The Royal Navy's Antarctic patrol ship is to be carried back to the UK aboard a heavy lift vessel
HMS Endurance, the Royal Navy’s Antarctic patrol ship which suffered a very serious flooding incident just before Christmas, is to be carried back to the UK aboard a heavy lift vessel. The 8,000 nautical mile transit from the Falklands is expected to take approximately four weeks, and Endurance is due to arrive in Portsmouth before the end of March to be offloaded.
Endurance was operating in the Magellan Strait when a faulty seawater valve allowed her engine room and a significant proportion of C Deck to flood, and she lost all propulsion and most auxiliary systems. The semi-submersible heavy lift ship Target, operated by Dockwise, has already been deployed to the Falklands in preparation.
“It is the Navy’s intent to get Endurance back to Portsmouth at the earliest opportunity in order to complete repairs”, said her Commanding Officer, “and then to get the ship back to patrolling Antarctica as soon as safely possible thereafter”.
