''LAstrolabe'' is a French

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

that is used to bring personnel and supplies to the

Dumont d'Urville Station The Dumont d'Urville Station () is a French scientific station in Antarctica on Île des Pétrels, Géologie Archipelago, archipelago of Pointe-Géologie in Adélie Land. It is named after exploration, explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, whose expe ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. The vessel, built by Chantiers Piriou and delivered in September 2017, replaced the 1986-built vessel of the same name.

Development and construction

In June 2015, the

Ministry of Overseas France The Minister of the Overseas () is the official in charge of the Ministry of the Overseas in the Government of the French Republic, responsible for overseeing Overseas France. The office was titled Minister of the Colonies (''Ministre des Col ...

awarded the construction of a 50 million Euro polar logistics vessel to the Chantiers Piriou from

Concarneau Concarneau (, meaning "Bay of Cornouaille") is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in Northwestern France. Concarneau is bordered to the west by the Baie ...

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. The vessel, based on a concept developed by French naval architecture company Marine Assistance, combines the functions of the two existing French ships it replaced: the 1966-built patrol vessel ''L'Albatros'' and the 1986-built icebreaker ''

L'Astrolabe ''Astrolabe'' was originally a horse-transport barge converted into an exploration ship of the French Navy. Originally named ''Coquille'', she is famous for her travels with Jules Dumont d'Urville. The name derives from an early navigational ins ...

''. The new vessel is owned and operated by the

French Southern and Antarctic Lands The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (, TAAF) is an overseas territory ( or ) of France. It consists of: * Adélie Land (), the French claim on the continent of Antarctica. * Crozet Islands (), a group in the southern Indian Ocean, south ...

(TAAF) administration, the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV) and the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

. Since Chantiers Piriou had no experience of building an ice-going vessel, the French shipyard joined forces with the Finnish engineering company

Aker Arctic Aker Arctic Technology Oy (often shortened to Aker Arctic) is a Finnish engineering company that operates an ice model test basin in Helsinki. In addition to ship model testing, the company offers various design, engineering and consulting ser ...

in order to be able to bid against foreign shipyards such as the German Nordic Yards.Piriou construira le successeur de l'Albatros et de L'Astrolabe
Mer et Marine, 10 June 2015. Later, Aker Arctic was also chosen to carry out basic design and ice model testing for the vessel. Since the Chantiers Piriou shipyard was fully booked with ship orders from the French Navy, the construction of the hull was subcontracted to a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

shipyard. The production of the vessel began on 16 December at CRIST in

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. On 22 December 2016, approximately one year later, the vessel was floated out from the dry dock. The unfinished vessel was then towed to France for final outfitting. The ship, which was given the name ''LAstrolabe'' after her predecessor on 12 July, was delivered in September 2017.

Career

''LAstrolabe'' was deployed in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

in 2017, and carried out her first resupply mission to the

Adélie Land Adélie Land ( ) or Adélie Coast is a Territorial claims in Antarctica, claimed territory of France located on the continent of Antarctica. It stretches from a portion of the Southern Ocean coastline all the way inland to the South Pole. Franc ...

, in 2018. In November 2019, a major defect in the ship's propeller forced ''LAstrolabe'' to cancel the resupply mission to France's Antarctic research stations. French expeditioners, cargo and supplies will instead be carried on the Australian icebreaker ''Aurora Australis'' which was made available by the

Australian Antarctic Division The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) is a division of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment & Water. The division undertakes science programs and research projects to contribute to an understanding of Antarctica and the S ...

. In spring 2021 the ship engaged in a surveillance and fisheries patrol mission around the Scattered Islands and Mayotte to monitor the French Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). In September 2021 the ship docked at the BAE Systems Shipyard near Fremantle, Western Australia for some out of water repairs. In June 2024, the ship conducted a patrol in waters of the

, including delivering personnel for rotation to

Tromelin Island Tromelin Island (; , ), once called the Isle of Sand, is a low, flat island in the Indian Ocean about north of Réunion and about east of Madagascar. Both France and Mauritius claim sovereignty over the islands, and France includes it in t ...

Design

''LAstrolabe'' is long and , making the new vessel somewhat larger than her predecessor. The vessel can carry 1,200tons of cargo and has accommodation for up to 60 personnel, which includes the crew of the vessel. She can also accommodate a helicopter belowdecks.PIRIOU - PLV DE 72 M EN CONSTRUCTION
. PIRIOU, 6 January 2016. The vessel is powered by four

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...

8L20 medium-speed

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s driving two stainless steel

controllable pitch propeller Controllability is an important property of a control system and plays a crucial role in many regulation problems, such as the stabilization of unstable systems using feedback, tracking problems, obtaining optimal control strategies, or, simply p ...

s. She is also fitted with

selective catalytic reduction Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) means converting nitrogen oxides, also referred to as with the aid of a catalyst into diatomic nitrogen (), and water (). A reductant, typically anhydrous ammonia (), aqueous ammonia (), or a urea () soluti ...

units to reduce NO_''x'' emissions and comply with IMO Tier III emission regulations. New support icebreaker in Antarctic featuring Wärtsilä propulsion machinery
Wärtsilä, 23 November 2015. ''LAstrolabe'' is classified by

Bureau Veritas Bureau Veritas is a French company specialized in testing, inspection and certification founded in 1828. It operates in a variety of sectors, including building and infrastructure (27% of revenue), agri-food and commodities (23% of revenue), mar ...

. Her ice class, ''Icebreaker 5'', means that she is allowed to operate independently in medium first-year-ice up to thick during the summer and autumn and up to thick during the winter and spring. The vessel is also allowed to ram ice at a speed of , but the ramming shall not be repeated if the ice does not fail at the first attempt.Rules for the Classification of POLAR CLASS and ICEBREAKER Ships. Bureau Veritas, April 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:L'Astrolabe (2016 icebreaker) 2016 ships Icebreakers of France Research vessels of France