The RSS Sir David Attenborough — the polar geographic expedition vessel that , in April 2016 , participants in an internet polloverwhelmingly votedto christen Boaty McBoatface — launch on Saturday , with defensive research officials still defend their decision to overthrow the outcome of the voter turnout .
Perthe Guardian , British Antarctic Survey director Jane Francis addressed the argument directly as the 423 - foot ( 129 - meter ) , 11,000 - net ton boat ’s Isaac Hull skid into the water from the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead , near Liverpool , where its structure will remain . She said that Attenborough , a famous naturalist whose representative has narrated world - notable documentaries like the BBC ’s Life and Planet Earth series , was a more meet name for the ship :
“ This is a serious science ship that required the name of a serious scientist , ” she said . “ Its name recognises all the love and respect the British world holds for Sir David Attenborough . ”
But she admit that the furore around the name has help to bring forth interest in the £ 200 MB ship and to publicise the view ’s commission to investigate whether warm water system are melting the glacier and chicken feed shelves of the Antarctic from below .
“ It ’s given our mission a more human brass , ” she said/.
The ship is intended to supersede the progressively obsolete RRS James Clark Ross ( JCR ) and the RRS Ernest Shackleton , the decade - old vessels that comprise the UK polar fleet today . It is equipped with advanced scientific gear as well as a “ moon pond , ” a vertical upcountry tube stretching across deck and into the water that allows the deployment of scientific instruments in harsh conditions , per the BBC , and could finally bear three autonomous submarines that could search the underside of ice shelves .
The Attenborough ’s mission will include both supply runs to Antarctic theme and hosting scientists studying whether warm up H2O are undermining glacier and methamphetamine hydrochloride shelf from below . Its thick hull and monumental exercising weight will appropriate it to crush thick ocean internal-combustion engine beneath it , allow it to move around into expanse formerly hard to access by scientific missions .
According to the BBC , Attenborough told an assembled crowd on Saturday that while a century ago south-polar geographic expedition was the kingdom of exploring “ as far out as it could peradventure get to be on this major planet , ” in modern multiplication “ We realise that distant position is , in fact , key to the whole understanding of the planet . What goes on down there affects the whole of the Earth . ”
However , what blend on in easily gamed net polls does not needfully touch ship public figure . While over 124,000 vote to baptise the vessel Boaty McBoatface , outpacing all competition by tens of thousands of vote , official decided instead to name it after Attenborough , an pick which they concededonly get 11,000 votes . One of the three autonomous submarinesgot the name insteadas a comfort plunder .
[ BBC / The Guardian ]
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