POLAR SURVEYOR

[northeast]

Surprised that not already on the site, been here in William Wright Dock for a long time.
1983 by Valmet, Turku as the Russian research ship AKADEMIK GAMBURTSYEV. IMO.8118994 and in the Gardline fleet.

[Patrick Hill]

Moved from her berth to dry dock this morning - wonder if they struggled to pull her off the quay?

[Hornbeam]

Russian Navy 'Research Vessels' were/are always treated with suspicion by NATO as they seem to 'pop up' when Naval Exercises are being carried out, the Russian meaning of the word Research seems to cover a multitude of tasks some not obvious to the naked eye.
Gardline must have obtained her on the cheap, mind you it will take them some time to sort the wiring out

[Patrick Hill]

She was recently moved into Dunston's dry dock for a short while - passing by William Wright today I noted the hull has been painted to a grey primer - so maybe after all these years Gardline are reactivating her.

[Hornbeam]

Bringing a ship 'up to speed' after a period of lay up can be a bit of a pain, the R.N. had the 'Sleeping Beauty' Exercises where they plucked a vessel out of the Reserve Fleet and reactivated her, even after they had been put into preservation using the best method known at that time there were still problems and they were only steam jobs. Trying to reactivate a fairly modern vessel with diagrams possibly in another language? will be a challenge, Solenoids sticking for example, the list is endless best do what the RN did after all the years of costly preservation, send her to the Breakers it's just a shame we did not keep a Flower Class Corvette like the Canadians.

[TEESMAN]

Photo Michael Green

Photo Michael Green

Photo Michael Green

The preserved Canadian Flower Class corvette HMCS SACKVILLE K181 at Halifax 14.09.11

[Hornbeam]

Thanks for the additional Teesman, doesn't she look smart, built to Smiths Dock drawings but with locally sourced machinery it is a great pity that the superb contribution Smiths made to the War effort seems largely forgotten bearing in mind the price that Smiths employees made when they were aboard the new Free French Corvette which struck a Mine in Teesbay on Sea Trials.
A Happy New Year and watch out for your call up papers to get the needle it could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, although a tragedy for those we have already lost.
Hopefully there will be no major side effects due to the rush to get these injections in place, I can remember the notice going up on the Ships notice board /Heads Up asking " Do you want to help cure the Common Cold" some of the lads that looked at it thought it would be a bit of a jolly with extra pay and were Drafted to huts at Porton Down.

[Patrick Hill]

Now renamed NANSEN EXPLORER - registered Kristiansand. Unfortunately she has also moved from William Wright dock to Albert dock, out of reach of our cameras.

Courtesy Dave Calvert

Apparently she is due to return to dry dock for further work.

New owners - https://www.wefollowheroes.com/mv-nansen-explorer

[Hornbeam]

G.M. Patrick, has there been a previous Nansen Explorer or is there some photo trickery going on?

[Patrick Hill]

G.M. Patrick, has there been a previous Nansen Explorer or is there some photo trickery going on?

I suspect Photoshop