RV ''Borys Aleksandrov'' is a Ukrainian research vessel which was built in 1984. She was previously manned by the

Belgian Naval Component The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Naval Component ( nl, Marinecomponent; french: Composante marine; german: Marinekomponente ) of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium. History Early history The Belgian Navy wa ...

as RV ''Belgica'' and is in active service.

Description

''Borys Aleksandrov'' is long, with a beam of and a draught of . Assessed at , , she has a displacement of 1,200 tons. The ship is propelled by a ABC 6M DZC1000-150

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-cal ...

, driving a kort nozzle

ducted propeller A ducted propeller, also known as a Kort nozzle, is a marine propeller fitted with a non-rotating nozzle. It is used to improve the efficiency of the propeller and is especially used on heavily loaded propellers or propellers with limited dia ...

. She has a bow and stern thruster and a

electric motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate f ...

. ''Borys Aleksandrov'' has an range of at . Her maximum speed is . She is fitted with a

Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms produ ...

EM 1002 and EM 3002

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

and an acoustic doppler current profiler. There are five laboratories on board. Power is provided by two diesel powered generators of each.

History

''Belgica'' was built by Boelwerf,

Temse Temse (; french: Tamise ) is a municipality in East Flanders, Belgium. The name Temse is derived from the Gallo-Roman/Gaul Tamisiacum or Tamasiacum. This is also reflected in the French name for the town, Tamise. The main sights include the Ch ...

. She was launched on 6 January 1984 and commissioned on 5 July 1984. Her homeport is

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zee ...

. She is allocated the

IMO Number The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term covering two distinct meanings. The IMO ship identification number, is a type of hull number used as a unique ship identifier, and the IMO company and registered owne ...

8222563,

MMSI Number A Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) is effectively a maritime object's international ''maritime telephone number'', a temporarily assigned UID, issued by that object's current flag state, (unlike an IMO, which is a global forever UID). An ...

205218000 and

Pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

A962. ''Belgica'' uses the callsign ORGQ. She was named after the RV ''Belgica'', a ship used by

Adrien de Gerlache Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery (; 2 August 1866 – 4 December 1934) was a Belgian officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99. Early years Born in Hasselt in eastern Belgium as th ...

in the

Belgian Antarctic Expedition The Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899 was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region. Led by Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery aboard the RV ''Belgica'', it was the first Belgian Antarctic expedition and is considered the firs ...

(1897–99). ''Belgica'' is operated by the Management Unit of North Sea Mathematical Models (MUMM) and crewed by the Belgian Naval Component. Her homeport is

. In 2013 mechanical problems caused the aging vessel to be taken out of service for four weeks, which prompted the Belgian government to plan her replacement by 2017. This has later been postponed to 2020.

References

External links

Current position of ''Belgica''

Complete details of ''Belgica''
(in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Borys Aleksandrov 1984 ships Ships built in Belgium Research vessels of Belgium Auxiliary ships of the Belgian Navy Research vessels of Ukraine