Original subtitles

Narrator: In norway...

Man: Halt!

Narrator: ...This team of engineers

Is embarking on an epic endeavor.

-Look up. -Yes.

They're building a record-breaking ship

That can slice through up to 1 1/2 feet of thick polar ice

To explore the brutal arctic and antarctic oceans...

It's the most advanced research vessel in the world.

Narrator: ...Constructed from 12,500 tons of steel

And equipped with a special reinforced hull.

To build this colossus, the team must battle extreme winds...

The weather, as you can see, it's not on our side.

Narrator: ...And arctic temperatures.

If it goes really bad, the whole thing can just explode.

♪

Narrator: This ice-busting ship

Ranks in a league of ambitious new engineering wonders

That are bigger, faster, taller,

And more advanced than anything ever constructed before.

This is the inside story of the extraordinary challenge

Of building these giants.

♪

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

The oceans around the north and south poles

Are some of the most dangerous in the world,

With deadly icebergs,

Ferocious storms,

And bone-chilling temperatures.

The inaccessibility of these waters

Means that they harbor many mysteries for scientists,

From the significant effects of the melting ice caps

To the impact of plastic on wildlife in the ocean.

Today, this team of engineers in norway is gearing up

To construct a pioneering, globe-trotting vessel

To help scientists investigate these polar mysteries.

They're on a mission to construct

An ice-slicing super ship,

Capable of transporting teams of 56 researchers, 34 crew,

And 100 tons of equipment

Deep into the heart of the ice-trapped poles

To undertake a series

Of groundbreaking scientific experiments.

Nina jenson is at the helm.

So, the name of the vessel will be rev ocean,

The r-e-v standing for research expedition vessel.

In many ways, it's four ships in one.

It's the most advanced research vessel in the world.

It's an expedition ship.

It's also a super yacht.

And it has advanced trawling equipment

To do sampling at great depths.

♪

This high-tech super ship will tower 10 decks high,

72 feet wide, and 600 feet long,

Making it the biggest research vessel in the world.

♪

Its reinforced swordfish-shaped snout

Will slice through up to 1 1/2 feet of thick polar ice.

Underneath, a special hatch, called a moon pool,

Gives scientists inside direct access to the waters below,

While vast hangars will house

Three underwater research vehicles

And a fast, rigid inflatable boat

To transport scientists onto floating ice caps.

This high-tech equipment

Will launch through five huge hatch doors in the hull.

On the main deck, as well as a helipad

And on-board helicopter,

A custom-built crane will hoist containers of supplies onboard

So the crew can sail unsupported for three months straight.

Up top, luxurious communal spaces give crews

And scientists respite from deep-sea sampling,

While an innovative computer-controlled bridge

And navigation system keep the crew from getting lost at sea,

Wherever they're traveling on the planet.

No one has ever built a ship like this before

That can navigate through hull-crushing ice

While conducting a range of scientific studies,

From examining marine life to polluted polar waters,

So designing and constructing it

Will be a major engineering challenge.

Jenson: Obviously, making a vessel like this requires

Someone with very unique capabilities

To be able to design it and put everything together.

♪

Narrator: Nina and the team work with espen oeino,

One of the world's most experienced naval architects,

To draw up the blueprint for the ship.

♪

The sheer size of it is daunting,

And although we have designed

What is generally considered to be the largest yacht

In the world in terms of tonnage,

Here in this office, this will be bigger.

Narrator: Espen and his team use the latest computer technology

To design every single aspect of the ship.

I think the most challenging thing about designing

And building this ship is the sheer size.

You have to be able to withstand a certain amount of ice.

You have to have two helipads.

You have to provide a rescue in case one helicopter goes down.

There are many aspects like this

That are specific to polar operations.

It's quite daunting.

Narrator: Work on the vessel begins in a shipyard in romania.

Here, workers will use 12,500 tons of steel

To build the ship's hull in six sections called blocks.

They then position these in a huge dry dock

Where welders fuse the blocks together

To form the body of the vessel.

Workers launch the ship into the water

Then use a tug boat to tow the hull 3,000 miles

To a second shipyard in northern norway.

