Northern Franklin, formerly RV Franklin, is an oceanographic and hydrographic research vessel built by NQEA in Cairns, Queensland, Australia for the CSIRO in 1984 for surveys around Australia. Since 2005 it has operated in European waters by the marine survey operator MMT, based in Sweden.
 Franklin underway in 2000 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Australia | |
| Name | Northern Franklin |
| Builder | NQEA, Cairns |
| Yard number | 110 |
| Launched | 1985 |
| Completed | March 1985 |
| Identification | |
| Name | Franklin |
| Port of registry |
|
| Identification |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 1,178 tons |
| Length | 55.61 m (182 ft 5 in) |
| Beam | 11.99 m (39 ft 4 in) |
| Draught | 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in) |
History
editRV Franklin was constructed in Cairns, Queensland during 1983-85 at a reported cost of AU$12.2 million[1] and was operated by CSIRO as Australia's first Marine National Facility (MNF). It undertook 180 MNF voyages in the Australian region and in the Southern Ocean between 1985 and 2002.[2]
In 2003, Franklin was replaced as the Marine National Facility by the Southern Surveyor and sold to a group of northern hemisphere private investors, who sold it in 2005 to European marine survey operator MMT, based in Sweden.[3] MMT subsequently became part of Ocean Infinity.
As at 2025, the vessel continues to operate in the northern hemisphere for marine survey work, under the name Northern Franklin; its operations are run via the company Northern Survey by arrangement with MMT, sailing under the flag of Denmark.[4][5][6]
Science data access
editAccess to science data from 180 MNF-associated voyages of the Franklin is provided via the "Data Trawler" application of the CSIRO NCMI (National Collections and Marine Infrastructure) Information and Data Centre.[7]
References
edit- ↑ "Marine National Facility: About Us: History". CSIRO. 2025. Archived from the original on 25 April 2026. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ↑ "ORV Franklin: 1985-2002". CSIRO. 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ↑ CSIRO denies it sold ship dirt cheap ABC News 4 June 2003
- ↑ "Northern Franklin". Northern Survey. 2025. Archived from the original on 12 August 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ↑ "Northern Survey APS". MagicPort. 2025. Archived from the original on 12 August 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ↑ "Northern Franklin". MagicPort. 2025. Archived from the original on 12 August 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ↑ "Survey List for Franklin". CSIRO. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
External links
edit
Media related to IMO 8301797 at Wikimedia Commons
- MarLIN metadata records for datasets originating on RV Franklin as held at CSIRO Information and Data Centre (624 items as at July 2025); other data may be held separately at additional science agencies within Australia (per the affiliations of the investigators concerned)
- Description of standard MNF (Marine National Facility) data streams, comprising some or all of the following: the underway data suite (Navigation (NAV), Sounder, Thermosalinograph (TSG) and Meteorological (MET) data), Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD), Hydrology (salinity, dissolved oxygen and nutrients), Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), multibeam and singlebeam echosounders, sub-bottom profiler and catch records
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