''Xue Long 2'' () is a Chinese

icebreaking An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

that entered service in 2019. She follows the naming of , China's first polar research vessel.

History

The 5 million euro design contract for China's first domestically-built polar research vessel was signed in 2012 with the Finnish engineering company

Aker Arctic Aker Arctic Technology Oy (often shortened to Aker Arctic) is a Finnish engineering company that operates an ice model test basin in Helsinki. In addition to ship model testing, the company offers various design, engineering and consulting ser ...

, though construction did not begin until December 2016. She was built at

Jiangnan Shipyard Jiangnan Shipyard ( zh, c=江南造船厂, p=Jiāngnán Zàochuán Chǎng) is a historic shipyard in Shanghai, China. The shipyard has been state-owned since its founding in 1865 and is now operated as Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co. Ltd. Befo ...

. ''Xue Long 2'' now in service both as a supply vessel for China's research facilities in the Arctic and Antarctic regions and as a research vessel, with capabilities for geological and biological experimentation and surveying. On July 25, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard spotted ''Xue Long 2'' about 290 nautical miles north of

Utqiagvik, Alaska Utqiagvik ( ; , ), formerly known as Barrow ( ), is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost cities and towns in the world and th ...

, 130 nautical miles inside the U.S.'s

extended continental shelf The extended continental shelf, scientific continental shelf, or outer continental shelf, refers to a type of maritime area, established as a geo-legal paradigm by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Through the process kno ...

Design

''Xue Long 2'' measures long, with a beam of and a draft of at full load. She has a displacement of 14,300

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

. She has a diesel-electric propulsion system, with two

8-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

and two

12-cylinder A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The fi ...

engines, both

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...

32-series designs, powering two 7.5 MW

Azipod Azipod is a trademarked azimuth thruster pod design, a marine propulsion unit consisting of a fixed pitch propeller mounted on a steerable gondola ("pod") containing the electric motor driving the propeller, allowing ships to be more maneuverab ...

propulsion units that give her a speed of up to in open water and when breaking ice. Her ice class is

Polar Class 3 Polar Class (PC) refers to the ice class assigned to a ship by a classification society based on the ''Unified Requirements for Polar Class Ships'' developed by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS). Seven Polar Class ...

and she is able to break ice while traveling either ahead or astern.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xue Long 2 Icebreakers of China Research vessels of China 2018 ships