Endurance all set for 18-month mission
28 Nov 07
Royal Navy ice patrol ship, HMS Endurance, set out on what is expected to be her longest ever deployment when she set sail for the South Atlantic today, 28 November 2007.
![HMS Endurance leaves Portsmouth for her longest ever mission [Picture: LLogs (CS) Alex Knott]](GenerateThumbnail.aspx?imageURL=/NR/rdonlyres/1B6A8D6E-1C31-4423-9129-7450C0513457/0/CAHGNAZ5.jpg&maxSize=210)
HMS Endurance leaves Portsmouth for her longest ever mission
[Picture: LLogs (CS) Alex Knott]
Endurance is heading to the Antarctic for the next 18 months. En route she will first head to the Atlantic to fulfil her usual task of survey work and support for scientific research throughout the Antarctic summer.
When that is complete she will not return home, but will be employed to reinforce Britain's maritime security operations in the warmer areas of the Atlantic during the Antarctic winter.
Endurance will then return to her more traditional duties during the Antarctic summer of 2008-9, before finally returning home to Portsmouth 18 months after her departure.
During this time members of the ship's company will be rotated so that they will not be away from home for more than a few months at a time.
When she reaches the Antarctic, Endurance will continue to support the work done by the British Antarctic Survey, breaking ice with her specially-designed bow to take members of the survey team and their supplies to remote areas that can only be reached by ships or helicopters.
The ship’s Commanding Officer, Capt Bob Tarrant, said:
"We are looking forward to a busy 18 months during which the ship and her two Lynx helicopters will be working extremely hard. We will be doing a range of tasks from surveying the seabed around Antarctica on behalf of the UK Hydrographic Office to supporting the work of scientists working in the region for the British Antarctic Survey."