Sun (ship, 1969)

Sun

The sun in Auckland

Ship data flag  Germany (1969-2016) Ship type Research ship Callsign DFCG home port Bremen Owner RF Forschungsschiffahrt GmbH, Bremerhaven Shipping company RF Forschungsschiffahrt GmbH, Bremerhaven Shipyard Rickmers shipyard , Bremerhaven Build number 350 Keel laying August 1968 Launch 18th December 1968

Ship dimensions and crew length 97.61 m ( Lüa ) width 14.2 m Draft Max. 6.80 m displacement 4,952 t measurement 3,516 GT / 1,055 NRZ   crew 25 + 25 scientists

Machine system machine diesel-electric 2 × electr. Travel motors 3 × MaK 8 M 282 diesel generators Machine performance 2,300 kW (3,127 hp) Top speed 12.5 kn (23 km / h) propeller 1 × fixed propeller

Transport capacities Load capacity 1,127 dw

Data as Austral flag  Argentina Callsign LOCY

Others Classifications Germanic Lloyd IMO no. 6909777

The sun is a former German research ship of the RF Research Shipping in Bremerhaven . The ship's operations were coordinated by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR). The ship sailed all oceans as part of geoscientific projects, but has been mainly used in the Pacific and Indian Oceans in recent years . The projects are financed upon application by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). By the end of 2005, the sun had carried out around 200 expeditions, on which it was mainly used by the marine research institutes and universities in Germany.

history

The Sonne was built in 1968/1969 under construction number 350 as a stern trawler at the Rickmers shipyard in Bremerhaven and delivered to the North Sea deep-sea fishery. In 1977 the RF shipping association research shipping bought the ship.

The sun was converted into a research ship because the federal government needed a ship for marine science raw material research. The conversion was carried out in cooperation between Schichau-Unterweser (1977) and Rickmers-Werft (1978).

In 1991, the sun at the Schichau-Seebeck shipyard in Bremerhaven was rebuilt and modernized again. The ship was lengthened by 10.8 m, received an additional superstructure deck and new machinery. Concepts from the Ship of the Future research program were used, for example that of an asymmetrical bridge . The cost of the conversion amounted to around DM 52 million  . In addition, the scientific equipment was renewed for a further 19 million DM.

In May 2011 a new building was commissioned to replace the sun in 2015. The new sun was built at Meyer Werft and put into service in Wilhelmshaven on November 17, 2014 .

The Austral in Argentina

In 2016 the ship was sold to Argentina and renamed Austral .

technology

The ship, which can stay at sea continuously for up to 50 days, is powered by diesel-electric technology . It has two electric traction motors with 1,150  kW each , which act in tandem on a fixed propeller . In addition, the sun is equipped with a Becker rudder and a bow thruster with an output of 1,115 kW to improve maneuverability .

To supply the drive motors and the on-board network with electrical energy, there are three main engines, each with an output of 1,600 kW and connected generators, as well as an auxiliary unit with an output of 750 kW.

For research purposes, the ship has several winches and various cranes , including a central crane that can lift up to 15 t and the stern boom (up to 12 t) that can be pivoted through 125 °. The ship is also equipped with sonar and echo sounder systems for scientific purposes .

Scientists have 18 laboratories on board and other rooms that can be used for scientific work. Several special parking spaces on deck allow up to ten 20-foot containers to be taken along , which can be used as additional laboratories or as storage for materials of all kinds.

Others

In 1988, the ship's crew and scientists rescued 159 Vietnamese refugees from distress in the South China Sea. 30 years later, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the project management company Jülich took up the story of the rescue in a web report.

In 2012, Marum's research vessel was used to study the effects of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake on the sea ​​floor .

Web links

Commons : Sun  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Research ship Sonne ( Memento from April 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources
• List of all expeditions with links to trip reports and scientific results , PANGEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science
• Matthias Hack: Geoscientific Marine Research. In: The Geosciences. Volume 10, No. 11, 1992, pp. 314-323. doi: 10.2312 / geosciences.1992.10.314 . (Article with focus on the research vessel Sonne )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Sun data sheet at RF Forschungsschiffahrt GmbH, Bremen (PDF; 1.7 MB), accessed on August 8, 2011.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Christine Reinke-Kunze: World of research ships (=  ships of the world ). 1st edition. DSV-Verlag, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-88412-185-5 , p. 172-173 .
3. ↑ New deep sea research ship is being built in Rostock. In: Spiegel Online . May 31, 2011, accessed August 1, 2011 . 
4. ↑ Retter von der SONNE , web report , accessed on August 31, 2019.
5. ↑ Huge upheavals: Researchers investigate traces of the Japan quake , derstandard.at, April 10, 2012.