The former Royal Navy icebreaker, HMS
Endurance has now left Portsmouth for the last time. The vessel is heading to a
Turkish scrapyard.
For years, the red hull of HMS Endurance has
been a familiar sight in Portsmouth.
Now, the Royal Navy icebreaker, which is
affectionately known as Red Plum, has left the harbour for the last time.
The vessel is sailing to the Leyal Ship
Recycling Centre in Turkey where it will be scrapped. This is the same
scrapyard that bought the Ark Royal aircraft carrier.
Those who served on the Red Plum took to
social media to mark the ship’s final journey, which started 1 June.
“Will be sad to see the Lady leave, fond
memories,” wrote Gary Maskell.
Vic Woods said: “Adios Red Plum. Pain in the
arse … woefully under-engineered and supported and tragically fated. Great
times in between the hard work and heartache.”
HMS Endurance served as the Royal Navy ice
patrol ship between 1991 and 2008.
Originally built in Norway and named MV Polar
Circle, the vessel was chartered by the Royal Navy in 1991 as HMS Polar Circle.
The icebreaker was renamed HMS Endurance in
1992 when the ship was purchased outright by British Government.
It is named after the vessel Sir Ernest
Shackleton sailed when he attempted to traverse the Antarctic continent between
1914 and 1917.
HMS Endurance was the only British ice patrol
vessel for many years, and has also been used to support British Antarctic
Survey (BAS) expeditions..
In 2008, the ship almost sank when its engine
control room flooded off the Chilean coast.
Repairs were estimated at £30 million and the
vessel was taken back to Portsmouth on the semi-submersible transporter ship MV
Target.
In 2013, the Royal Navy announced that HMS
Endurance would be sold for scrap as it was not “economically viable” to repair
the damage sustained in 2008
The vessel was replaced by HMS Protector.
Source: yachting
and boating world. 02 June 2016
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