RV Pourquoi Pas?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
RV Pourquoi-Pas? (English translation: Why Not?) is a research vessel built in Saint-Nazaire, France by Alstom Marine for IFREMER and the French Navy. She is currently primarily used by SHOM (Service hydrographique et océanographique de la Marine). She was ordered in December 2002 and completed in July 2005. The 66 million euro cost was financed by IFREMER (55%) and the French Navy (45%). She is named after explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot's famous ship.
Pourquoi-Pas? is used 150 days per year by the navy and 180 days per year by IFREMER. She was designed for hydrography, geoscience, and physical, chemical and biological oceanography, as well as to launch small submarines such as the manned submersible Nautile and the ROV Victor 6000.
[edit] Technical characteristics
- Length: 107 meters
- Beam: 20 meters
- Maximum draft: 6.9 meters
- Displacement: 6600 metric tons
- Maximum speed: 14.5 knots
- Propulsion: Diesel-electric with a Class II dynamic positioning system.
- Endurance: 64 days at 11 knots
- Scientific party: about 40
- Laboratory Space: 1000 m²
[edit] Scientific capabilities
- Dual multibeam sonars capable of mapping seafloor up to 6000 meters depth with a swath width of up to 20 km
- 2 Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) capable of measuring currents at depth of up to 1000 meters
- Sub-bottom profiler for characterizing the upper layers of seafloor sediment
The Pourquoi-Pas? is also equipped with the Newsuit system for aiding submarines in distress.
[edit] External links
This article was translated from the original article from the French Wikipedia, on 4/29/06.
