Мурманская миля. 2016, № 3.

ONBOARD THE RESEARCH VESSEL 38 to have high-powered winches in good working condition onboard the vessel. Another aspect is that all the operations are performed either when the vessel is heaving to or at a very slow speed so the vessel is to be well-steered and answer the helm in order to avoid winding of all the overboard equipment which is several kilometers long. Seismic streamer spreads to 3-4 kilometers astern. During magnetic measurements we tow fishes with a cable spreading to 500-600 meters astern. Thus, one of the most important tasks fo r us during that short voyage was to test all the equipment and all the winches as well as the vessel steering in terms of perform ing namely geological and geophysical operations.” “ W a sn ’t it to o little tim e fo r such an im p re ss ive s co pe o f w o rk ? ” “There was enough time fo r us to break everything that required replacement. Unfortunately, all the winches proved to be low- powered and later were replaced with the new ones in Finland. I mean, we successfully coped with the task.” “ Yes, b u t w h y d id you head to th e C anary Islands? It is w a rm th e re , and th e ve sse l is de s ign ed to w o rk in th e high la titu d e s ...” It is d ifficu lt to find an appropriate place fo r testing; it requires ice-free water of 4-5 thousand meters deep. We were heading to the place where speed performance as well as technologic equipment could be tested in the open space of the ocean depths. “ W ha t re s p o n s ib ilitie s did you have as a Team L eade r? ” “ I organized round trips of the equipment and sea-bed nodes as well as tested the deck machinery robustness. We monitored the work of the streamer, air guns, and all other equipment, and corrected malfunctions in case they took place.” “ S u rp ris in g ly th a t th e F innish p ro d u c ts n o ta b le fo r th e ir h igh q u a lity fa ile d to pass th e t e s t . ” “Well, as it turned out, the load required fo r the geological winches had not been calculated properly. That is why such an appropriate and timely testing after the vessel acceptance is needed to reveal all the failures. The Party Chief during the test voyage was Gennady Kazanin, nowadays our General Director. We conducted a detailed test in order to make the vessel be able to operate both in the high latitudes and in the ocean continuously and without failures. After the removal of all the faults and replacement of all the broken equipment and machinery the NALIVKIN sailed to the Antarctic and made a round-the-globe voyage. The first voyage to the Antarctic with the operations performed there was also headed by Gennady Kazanin.” “ Can you re ca ll any spe c ia l vo yage onboa rd th e RV Geolog D m itriy N a livk in? ” “The voyage to the An ta rctic was one of the most memorable ones. I do not remember precisely but it probably was 1989, the anniversary year which the UN claimed to be the Year of the Anta rctic. It was fo r the firs t time to me tha t I came to tha t part of the planet. As a rule, everything new impresses. The environment was d iffe ren t and unusual. We disembarked to several islands, visited the A rgentinian research station, and were chasing penguins. The An ta rctic is the continen t available fo r scien tific resea rch .” “Research work of the NALIVKIN in the scope of geography is vast: it spreads from the northern to the southern seas, but the main task of the vessel is to explore the oil-and- gas fields of the Arctic shelf.” MURMANSK MILE • 3-2016