Xue Long (simplified Chinese: 雪龙; traditional Chinese: 雪龍; pinyin: Xuě Lóng; lit. 'Snow Dragon', shway-lung) is a Chinese icebreaking research vessel. Built in 1993 at Kherson Shipyard in Ukraine, she was converted from an Arctic cargo ship to a polar research and re-supply vessel by Hudong–Zhonghua Shipbuilding of Shanghai by the mid-1990s. The vessel was extensively upgraded in 2007 and 2013. Until 2019, Xue Long was the only Chinese icebreaking research ship in service. A second Chinese polar icebreaker named Xue Long 2, slightly smaller but more capable, entered service in July 2019.
Description
Built at the Kherson Shipyard in Ukraine, Xue Long started her life as a Project 10621 icebreaking cargo and supply ship designed for the Russian Arctic. She was purchased by the People's Republic of China when the vessel's technical readiness level was 83% and completed as a polar research and re-supply vessel in 1994. In 2007, the ship was extensively upgraded to extend her service life by another 15 years. During the mid-life refit, the ship received a new superstructure that considerably changed her external appearance. She received another technical update in 2013 which included replacing her main engine. Xue Long is 167 metres (548 ft) long and has a beam of 22.6 metres (74 ft). When loaded to a draft of 9 metres (30 ft), she has a displacement of 21,025 tons. The ship was originally powered by a single 8-cylinder BMZ 8DKRN60/195 low-speed, two-stroke diesel engine, a licence-built version of B&W 8L60MC, producing 13,200 kW (17,700 hp). During the 2013 refit, the main engine was replaced with an equally powered Wärtsilä 6RT-flex60C diesel engine. The main engine is coupled to a ducted controllable-pitch propeller. In open water, Xue Long can achieve a maximum speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) while in 1.1-metre (3.6 ft) ice she can proceed at 1.5 knots (2.8 km/h; 1.7 mph). Originally designed for the Soviet Arctic ice class ULA, the China Classification Society (CCS) has assigned her ice class B1*. Xue Long has a crew of 34 and can accommodate 128 researchers or passengers. She has 100 square metres (1,100 sq ft) of laboratory space. In addition to a Kamov Ka-32 "Xueying" (Snow Eagle) helicopter, the ship also carries an Arctic-class ARV autonomous underwater vehicle on a regular basis.
Career
Visit to Canada Xue Long unexpectedly arrived in 1999 at the small Canadian coastal village of Tuktoyaktuk, on the Arctic Ocean. The inability of the Canadian authorities to track the vessel stirred enough controversy that the incident is still being cited as evidence of Canadian unpreparedness to defend its northern sovereignty.
Arctic expeditions
The ship undertook a second Arctic expedition from 15 July to 26 September 2003. More recently the ship had been used in connection with China's efforts to maintain a scientific presence in the Antarctic. Although used primarily to support China's annual expeditions to Antarctica, Xue Long has made four voyages to the Arctic, via the Bering Strait in 1999, 2003, 2008 and summer 2010. During her 82-day voyage in July–September 2010, the ice-strengthened research ship was able to reach a new 'highest North' record (for China), reaching 88.22 degrees North latitude, at 177.20 degrees West longitude. At that point a team of scientists boarded the ship's Ka-32 helicopter and flew to the North Pole on 20 August 2010. The ship returned to Shanghai on 20 September 2010. At China's annual Polar conference held in Shanghai in September 2011, the director of the Antarctic & Arctic agency said that Xue Long would undertake her fifth voyage to the Arctic in July 2012.
Trans-Arctic voyage, 2012 In the summer of 2012 Xue Long became the first ship from the People's Republic of China to cross the Arctic Ocean to Europe amid the record ice melt. The Xue Long left port on 2 July, sailed through the Bering Strait then joined a westbound convoy on the Northern Sea Route to the Barents Sea, before arriving in Iceland in mid-August. It departed Iceland on 20 August, sailed past Svalbard—without stopping to visit China's Arctic Yellow River Station—and made a run at the North Pole, falling short. It then sailed a high-latitude line east, back to the Bering Strait, returning to her base in Shanghai on 27 September 2012, completing its fifth Arctic voyage. "Unfortunately we didn't reach the North Pole because Xue Long's icebreaking capability isn't strong enough," said one of the ship's officers. The highest latitude reached on that voyage was 87°37' N.
Arctic circumnavigation, 2017 In 2017, Xue Long circumnavigated the Arctic, transiting both Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage.
Antarctic operations
Xue Long provides annual resupply for China's Antarctic Zhongshan Station at Prydz Bay. In January 2019, Xue Long hit an iceberg during sea fog whiteout in the Amundsen Sea and sustained damage when about 250 tonnes of ice fell on the ship. CCTV had video of sailors removing large blocks of ice, and China's Ministry of Natural Resources reported damage to the foredeck and mast.
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