New Antarctic icebreaker RSV Nuyina sustains first underwater scrape while being towed overseas

Vision has emerged of Australia’s new Antarctic icebreaker suffering its first underwater scrape while being towed overseas. Check out the vision.

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VIDEO has emerged of Australia’s new Antarctic icebreaker suffering its first underwater scrape while overseas.

The vision from earlier this month shows the RSV Nuyina making contact with a riverbank in the Danube River while being steered away from an uncharted pontoon.

The Nuyina is bound for final commissioning and sea trials in the Netherlands, having been built in the Romanian shipyard of Galati.

It is now on a month-long journey under tow to the Dutch port of Vlissingen.

The Australian Antarctic Division’s general manager of assets of infrastructure, Rob Bryson, said the vessel was built to break ice 1.65 metres thick and its bow had an unexpected test.

“The ship made contact with the riverbank while being steered away from an uncharted pontoon,” Mr Bryson said.

“Visual inspections show only superficial damage and after an hour delay, Nuyina continued to the Black Sea and then to the city of Constanta, where divers are now undertaking a thorough examination of the hull.

“This is a 16,300 tonne icebreaker, with a reinforced steel hull designed to crack through sea-ice, so while this is the ship’s first scrape, it certainly won’t be its last.”

Australia’s new icebreaker RSV Nuyina is bound for final commissioning and sea trials in the Netherlands, surviving its first underwater scrape in the process., , One of the world’s most advanced scientific research vessels, the Nuyina has been built in the Romanian shipyard of Galati and is now on a month long journey, under tow to the Dutch port of Vlissingen.

When the Nuyina reaches the Netherlands, teams of equipment installers from Western Europe will access the ship for final commissioning of essential propulsion, electrical and navigation systems, after work was suspended due to the pandemic.

The AAD said the Nuyina was being towed 6800km through the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar to reach the Netherlands by the end of August.

A single 50-metre tug boat is towing the vessel on the ocean passages, and up to three tugs will be used through some of the narrower canals.

The icebreaker has not yet undergone sea trials and therefore does not have the required regulatory certificates to conduct international voyages under its own power.

The Nuyina is expected to arrive in Hobart in the middle of next year.

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