The Royal Research Ship Discovery is designed to support the multidisciplinary research required for the 21st century. The ship is the fourth vessel to bear the name and continues the tradition of oceanographic research at sea.
The ship is configured with a novel azimuth thruster propulsion system configuration compared to a conventional fixed shafts/propellers and rudders. The thrusters can be independently rotated through 360° which will make the vessel extremely manoeuvrable. This configuration has also been selected with fuel efficiency in mind.
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is the UK's main agency for funding and managing world-class research, training, and knowledge exchange in the field of environmental sciences.
RRS Discovery, research vessel, 2013
