Prinsesse Ingrid Alexandra

Main deck

The main deck has an open deck area of approx. 100 m² and a covered area of approx. 25 m² with roller gates without threshold to the CTD hangar and the wet laboratory. The door in the hangar ship side is divided into two parts so that the bottom 1m can function as a railing/ship side. There is also a dry lab with extraction cabinet for working with chemicals and a freezer for sample material attached to the wet lab. 

Wardrobe, messroom, galley, and provision room in the front part of the main deck. 

Aft, there are trawl gallows for trawling and an A-frame to handle towed vehicles/bodies for collecting plankton and benthic habitats, video rigs, ROVs, etc. In addition, there is a small deck crane on the port side. Exterior decks + hangar is arranged with 50x50 cm bolt matrix for mounting mobile equipment such as winches, containers and "strapping" of other mobile equipment such as smaller boats, mobile winches, etc. A large hatch down to the aft cargo hold is also placed on the open work deck.

Boat deck 

Towing winches and the main crane are located on the aft part of the boat deck. Inside the superstructure there is an acoustics center, ICT room and an instrument room. From these rooms there are pulling pipes/channels to other rooms/decks for routing various cables for mobile equipment and down to the acoustic equipment in the “blister” underneath the hull. 

Below main deck 

In the front part there is a laundry, five twin cabins for cruise personnel and four single cabins for crew, all with private bathrooms. 

Machinery: The main engine is connected to a gear with PTI/PTO shaft generator/motor which enables use of the auxiliary engine as a propulsion engine instead of the main engine. There are two auxiliary engines and a shaft generator in addition to side thrusters fore and aft. 

Below tank top 

The vessel has tanks for fuel, fresh water, ballast water, bilge water, greywater, and black water respectively, in addition to a "thermos tank" that will take care of all excess heat from the machinery and reuse it for heating the interior of the vessel.

Hydro acoustics 

All hydro acoustics are placed in a center-placed "fish/blister" with space for transceivers in the room above. 

Equipment in "fish/blister": Fishery echo sounders for marine biological research EK 80 (38, 120 and 200 kHz) and ADCP 75 kHz. Space has been allocated for future equipment such as μPAP positioning system for ROV, ADCP 150 kHz, Topas bottom-penetrating echo sounder for sediment classification and multibeam echo sounder for bottom mapping. 

Space has also been set aside for EK 80 70 and 333 kHz transducers.

Bridge deck 

• The bridge console is centered and has maneuvering positions on both sides.  
• The DP position and trawl/towing position are on the starboard side aft. DP0 is installed for stationary work.  
• The bridge is extended outside the ship on the starboard side for better visibility of the starboard side of the vessel when equipment is deployed over the side from the hangar.  
• On the bridge there are two office deck spaces facing the acoustics center. 
• The acoustics center is integrated in the aft part of the bridge in an "open solution". There are two seated working positions with large windows facing the aft deck, in addition to two standing positions in front of the acoustics center. 

Trading area   

The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) can grant dispensation from the IMO requirement that all cabins must be above the waterline, i.e., on the main deck or higher if the trade area is limited to Norwegian coastal shipping, i.e., within 20 nautical miles of the baseline along mainland Norway.  

Staffing 

RV Princess Ingrid Alexandra is initially manned by a master, chief engineer, cook/sailor, and instrument technician for 12 hours of operation per day. This means that the four one-man cabins on board are in use for these, and the five two-person cabins can be used by up to 10 cruise participants. 

For round-the-clock sailing, an additional navigator will be on board, for example at longer transits. In the case of round-the-clock research/sampling, especially trawling, additional deck personnel will reduce the number of berths for cruise personnel.  

Equipment and tasks 

The vessel is basically partially equipped and adapted for fisheries acoustics and oceanographic surveys, plankton sampling, benthic and geological surveys, handling and use of autonomous vessels, trawling, etc.