Reaching the top of the world
Icebreaker HMS Protector sailed closer to the North Pole than any other Royal Navy ship in history on her first patrol of the Arctic
The survey and research ship crunched her way through polar ice making it within 1,050 kilometres of the top of the world as she gathered data about the ocean and environment.
Throughout June 2021 HMS Protector has been in the Arctic Circle, carrying out Ice Ramming Trials.
Only submarines can travel further north than the position the Plymouth-based survey ship reached: 80°41.5 North in the Greenland Sea.
HMS Trenchant — Trafalgar-class nuclear-powered submarine — punched through the ice at the North Pole in 2018.
HMS Protector completed the most extensive overhaul in her decade-long career in the Royal Navy. Since January, she’s been conducting extensive trials and training — all with the goal of deploying to Antarctica in the autumn.
Having been nowhere near the ice in more than two years, the ship tested the strength of her engines using a specialist bollard pull in Flekkefjord, southern Norway.
She then began smashing through the ice in earnest in the Fram Strait — between Greenland and the Norwegian island chain of Svalbard.
The ship tested herself against various depths and types of ice, assisted by scientists, engineers and advisors including from the Ministry of Defence and the British Antarctic Survey.
Also helping the ship were two Royal Navy officers who sailed into the Alaskan Arctic aboard the US Coast Guard cutter Polar Star during the winter. Also joining them was ice-breaking expert Lieutenant Lauren Kowalski, from the US Coast Guard.
“This team has ventured far to one of the most amazing parts of the planet. The chance to familiarise ourselves with this unforgiving environment has been fantastic, and re-asserts the UK’s ability to operate in the Arctic.”
— HMS Protector’s Commanding Officer Captain Michael Wood
The ship conducted surveys of the sea bed, between 2,000 and 3,000 metres deep in the Fram Strait. They also collected data about the North Atlantic currents, observed marine mammals and helped the British Antarctic Survey with its work studying the polar ice cap.
The ship’s Royal Marines’ Mountain Leader Sergeant Chris led daily patrols onto ice floes inhabited by polar bears to set up the trial ranges and take ice samples.
“The team adapted well to the Arctic, within a week of sailing from Devonport, the temperatures and conditions changed immeasurably. Everybody on-board proved they can safely do their job in the most extreme of environments.”
— Royal Marine Mountain Leader, Sergeant Chris
Protector rounded off her mission to the High North by arriving in Reykjavik to mark Iceland’s recent accession to the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force — a multinational force that shares a commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law, as well as a long history of operating together.
“We are ready to get back to Antarctica. In the year the UK hosts the COP 26 Conference, our commitment to preserving and understanding this pristine continent, and the impact of climate change upon it, is more important than ever.”
— HMS Protector’s Commanding Officer Captain Michael Wood.
She’ll then return to Plymouth having earned her ‘ice credentials’ and begin preparing for a return to the southern polar region in the autumn, a mission that has added significance this year.
