The RV'' Sonne'' (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

for 'Sun') was a former German

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets th ...

converted into a

research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicate ...

by Schichau Unterweser AG, doing mostly

geoscience Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four sphe ...

-related work for a variety of commercial and scientific clients. She was registered in

Bremen Bremen ( Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state cons ...

. In 2015 she was sold to the Argentine institute CONICET and was renamed ARA ''Austral'' (Q-21). A new geoscientific research ship, also called RV ''Sonne'', replaced her role in Germany that same year.

Career

Rickmers Werft built ''Sonne'' in 1969 as a

stern trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...

and delivered her to ''Hochseefischerei Nordstern''. From her homeport of

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

she operated mainly in the waters around

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

and

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

. ''Sonne'' was converted for use in a scientific exploration role by Schichau Unterweser AG in 1977 and by Rickmers Werft in 1978. In 1991 Schichau-Seebeck-Werft lengthened and modernized her. An order worth

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

124.4 million for a new geoscientific research ship was placed by the German federal ministry for education and research (90%) together with the coastal states Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Bremen and Hamburg (10%) in May 2011. The new ship, also called '' Sonne,'' was built in Meyer Werft in

Papenburg Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Ge ...

, and replaced the old ''Sonne'' in 2015. Its launch took place on 5 April 2014. The last German cruise of RV ''Sonne'' took place in August 2014, after which she was retired from German scientific use.

Argentine service

She was sold to the Argentinian institute CONICET for € 5.150.000 and she arrived in the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with th ...

naval base at

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a sh ...

in February 2015. In June she was renamed ARA ''Austral'' (Q-21). ''Austral'' is operated by a naval crew, on behalf of the civilian agency CONICET.Periodico Tribuna - El Gobierno compró buque nuevo (y miles de litros de alcohol para celebrar)
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In popular culture

''Sonne'' appears in

Frank Schätzing Frank Schätzing (; born 28 May 1957) is a German writer, mostly known for his best-selling science fiction novel '' The Swarm'' (2004). Life Schätzing was born in Cologne and studied communication studies; he later ran his own company, an ...

's novel ''The Swarm'' in connection with methane measurements off the Norwegian coast.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Sonne homepage
(German)

(homepage of the shipping company operating the ''Sonne'')
Research Vessel Sonne
(by German Marine Research Consortium)
Cruise reports Sonne
(list of all cruises with links to cruise reports and data) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonne Research vessels of Germany Research vessels of Argentina 1969 ships