Australia’s Largest Research Vessel About to Be Delivered

At the end of 2013, the team of Sembawang Shipyard of Singapore and Teekay Shipping Australia will hand over the new scientific Research Vessel Investigator to her owners, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), an agency of the Federal Government of Australia.

The Investigator will be among the most capable and quietest non-naval research vessels in the world. It will serve Australia in diverse scientific operations ranging over an area from the equator to the ice shelf of Antarctica and spanning almost 1/3rd of the circumference of the globe. An area this large is hugely diverse and the types of research to be undertaken are numerous and demanding, resulting in the need for a very flexible, capable and seaworthy research vessel.

The “design and build” contract for construction of this ship was awarded to a team led by Teekay Shipping Australia and Sembawang Shipyard of Singapore. The design was developed by RALion, a joint venture between Vancouver BC Naval Architects, Robert Allan Ltd, Alion Science and Technology of Alexandria, Virginia and Alion Canada of Ottawa.

The contract was awarded to this international team in January 2011. The vessel was launched on July 21st, 2013 and then officially named Investigator at a ceremony in Singapore on September 5th. It is due to be completed and turned over to the owners at the end of 2013.

Investigator has been designed to handle the heat and humidity of the tropics and the cold and ice of Antarctica while working safely and effectively in the broad expanse of the Great Southern Ocean separating these extremes.

This ice capable vessel has also been designed to meet the underwater radiated noise requirements of the DNV “Silent R” notation up to 11 knots – a capability that enables her to undertake the most sensitive types of environmental research.

Investigator is fitted out with a full range of scientific laboratories, science and fishing winches, coring equipment, air and water sampling devices, and acoustic systems.

The vessel is capable of general-purpose oceanographic survey operations in coastal and deep ocean areas, including the physical, chemical and biological oceanography, multi-discipline environmental investigations, ocean engineering and marine acoustics, coastal hydrographic survey, marine geology and geophysics, bathymetric surveys and fisheries research.

The vessel is twin screw, powered by an integrated diesel – electric propulsion and ship service plant provided by L3 Marine Systems. Three Mak 9M25C diesel generators provide a total electrical output of 9 MW at 690 V.

To meet the noise requirements of DNV Silent R notation, all three diesel generators are double resiliently mounted on a raft system engineered by RALion and supplied by Mak.

The L3/Indar 690 V AC 2600 kW propulsion motors feature a resiliently mounted rotor and other design features to meet the noise requirements. These propulsion motors are believed to represent the first use of AC motors of this size range in a research vessel to meet DNV Silent-R requirements.

Wartsila provided the 3.5 m diameter 5-bladed propellers, which are specially designed to be cavitation free at 11 knots, and the complete shaft-line from motors to propeller. The ship is also equipped with an azimuthing, retractable bow thruster, Thrustmaster model TH1500MLR, rated at 1200 kW and with Becker Flap type high lift rudders, all creating a vessel with much enhanced manoeuvrability at low speeds.

The Investigator is classed by Lloyds Register of Shipping with the following notation: +100A1, +LMC, UMS Ice 1C IWS, EP, Research Vessel, DP (AM) and DNV SILENT-R.

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Press Release, December 3, 2013