View non-flash version
January 2011 www.sname.org/sname/mt LEFT: Sikuliaq will represent the next generation of scienti?c access in the Alaska region. 2006. While limited by its size and modest ice capability, Alpha Helix provided a crucial platform for researchers to understand the challenges of the arctic environment and helped establish the need for a larger, more capable research vessel. Formal planning for the vessel that ultimately has become the Sikuliaq began in 1995 with development of the Science Mission Requirements (SMR) statement for an arctic region research ves- sel. e SMR statement presents the regional needs, operating environments, and specic mission objectives that dene the vessel, but intentionally avoids unnecessary direction regarding the actual design solutions. With the clarity provided by the SMR statement, a critical aspect in the devel- opment and defense of a dedicated Alaska region research vessel solution could be addressed: reviewing the feasibil- ity of using other arctic-capable vessels in the U.S. fleet to support science mis- sions. Candidate vessels include the three U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers Polar Sea , Polar Star , and Healy ; and the ice-capable research vessels Nathanial B. Palmer and Lawrence A. Gould operated by Edison Chouest Oshore on behalf of the NSF. e Nathanial B. Palmer and Lawrence A. Gould are currently dedicated to antarctic opera- tions and thus unavailable to support the arctic science mission. e Polar Sea and Polar Star are heavy icebreaking ships that operate in the Arctic and Antarctic, and while they have relatively limited science capability, their ability to escort smaller, less ice-capable vessels into heavy ice pro- vides an opportunity to extend science missions into otherwise inaccessible ice conditions. The Healy , a highly capable and science-oriented vessel with a clear mandate to support science missions, can provide critical scientic access to remote and heavily ice-covered arctic regions on its own and in an escort role. Complementary capabilities With three large and highly-capable ves- sels providing science access to the arctic regions, the academic community identied the potential to complement the U.S. arctic fleet by adding a smaller, comparatively less expensive vessel. This ship provides ecient, year-round science access to less demanding arctic and sub-arctic regions; accompaniment for larger vessels, when necessary, to augment science mission capability in heavy ice; and access to near shore areas that are beyond the reach of the larger U.S. Coast Guard breakers. Beginning in 1990, The Glosten Associates, based in Seattle, supporting NSF, the University of Alaskas oversight com- mittee, and a UNOLS oversight committee, began what turned out to be a lengthy and challenging process of designing a vessel to comply with both the arctic region research vessel SMR and the realities of a large ves- sel acquisition program. Ultimately, Glosten prepared four unique design evolutions for the vessel, each maintaining compliance with the SMR, but with dierent initial pri- orities guiding the trades between cost and capability, ice and open-water performance, and the myriad of decisions necessary to bring a design spiral to closure. e initial design, completed in 1995, resulted in a large and powerful vessel with multi-year ice capability, and correspond- ingly high construction and operating costs. After commissioning of the Healy in 2000, the design was updated to eliminate capa- bility overlap, resulting in a smaller platform that, while not as capable in ice as the Healy , could provide an ecient, complementary science platform for operations in rst-year ice and open water. A subsequent design effort, completed in 2003, incorporated further reductions in ice capability, science mission, and cost. However, construction funding was still not available. Upon gain- ing renewed funding support from NSF, a design refresh was started in 2007, resulting in modest increases in size (and cost) from the 2003 design, with the vessel reaching its current contract conguration in early 2009. Through the entire design cycle, the acquisition strategy was refined and developed with the primary goal of estab- lishing a contract design package that fully described the complex vessel while pro- viding an incentive to the builder to fully vet the design. is will be accomplished through a formal design, verication, and transfer (DVT) eort begun after contract A clams eye? view of Sikuliaq from the starboard stern.