ship was
not broken, was about to sink and lives of survivors had to be rescued….Where is the
“Distress”? Food was plentiful, time was plentyful and the only DISTRESS was that the
crew did not like to share the booze….
The “rescued people” will party on the third boat on taxpayers expense….The weak Chinese boat was diplomatically pressured to go in and get stuck as well….All for the missing booze? .Flying
in a supply package of high percentage bottles would have been more appropriate…..and not
run into the millions…..
Are we saying then, Jimmy, that as we approach closer to the sun, the freezing point of water will thus increase indefinitely? Is that why the sun is a huge ball of Ice? Yes, I see it now, totally logical. We are in . . . trouble. I already knew that.
Janice Moore says:
Lord Wellington of Colorado… (ahem), …
My fair and noble Lady Janice, bright angel.
O, what a sodden-witted lord am I!
I have no more brain than thou have in thy elbows.
The jaws of darkness do devour it up: So quick bright things come to confusion.
I think my horse will sooner con an oration than I learn a prayer without book. *)
Why, thou sayest well. I do now remember a saying,
‘The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.’
My abilities are too infant-like for doing much alone;
But the sun itself sees not till heaven clears.
I desire you in friendship, and I will one way or other make you amends.
But now I should stay no longer; it would be my disgrace and your discomfort:
I take my leave at once.
*) in debt, immortal Bard
Jerry,
Extensive searching using Google and including review of the Antarctic Treaty shows _no_ such prohibition on the use of nuclear-powered ships or ice breakers.
What is banned are nuclear weapons, waste and testing in the Antarctic. I would welcome a correction or cite to anything (treaty etc.) contradicting this conclusion.
.
No such prohibition could be found in several hours spent searching yesterday … Treaties banning weapons/weapons testing and waste are part of the “Antarctic Treaty” dating back to 1959.
.
Please meet the Grand-daddy of the Polar Star and the Polar Sea (I believe the Polar Sea is semi de-commissioned), a WWII era ice-breaker, the Mackinaw.
http://www.boatnerd.com/mackinaw2/. She was launched in 1944 and was the original heavy-duty ice breaker, with 6 engines, 3 electric motors for 2 propellers aft and 1 foward. She is 290’LOA and 90′ wide. She also has huge water ballast tanks on either side, which can shift ballast from port to stb. so that she can “rock” in the ice, helping breaking it up. She can steam through 3′ of ice continusly and also 10′ as slow speed. Notice how the Polar Sea and Star have similar power.
She was running fine when de-commissioned about the year 2000, but in its infinite wisdom, the US Gvmt required that her water intakes be filled with concrete, so her 6 engines could never run again; go figure. Nevertheless, she is a beautiful boat.
Reactors on Russian nuke icebreakers require ice-water to cool? Why? Their reactors aren’t notably different than those on nuke subs and aircraft carriers, both of which can operate in tropical waters.
This was looked at several days ago and rated “bogus” at that time. Searching for operational conditions for the nuclear power plant “KLT-40” as used in Russian ice breakers lists no ‘water temperature’ limitations.
Per a previous post: The IAEA reviews a proposal (below) to implement this power plant (KLT-40) into ‘floating’ seaside electrical generating stations that could be towed to a pier where it could then ‘feed the grid’:
http://www.iaea.org/NuclearPower/Downloadable/aris/2013/25.KLT-40S.pdf
See also posts by Doug Huffman on this subject:
“In general, marine nuclear power plants are not restricted in their operations by environmental concerns, but only political issues. I remember 28F and 87F injection temperatures.”
.
Thomson Reuters… as disinforming as ever…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-s-icebreaker-looks-to-free-russian-chinese-ships-1.2484547
“During their time on the ice, passengers amused themselves with movies, classes in knot tying, languages, yoga and photography, and rang in the New Year with dinner, drinks and a song their adventure.”
Not a word of the cost, scandal etc…
Turney’s Christmas Special On Ice-2013…. Make sure you include the name of this idiot whenever this subject is brought up… Did they really just plan on cruising down the old Mawson Expedition trail. All the reports in recent years have shown a great increase in the amount of ice. This year in Antarctica, the least amount of ice has melted this Summer that has ever been recorded. Why wouldn’t they know this? All indications are, that this was a tourist cruise/vacation trip. I would like to know who supplied the funding for these frauds. I would also like to see the “great science” that Turney claims to have gathered on this trip….I also agree with the above post about leaving them there to overwinter with the book ” 600 ways to cook penguin “… Shackleton’s men could have given you a few recipes.
