RRS ''Discovery'' was a British

Royal Research Ship A Royal Research Ship (RRS) is a merchant navy vessel of the United Kingdom that conducts scientific research for His Majesty's Government. Organisations operating such ships include; the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the British ...

operated by NERC. RRS ''Discovery'' (III) was built in Aberdeen in 1962 and named after

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

's 1901 ship, RRS ''Discovery''. Until 2006, she was the largest general purpose oceanographic research vessel in use in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Measuring 90 metres in length, and fitted with a broad range of oceanographic equipment, ''Discovery'' could also accommodate containerized laboratories. She had berths for 28 scientific staff, and the ability to spend up to 45 days at sea. Her last major overhaul was in 1991, when a new

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

and power plant were installed and her hull lengthened by 10 metres. ''Discovery'' carried out

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics ...

and marine biology research from the

National Oceanography Centre, Southampton The National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS) is a centre for research, teaching, and technology development in Ocean and Earth science. NOCS was created in 1995 jointly between the University of Southampton and the UK Natural Environment ...

. She operated as part of a fleet maintained by the

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several environmental (mainly geogr ...

(NERC) National Marine Facilities Division (NMFD), along with the larger RRS ''James Cook''. In February 2000, ''Discovery'' observed some of the largest

waves Waves most often refers to: *Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass. * Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. Waves may also refer to: Music * Waves (ban ...

, called

rogue wave Rogue waves (also known as freak waves, monster waves, episodic waves, killer waves, extreme waves, and abnormal waves) are unusually large, unpredictable, and suddenly appearing surface waves that can be extremely dangerous to ships, even to lar ...

s, up to 29.1 metres (95.5 feet), recorded by scientific instruments up to that time.Holliday, NP, MJ Yelland, RW Pascal, VR Swail, PK Taylor, CR Griffiths, and EC Kent (2006)
Were extreme waves in the Rockall Trough the largest ever recorded?
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 33, L05613 ''Discovery'' was scrapped at Ghent on 27 February 2013.

References

External links

Natural Environment Research Council

Skipsteknisk AS

Freire Shipyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Discovery (1962) Ships built in Aberdeen Natural Environment Research Council Research vessels of the United Kingdom 1962 ships Rogue wave incidents Ships built by Hall, Russell & Company