♪

Here, a team of specialists will complete the ship

By placing access doors in the hull,

Positioning more than 350 windows,

And installing the expedition equipment,

Making this mega ice ship

Ready to tackle the toughest seas on the planet.

♪

Work on the ship begins here,

On the shores of the mighty danube river

In tulcea, romania, in February 2018.

This 1,000-strong team of engineers

Begins the monumental task

Of constructing this mega ice ship.

They now have just two years

To make this record-breaking vessel seaworthy.

The man in charge of the build on the ground

Is seasoned project manager aage linningsvoll.

While the ship is under construction,

Aage goes wherever it goes.

Inside this huge warehouse, aage's team of metalworkers

Weld together huge sheets of steel and girders

To form large sections of the ship's hull.

These pieces are called blocks.

Each block weighs up to 1,000 tons

And takes dozens of workers five months to build.

♪

When complete, they mount the blocks on rails

And use backhoes to push them to the dock.

Here, they weld the blocks together

To form the ship's hull.

In the dock, they also install the ship's 8-ton propeller

And four 43-ton diesel electric engines.

Once assembled, the hull must be tough enough

To withstand brutal brutal arctic conditions

And slice through up to 1 1/2 feet of ice.

But what's unique about this ship

Is that its design calls for it to be full of holes.

The team make the ship's 600-foot-long hull

Out of 12,500 tons of steel,

Building it up out of pre-made sections 10 decks high.

The hull must be strong enough

To cope with the ferocious polar seas,

But it must also contain several openings

Unique to research vessels.

There are five massive doors in the sides

To launch the ship's scientific boats.

♪

Underneath, the 16x23-foot moon pool hatch

Gives sub-sea vehicles easy access to the deep sea,

And inside, there are cavernous hangars for the helicopter,

Science lab,

And trawler system.

To solve this problem,

Engineers must install 1,675 super-strong steel beams

At specific locations within the hull.

The extra beams should make the hull tough enough

To withstand the extreme forces of the polar seas.

Installing each beam is a challenge.

They must be perfectly positioned,

And each weld must be faultless

Because the beams strengthen every opening,

From the cavernous hangars to the numerous hatches.

Aage must personally sign off these critical components

Before they can move to the next stage of the build.

Now we are almost finished, so now I want to have a quick look.

Narrator: It takes two hours for aage

To inspect every nook and cranny of the vessel.

He must be certain

That the reinforcements meet his high standards.

[ sparks crackling ]

Over the next six months,

The team painstakingly build the rest of the hull,

Welding the blocks together,

Finishing the bulbous bow,

And strengthening the main decks,

To complete the steel shell of the ship.

Now they face their next big challenge --

Towing the powerless ship 3,000 miles to norway

So the second phase of this ambitious build can begin.

♪

♪

Narrator: Over the last 18 months,

This team of 1,000 steelworkers in romania

Has assembled the steel shell

For the world's largest ice-busting research vessel.

Now this steely skeleton must undertake

An epic 3,000-mile journey.

It takes four weeks to tow the ship around europe

And through the norwegian fjords

To a second shipyard in brattvaag, norway.

Here, they face the herculean challenge of completing the ship

By installing the huge hatch doors,

Windows, and crucial scientific equipment.

This phase is happening during the winter,

When temperatures in norway plummet to -22 degrees.

This will make the next stage of the build even more difficult.

Eager to see the ship's arrival is project manager aage.

Linningsvoll: We are here at the yard in norway.

We are here now and waiting for the vessel.

Narrator: Aage is relieved to see the ship has survived

Its arduous 3,000-mile trip around europe

In pristine condition.

It's very exciting now to see that the vessel is coming here

To the outfitting yard, and without any damages.

We have a lot of challenges and work ahead of us.

Narrator: Aage and the team have just six months

To transform this steel shell

Into the world's largest ice-slicing research vessel.

Their first challenge is to install one of the ship's

Major expedition components --

The custom-built knuckle crane.

Oeino: The crane is an important part of the vessel

Because when you're in antarctica or in arctic areas,

You may not have any shore-side support in terms of cranes,

So lifting containers onto the ice or from the ice

Back onto the vessel will be done by this crane.