I’m left wondering how the “press” would have reported this cluster f#%€£ if there would have miles of “open sea where ice used to be…” I will bet all that this was paid for by someone’s TAX dollars!!! Pathetic
My dear Lord Wellington of Colorado (re: 9:07pm this evening),
Ay, me! Your graceful words set my heart alight as the morning Sun doth the meadow with his first caress. I desire you in friendship, and I will one way or other make you amends. Ah, but you have, you have, for such words are water to a heart that is nearly dust for lack of rain.
And my reply:
(hat tip to John Milton)
In short, thank you, kind sir. Lady Wellington is blessed, indeed.
Your refreshed WUWT friend,
Gratefully,
Janice
Thank you, Old Car Boater (were you a ferry captain? other deck dept.? engineer? — I’ve known a few with WSF), for sharing that beautiful ship, The Mackinaw, with us (at 21:22 today). That is a shame that they choked her with concrete. Whoever gave that order should be taken 2 miles out in the salt chuck, tossed overboard, and told, “Good luck.” That makes me sick. It wasn’t enough to enter the final “R.O.”; “F.W.E.” into the log and tie her up and walk off and leave her, neglected and unused. They murdered her. Now, we can go look at what the funeral parlor did with her carcass. Well, she is a lovely ship and well worth going to see, I’m sure. Your linked article was a fine tribute.
Janice
[Snip. Enough of the far left political rants. ~ another mod.]
The Nathaniel B Palmer is also “just around the corner” at Beaufort Island. It is a US research vessel and is probably farther away than the Polar Star at this point, but could come “off station ” to come help.The Palmer is 300+; and can break through 3 meters of ice.
Send the bill to Turkey’s NZ university for being the cause of this whole mess!
Wow she is hauling the mail!
That is flank speed (rated top speed is 18 knots).
Depending on sea conditions and winds of course. I assume that is GPS speed (speed over ground).
The question keeps coming up why are we rescuing X — the answer is simple, international agreements and long standing custom of the seas is any available ship assists a distress call. Its a I’ll scratch yours if you’ll scratch mine deal. Some day the Russians or the Chinese will be helping an American flagged ship in distress. Even in War time opposing navies have assisted the crews who abandoned ship after combat.
If you spend any time at sea in rough weather you soon realize that your all in the same boat (pun intended) the real enemy is the sea, and minor political differences don’t matter when you are taking on water or dead in the water.
Reminded myself about what’s going on in Antarctica by visiting the WUWT Sea Ice page:
1) Antarctic sea ice currently (and for almost all of 2013) is more than +2 std dev greater than the 1981-2010 average ice extant.
2) Antarctic Sea Ice anomaly currently 1.5 million km greater than 1979-2008 mean.
3) Antarctic temperature currently about 0.6k below average.
In other words, any self respecting global warming researcher should have been roaming around the Arctic, where some evidence of warming has been observed, NOT the Antarctic, where conditions are colder than average.
I suppose it’s a cheaper voyage from Australia to the Antarctic than to the Arctic… assuming one doesn’t get stuck in summer ice, then it becomes REALLY expensive (for your rescuers)!
Ouch.
.
(My one very big pet peeve.)
re: Ed Mertin says January 4, 2014 at 11:01 pm
-1
Thank you mods.
Truth gives your [trimmed. Mod]
This is a story that just keeps on giving and it all started with a lie. Global warming. Those scientists that began this odyssey should pick up the cost of this fiasco.
@ur momisugly _Jim — good 1, er, minus 1. #(:))
***********************************************
“Cue three hot choruses of, “The American Patrol”. (Grumpy at 12:45pm today)
You got it!
“American Patrol”
We Americans may seem kind of flaky and self-absorbed, and, sometimes, the “Sleeping Giant” needs quite a shaking to wake up, but, BOY, WHEN THE CRISIS HITS WE’RE THERE (doing 17.7! –thanks Larry Ledwick).
(I hope that you from other lands will find this American’s pride in her dearly loved country pardonable)
Attention sailors in danger: Hang in there! Help is on the way.
There are good reasons for ‘side lining’ an old girl who has been faithful up to this point. Safety is one aspect. Take boilers for instance, the Mackinaw looks to have three, along with associated piping and such (valves, gauges, etc). With age and vibration materials (metal) age and can develop fracture cracks, in a steam (pressure! Hot gases! Scalding hot!) system this represents significant risk and a hazard to personnel … think of your pressure cooker on your stove as it’s “sneezing” when at/near set pressure (the old ones I remember anyway)!
Even the Polar Star has had boiler events (a couple of explosions) in past years … eventually, these things must be completely rebuilt or made into museums! At least she is still around for many to see.
.
re: Janice Moore says January 4, 2014 at 11:25 pm
+1000
Thanks, blank Jim! #(:))
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Yes, yes, I understand the “sidelining,” but not the murder. Anyway, thank you for reading and acknowledging what I wrote!