|
USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10)
USCGC ''Polar Star'' (WAGB-10) is a United States Coast Guard heavy icebreaker. Commissioned in 1976, the ship was built by Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington along with sister ship, . Homeported in Seattle, ''Polar Star'' operates under the control of Coast Guard Pacific Area and coordinates her operations through the Ice Operations Section of the United States Coast Guard. After ''Polar Sea'' was deactivated in 2010, ''Polar Star'' became the US's only heavy icebreaker. The Coast Guard's only other icebreaker, , despite being classified as a "medium icebreaker", is actually larger than 'Polar Star' (13,623 LT versus 16,000 LT). Replacement ships for what is called the Polar Security Cutter program have been ordered for a new generation of USCG icebreakers. Design In August 1971 the Secretary of Transportation announced awarding of a contract to Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington, "to build the world's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lockheed Shipbuilding And Construction Company
Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company (a.k.a. Lockheed Shipbuilding), was a shipyard in Seattle, Washington with Yard 1 on Harbor Island and Yard 2 at what is now Jack Block Park at Seattle Terminal 5, both at the mouth of the West Waterway of Duwamish River. Yard 1 was founded in 1898 as the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company, the company that built Harbor Island, and it was purchased by Lockheed in 1959. Yard 2 began operation in 1943 to build ships for the US Navy. The shipyard was permanently closed in 1988; Yard 2 was sold in 1989, and Yard 1 was sold in 1997, both to Port of Seattle. History The Lockheed Shipyard Operable Unit consisted of an shipyard facility located on the west side of Harbor Island at 2929 16th Avenue Southwest (Yard 1) and a shipyard on the North end of Terminal 5 at 2801 SW Florida St (Yard 2). The Lockheed Shipyard was a shipbuilding facility from the 1930s until 1988. Yard 1 was bounded on the north by Southwest Lander Street, on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Mover (locomotive)
In engineering, a prime mover is an engine that converts fuel to useful work. In locomotives, the prime mover is thus the source of power for its propulsion. In an engine-generator set, the engine is the prime mover, as distinct from the generator. Definition In a diesel-mechanical locomotive, the prime mover is the diesel engine that is mechanically coupled to the driving wheels (drivers). In a diesel-electric locomotive, the prime mover is the diesel engine that rotates the main generator responsible for producing electricity to power the traction motors that are geared to the drivers. The prime mover can also be a gas turbine instead of a diesel engine. In either case, the generator, traction motors and interconnecting apparatus are considered to be the power transmission system and not part of the prime mover. A wired-electric or battery-electric locomotive has no on-board prime mover, instead relying on an external power station. Weight distribution The power unit rep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McMurdo Sound
McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica. It is the southernmost navigable body of water in the world, and is about from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841, and named it after Lt. Archibald McMurdo of HMS ''Terror''. The sound today serves as a resupply route for cargo ships and for airplanes that land on the floating ice airstrips near McMurdo Station. Physical characteristics Wildlife in the sound include killer whales, seals, Adélie penguins, and emperor penguins. Boundary and Extents The sound extends approximately 55 kilometers (34 mi) in length and width, and opens into the larger Ross Sea to the north. To the south, the sound is bounded by the Ross Ice Shelf cavity, to the west lies the Royal Society Range, and to the east is Ross Island. McMurdo Sound is separated from the McMurdo Ice Shelf (itself part of the Ross Ice Shelf) by the Haskell Strait. Winter Quarters Bay lies at the south end of the Sound, and is the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Deep Freeze
Operation Deep Freeze (OpDFrz or ODF) is codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There was an initial operation before Admiral Richard Byrd proposed 'Deep Freeze'). Given the continuing and constant US presence in Antarctica since that date, "Operation Deep Freeze" has come to be used as a general term for US operations in that continent, and in particular for the regular missions to resupply US Antarctic bases, coordinated by the United States military. Task Force 199 was involved. Prior to International Geophysical Year The U.S. Navy already had a record of earlier exploration in Antarctica. As early as 1839, Captain Charles Wilkes led the first U.S. Naval expedition into Antarctic waters. In 1929, Admiral Richard E. Byrd established a naval base at Little America I, led an expedition to explore further inland, and c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Sealift Command
Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US military services as well as for other government agencies. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's ocean transport needs. The MSTS was renamed the Military Sealift Command in 1970. Military Sealift Command ships are made up of a core fleet of ships owned by the United States Navy and others under long-term-charter augmented by short-term or voyage-chartered ships. During a time charter MSC takes control of a merchant ship and operates it for the chartered amount of time. During this time the ship is crewed by civilian mariners and MSC pays for all expenses. Time chartered ships are not subject to inspections from foreign gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who visited this area in 1841. To the west of the sea lies Ross Island and Victoria Land, to the east Roosevelt Island and Edward VII Peninsula in Marie Byrd Land, while the southernmost part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf, and is about from the South Pole. Its boundaries and area have been defined by the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research as having an area of . The circulation of the Ross Sea is dominated by a wind-driven ocean gyre and the flow is strongly influenced by three submarine ridges that run from southwest to northeast. The circumpolar deep water current is a relatively warm, salty and nutrient-rich water mass that flows onto the continental shelf at certain locations. The Ross Sea is covered with ice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as one of three year-round United States Antarctic science facilities. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo. By road, McMurdo is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from New Zealand's smaller Scott Base. History The station takes its name from its geographic location on McMurdo Sound, named after Lieutenant Archibald McMurdo of . The ''Terror'', commanded by Irish explorer Francis Crozier, along with expedition flagship ''Erebus'' under command of James Clark Ross, first charted the area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fast Ice
Fast ice (also called ''land-fast ice'', ''landfast ice'', and ''shore-fast ice'') is sea ice that is "fastened" to the coastline, to the sea floor along shoals or to grounded icebergs.Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Fast ice may either grow in place from the sea water or by freezing pieces of drifting ice to the shore or other anchor sites.Kovacs, A.and M. Mellor. 1974. "Sea ice morphology and ice as a geologic agent in the Southern Beaufort Sea." pp. 113-164, in: ''The Coast and Shelf of the Beaufort Sea'', J.C. Reed and J.E. Sater (Eds.), Arlington, Va.: U.S.A. Unlike drift (or pack) ice, fast ice does not move with currents and winds. The width (and the presence) of this ice zone is usually seasonal and depends on ice thickness, topography of the sea floor and islands. It ranges from a few meters to several hundred kilometers. Seaward expansion is a function of a number of factors, notably water depth, shoreline protection, time of y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antarctic
The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other island territories located on the Antarctic Plate or south of the Antarctic Convergence. The Antarctic region includes the ice shelves, waters, and all the island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence, a zone approximately wide varying in latitude seasonally. The region covers some 20 percent of the Southern Hemisphere, of which 5.5 percent (14 million km2) is the surface area of the Antarctica continent itself. All of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude are administered under the Antarctic Treaty System. Biogeographically, the Antarctic realm is one of eight biogeographic realms of Earth's land surface. Geography As defined by the Antarctic Treaty System, the Antarctic r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Antarctic Program
The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the Antarctica continent. Founded in 1959, the USAP manages all U.S. scientific research and related logistics in Antarctica as well as aboard ships in the Southern Ocean. United States Antarctic Program The United States established the U.S. Antarctic Research Program (USARP) in 1959—the name was later changed to the U.S. Antarctic Program—immediately following the success of the International Geophysical Year (IGY). Today, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has a Presidential Mandate to manage the United States Antarctic Program, through which it operates three year-round research stations and two research vessels, coordinates all U.S. science on the southernmost continent, and works with other federal agencies, the U.S. military, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health. With an annual budget of about $8.3 billion (fiscal year 2020), the NSF funds approximately 25% of all federally supported basic research conducted by the United States' colleges and universities. In some fields, such as mathematics, computer science, economics, and the social sciences, the NSF is the major source of federal backing. The NSF's director and deputy director are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate, whereas the 24 president-appointed members of the National Science Board (NSB) do not require Senate confirmation. The director and deputy director are responsible for administration, planning, budgeting and day-to-day operations of the foundation, while t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uscgc Polar Star
United States Coast Guard Cutter is the term used by the U.S. Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. They are or greater in length and have a permanently assigned crew with accommodations aboard. They carry the ship prefix USCGC. History of the USCG cutters The Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service, as it was known variously throughout the late 18th and the 19th centuries, referred to its ships as cutters. The term is English in origin and refers to a specific type of vessel, namely, "a small, decked ship with one mast and bowsprit, with a gaff mainsail on a boom, a square yard and topsail, and two jibs or a jib and a staysail." With general usage, that term came to define any vessel of the United Kingdom's HM Customs and Excise and the term was adopted by the U.S. Treasury Department at the creation of what would become the Revenue Marine. Since that time, no matter what the vessel type, the service has referred to its vessels with permanently assigned crews ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Military Sealift Command")
