HMS Protector (A173)
Displacement: 6250tons. Dimensions: Length 89.7m, Beam 18m, Draught 7.2m. Machinery: 1 shrouded Rolls-Royce controllable-pitch propellor. Single rudder. 2 x Brunvoll bow thrusters (800 & 600kW), 2 x stern thrusters (1125 & 990kW), 1 retractable azimuth thruster (1500kW). 2 x Rolls Royce Bergen BRM G8 8 Cylinder main engines, 2 x Auxillary Diesel Generators.
Armament: 4 × Miniguns, 4 × General-purpose machine guns. Sensors: S-band radar, X-band radar, Forward single-beam echo sounder, Aft single-beam echo sounder, multi-beam sonar. Ancillary Boats: 2 x Lifeboat, 1 x Survey Motor Boat (James Caird IV), 1 x Fast Rescue Craft, 2 x Pacific 22 RIBs (Nimrod & Aurora), 1 x Zodiac, 1 x Whiskey (smaller Zodiac), 1 x RTK (Terra Nova). Aviation: Helicopter deck at the stern. Complement: 88 with accommodation for up to 100.
Built in Norway in 2001 as the MV Polarbjørn (Polar Bear) she was temporarily chartered by the RN in April 2011, from the owners GC Rieber Shipping, commissioning on 23 June 2011; she was purchased outright in September 2013. She primarily conducts survey work, but also maritime security operations in Antarctica and the surrounding regions.