On September 14, 2017 R/V ‘Professor Logachev’ went on the regular, 39th cruise.
Before the long-awaited cruise, the vessel was staying during more than two years at the pier of Kanonersky ship repair yard. During the anchorage the main ship systems were fundamentally reconstructed, and almost all scientific equipment was replaced.
The crew and the scientific staff exhausted by downtime have a challenging and long-term cruise ahead of them. It is necessary to make up for the time spent on reconstruction. Therefore the main objectives of the cruise in accordance with the geological task are: to search the ore manifestations of deep-sea polymetallic sulphides (DPS), to assess engineering geological conditions of their occurrence, to replenish the database on the initial state of environmenta l situation on the sites E, F and G of Russian exploration area.
The crewmen and the scientific staff will have to work hard on the scheduled assignment in the central part of the Atlantic Ocean, where in the conditions of autumn-winter storms it is necessary to test all new marine and scientific equipment installed during the reconstruction period. After the equipment “grinding” , they will have to perform on exploration sites the sonar profiling by means of side-scanning sonar “МАК-1М-1” with electro-prospecting module ЕП and new underwater navigation system “HiPap-101”, the hydrophysical sounding STP “SeaBird 911+”, the bottom television survey with telescope “Sperre AS”, the geological testing of sulphide ores with television grabs ДГ and ГК-6Т, and environmental studies with equipment of the Institute of Oceanology of RAS and remote controlled underwater device “Subfighter 30k”.
The cruise will last 218 days with three calls to ports Fort de France ( Martinique, France), Las Palmas (Gran Canaria, Spain) and Ponta Delgada (Azores, Portugal).
The bulk of work must be done this year, Vladimir Dmitrievich Kriukov, General Director of Joint-Stock Company “PMGRE” spoke about that at a general meeting before the departure of the Research Vessel:”These two years, while there was a reconstruction, we were barely making ends meet to keep our wonderful specialists in order to continue the work necessary for the state, the work we are able and ready to do. We took credits, we got into debt, and now, guys, we hope for you. We believe that you won’t fail, that you will honourably do everything and come back alive and healthy to your relatives and friends. Good luck! Have a safe journey!
V.N.Ivanov