RV'' Sonne'' (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
for 'Sun') is a former German
fishing trawler
A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...
converted into a
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 ...
by
Schichau Unterweser AG, doing mostly
geoscience
Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...
-related work for a variety of commercial and scientific clients. She was registered in
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
.
In 2015 she was sold to the Argentine institute
CONICET
The National Scientific and Technical Research Council (, CONICET) is an Argentine government agency which directs and co-ordinates most of the scientific and technical research done in universities and institutes. History
The National Scient ...
and was renamed ARA ''Austral'' (Q-21).
A new geoscientific research ship, also called
RV ''Sonne'', replaced her role in Germany that same year.
Career
Rickmers Werft built ''Sonne'' in 1969 as a
stern trawler
A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets that ...
and delivered her to ''Hochseefischerei Nordstern''. From her homeport of
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser.
Brem ...
she operated mainly in the waters around
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
,
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
and
Labrador
Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...
.
''Sonne'' was converted for use in a scientific exploration role by
Schichau Unterweser AG in 1977 and by Rickmers Werft in 1978. In 1991
Schichau-Seebeck-Werft lengthened and modernized her.
An order worth
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...
124.4 million for a new geoscientific research ship was placed by the German federal ministry for education and research (90%) together with the coastal states Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Bremen and Hamburg (10%) in May 2011. The new ship, also called ''
Sonne,'' was built in
Meyer Werft
Meyer Werft (; ) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems. It was founded in 1795, as a builder of small wooden vessels. It has been owned and managed by the Meyer family for seven generations. Since ...
in
Papenburg
Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners.
Ge ...
, and replaced the old ''Sonne'' in 2015.
[
] Its launch took place on 5 April 2014.
The last German cruise of RV ''Sonne'' took place in August 2014, after which she was retired from German scientific use.
Argentine service
She was sold to the Argentinian institute
CONICET
The National Scientific and Technical Research Council (, CONICET) is an Argentine government agency which directs and co-ordinates most of the scientific and technical research done in universities and institutes. History
The National Scient ...
for € 5.150.000 and she arrived in the
Argentine Navy
The Argentine Navy (ARA; ). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Argentine Army, Army and the Argentine ...
naval base at
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...
in February 2015. In June she was renamed ARA ''Austral'' (Q-21). ''Austral'' is operated by a naval crew, on behalf of the civilian agency CONICET.
[Periodico Tribuna - El Gobierno compró buque nuevo (y miles de litros de alcohol para celebrar)](_blank)
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In popular culture
''Sonne'' appears in Frank Schätzing
Frank Schätzing (; born 28 May 1957) is a German writer, mostly known for his best-selling science fiction novel '' The Swarm'' (2004).
Life
Schätzing was born in Cologne and studied communication studies; he later ran his own company, an ...
's novel ''The Swarm'' in connection with methane measurements off the Norwegian coast.
See also
* - the successor of RV ''Sonne''
References
Notes
Bibliography
External links
Sonne homepage
(German)
(homepage of the shipping company operating the ''Sonne'')
Research Vessel Sonne
(by German Marine Research Consortium)
Cruise reports Sonne
(list of all cruises with links to cruise reports and data)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonne
Research vessels of Germany
Research vessels of Argentina
1969 ships