The much loved Antarctic Research ship RSS James Clark Ross has been sold to Ukraine for their research programme. She is of course being replaced by RSS Sir David Attenborough built in Birkenhead. JCR was built in 1990 by Swan Hunter on the River Tyne and has particularly been involved in Krill Research, a key measure of the state of the oceans. She has also been involved in various Arctic work measuring climate change.
Quoted on website UKDJ the Director of British Antarctic Survey Professor Dame Jane Francis FRS said,
“The RRS James Clark Ross is much admired by all who have sailed in her. She has enabled scientists from the UK and overseas to make discoveries that help make sense of our changing world. We will miss her greatly, but I am delighted that our research colleagues will use her to carry out important scientific investigations. We wish them well.”
and the Director of the National Antarctic Center of Ukraine Dr. Evgen Dykyi said:
“For Ukraine, the purchase of the RRS James Clark Ross opens a world of opportunities. For the last 20 years, Ukraine hasn’t had a vessel for Antarctic research, significantly impeding our work there. For us, the icebreaker “James Clark Ross” has a symbolic value as well, as it brought the first Ukrainian mission to the former British station “Faraday” (at present “Vernadsky”)” in 1996. With this vessel, Ukraine has ambition on large-scale research in the Southern Ocean and possibly starting surveys in the Arctic in time.”
Of course CNCollectables makes a fine model of Sir David and would love to make more models of our previous survey ships in the future. The Devonport Sub Kit has the quays where these vessels check in after their voyages.
August 2021
