RV ''Cirolana'' was a fisheries research vessel used by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and originally built for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom). She was initially intended to replace the

RV Ernest Holt RV ''Ernest Holt'' (GY591) was a fisheries research vessel that was operated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom) - Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Scien ...

operating in arctic waters around Bear Island (Norway) and Iceland, but following the Cod Wars spent most of her working life conducting fisheries surveys in the North Sea, Irish Sea and English Channel. For the first part of her career RV ''Cirolana'' was based in the fishing port of Grimsby, but after bridge and channel dredging work improved the depth, it was deemed acceptable to bring her to

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

. Her engines etc were housed in a sound and vibration proof enclosure which was supported on many pneumatic dampers. She had main electric propulsion motors which powered the screws. All ancillaries were also damped using anti-vibration mountings. All this damping was aimed at reducing noise/vibrations through the superstructure to enable the ability to conduct acoustic surveys of fish populations . She was built in 1969, by Ferguson Shipbuilders, and delivered in 1970. She was placed out of service in approximately 2003 and replaced by RV Cefas Endeavour. On Friday 24 June 1977 RV ''Cirolana'' participated in the Silver Jubilee Fleet Review at Spithead in the Solent

Service as a fisheries research vessel

RV ''Cirolana'' was the principle fisheries research vessel employed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom) throughout the period 1970 to 2003. She was used extensively for fish stock surveys and oceanographic investigations. In the early 1970s RV ''Cirolana'' conducted extensive surveys around Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands as well as several trips to the Labrador Sea. In 1973-4, she carried out deep-water surveys down to depths as great as 1200m along the Atlantic continental slope to the west of the British Isles and at banks further out in the Atlantic - Rockall, Hatton,

Rosemary Bank Rosemary Bank is a seamount approximately west of Scotland, located in the Rockall Trough, in the northeast Atlantic. It was discovered in 1930 by the survey vessel HMS ''Rosemary'', from which it takes its name. It is one of only three seamoun ...

and Bill Bailey's. There were ongoing issues with ''Cirolana'''s impellers being fouled by floating netting, which would then require that the ship navigate back to a safe harbour on bow thrusters alone, followed by the hire of professional divers to remove the obstruction. In 1999, and again in 2000, she rediscovered a post-medieval wreck at 51.474930N, 5.200480W. The wreck was first reported in July 1945, and is 84m long.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cirolana 1969 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Ships of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Research vessels of the United Kingdom

Service as a fisheries research vessel

See also

References