Royal Research Ship

A Royal Research Ship (RRS) is a British-operated merchant ship that conducts research for British Government scientific research organisations, notably the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). A warrant from the Queen is required before a ship can be designated as an RRS.^[1]

In the 1950s and 1960s the Royal Research Ships of the day were owned by the Admiralty, partially managed by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), and run as ships of that fleet. The third RRS Discovery was launched on 3 July 1962. She was designed by Henry Herdman, a scientist with the National Institute of Oceanography, working with a naval architect. The vessel was placed on display in London and subsequently used as the base design for the Royal Navy Hecla-class survey vessels. The third Discovery was manned by the RFA until NERC took over full responsibility for the operations and manning of the British research vessels, initially through NERC Research Vessel Services, part of NERC Scientific Services. The "fleet" was divided into two groups under this umbrella, those ships operated in Antarctica managed by British Antarctic Survey and those that operate elsewhere. This second group of ships is now operated by National Marine Facilities (NMFD), based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.

Notable former RRS include:

• RRS John Biscoe
• RRS Charles Darwin
• RRS Bransfield
• RRS Discovery
• RRS Discovery II
• RRS Discovery (the third RRS named Discovery)
• RRS William Scoresby

Current RRS:

• RRS James Cook (replacement for the Charles Darwin - owned by NERC, managed by NMFD)^[2]
• RRS Discovery (the fourth RRS named Discovery -owned by NERC, managed by NMFD)^[3]
• RRS James Clark Ross (replacement for the John Biscoe - owned by NERC, managed by BAS)^[4]
• RRS Ernest Shackleton (replacement for the Bransfield - bareboat charter by BAS)^[5]

A small number of other UK research ships (though also public agency owned) are not RRS: Marine Scotland's research vessels, RV Corystes (Northern Ireland's AFBI research vessel) and Cefas Endeavour (the research vessel of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science). RV Prince Madog, though a recognised NERC facility similar to the Royal Research Ships, is jointly owned by Bangor University and P&O Maritime^[6] and thus not a RRS.

The Royal Navy’s ice patrol ship, currently HMS Protector, provides science logistics support to the British Antarctic Survey.^[7]

Notes and references

See also

• History of research ships

External links

• UK Natural Environment Research Council
• UK National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
• "British Antarctic Survey Ships". BAS. Retrieved 2008-10-14. 
• National Marine Facilities Division
• Inter-Agency Committee on Marine Science and Technology