Sikuliaq
Sikuliaq at Woods Hole, Massachusetts
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| History | |
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| Name: | Sikuliaq |
| Namesake: | Iñupiaq for "young sea ice" |
| Owner: | National Science Foundation |
| Operator: | University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences |
| Port of registry: | Seward, Alaska |
| Ordered: | 5 February 2010 |
| Builder: | Marinette Marine Corporation, Marinette, Wisconsin |
| Cost: | US$200 million |
| Yard number: | 650 |
| Laid down: | 11 April 2011 |
| Launched: | 13 October 2012 |
| Completed: | 6 June 2014 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 9578945 Call sign: WDG7520 |
| Status: | In service |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Research vessel |
| Tonnage: | 3,429 GT 1,028 NT 1,556 DWT |
| Displacement: | 3,665 long tons (3,724 t) |
| Length: | 79.6 m (261 ft) |
| Beam: | 15.85 m (52 ft) |
| Draft: | 5.715 m (19 ft) |
| Depth: | 8.5 m (28 ft) |
| Ice class: | Polar Class 5 |
| Installed power: | 2 × MTU 16V-4000 (2 × 1,800 kW) 2 × MTU 12V-4000 (2 × 1,310 kW) |
| Propulsion: | Diesel-electric Two Wärtsilä Icepod 2500 azimuth thrusters |
| Speed: | 14.2 knots (26.3 km/h; 16.3 mph) 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) in 2.5 feet (0.76 m) ice |
| Range: | 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 km; 21,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Endurance: | 45 days |
| Capacity: | 24 science berths 2–4 20-feet science vans |
| Crew: | 20 (+2) |
RV Sikuliaq is an American research vessel owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. Built in 2014 by Marinette Marine Corporation in Marinette, Wisconsin, the $200 million vessel replaced the 1966-built research vessel Alpha Helix that was retired in 2007. Sikuliaq, named after the Iñupiaq word for "young sea ice" and pronounced "see-KOO-lee-auk", will be homeported in Seward, Alaska.
The original science mission requirement of the new research vessel was prepared by a committee of the UNOLS Fleet Improvement Committee in 1998. In 2001, Congress appropriated $1 million for a design study of a suitable vessel. The vessel, called Alaska Region Research Vessel (ARRV), was designed by The Glosten Associates, a Seattle-based group of naval architects, in 2004.
In May 2009, the National Science Foundation announced that it had received funding for the construction of an ice-capable research vessel designed to support scientific research in high-latitude waters. In December 2009, the $123 million contract for the construction of the $200 million vessel was awarded to Marinette Marine Corporation of Marinette, Wisconsin, and the ceremonial signing of the contract was held on 5 February 2010. In January 2010, the University of Alaska Fairbanks chose an Alaska Native name Sikuliaq, meaning "young sea ice" in the Iñupiaq language, after receiving more than 150 suggestions.
The keel of the vessel was laid down on 11 April 2011 and she was launched on 13 October 2012. Although Sikuliaq was initially expected to arrive in her homeport of Seward, Alaska, in January 2014, her delivery was delayed due to technical problems and she spent her first winter in the Great Lakes.Sikuliaq was finally handed over to the National Science Foundation on 6 June 2014. During the summer of 2014, she will pass through the Panama Canal and begin science operations in the equatorial Pacific and along the US west coast in the autumn. She will then head to Alaska, where the vessel arrived in February 2015, making a port visit in Ketchikan. She will be officially commissioned in March 2015 at her home port of Seward.
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