Narrator: This crane, capable of lifting 33-ton containers

Filled with food, mobile labs, and science equipment,

Is not just functional.

Most cranes are not designed to look nice,

But we thought that, given its prominent position onboard,

We should make it look as nice and fitting to

The vessel as possible.

♪

Narrator: This innovative crane is unique to this vessel

And weighs a staggering 66 tons.

It will be used to load

And unload containers of supplies and equipment

So the ship and crew can operate unsupported

In the polar regions for up to 90 days.

Yet this is no ordinary crane.

When at sea, special sensors and an autonomous control system

Precisely counteract the motion of the waves,

Even in the roughest conditions.

Now the crane's load stays steady,

Even if the ship begins to roll.

And thanks to a central joint

And prototype streamlined design,

It simply folds away once its work is complete.

Halt!

We have been waiting quite a long time for the crane, yeah.

It's exciting to get the crane onboard.

Narrator: In frigid winter conditions,

The team faces the difficult task

Of hauling this 66-ton crane

From the barge that it arrived on

To the ship.

Once on the vessel, the team must perfectly line up 84 bolts

At the base of the crane to secure it to this pedestal.

Lifting this massive crane

During the peak of norwegian winter

Is a high-risk operation.

It's the wind that you can lose control,

By the crane start swinging in the wind.

Look up!

Narrator: Aage's team must use two yard cranes,

One attached to either end of the ship's crane,

To undertake this herculean lift.

The cranes have to work in perfect unison

For this to be a success.

Linningsvoll: This is a prototype crane,

Especially designed for the vessel,

So it is very important

That everything going according to plan.

Narrator: As the crane dangles precariously over the main deck,

The weather takes a turn for the worse.

♪

The weather, as you can see, it's not on our side.

Narrator: The team fights the driving rain and presses on.

It's a struggle,

But they raise the crane into position over the deck.

Now comes the tricky part.

[ speaking indistinctly ]

With the limited winter sunlight fading,

The team braces to secure the crane to its base.

They slowly lower the crane, inch by inch,

Down into the bolt holes.

[ metal clangs ]

Finally, it slides into position.

They've done it.

[ thunder rumbles ]

♪

Over the next few weeks,

An army of specialists swarms over every part of the vessel.

They install wiring, pipework, and ventilation,

All working to turn this steel shell

Into a high-tech, operational ship,

But now they face the difficult task

Of filling a 72x16-foot hole in the side of the hull

That houses the ship's one-of-a-kind sub-sea vessels.

♪

♪

Narrator: In norway, the team building

The largest research vessel in the world

Has reached a crucial stage of the build

And now faces their biggest challenge yet.

Chief engineer trond kjersem is in charge of

One of the ship's most critical systems of all...

Hello.

...The hydraulics.

On a vessel like this, we have all sorts of systems,

Large and small, and no matter how small

Or large they are, you need to check them,

That they are okay and working as they should.

Narrator: The hydraulic system is a network of pipes

Filled with a special fluid

That is responsible for moving the rudder left and right,

Opening the hatch doors, and controlling the crane.

Kjersem: Hydraulics are used for many different operations.

A ship today would not function

Without proper hydraulic systems.

Narrator: It is vital the ship's endless network of pipes

Is able to withstand the extreme forces

Exerted by the hydraulic system.

The only way to test the pipes is to crank up the pressure

Then check every single joint by hand.

Kjersem: We will bring up the hydraulic pressure

To above working pressure

To stress the lines and the couplings,

So that means climbing up on scaffolding,

Down in confined spaces,

And yeah, you know, so it's a little bit challenging,

But that's what we like.

Narrator: The pressure in the pipes reaches a staggering

4,600 pounds per square inch.

It's very important that the piping and the piping systems

Are correctly done and clean.

If not, that can cause serious damages

And even injuries to people.

Narrator: Over the following hour,

Trond weaves his way through the entire ship.

It's a lot of pipes. It's a big job, huh?

Man: Yeah.

Narrator: He inspects every connection along the way,

Searching for signs of hydraulic oil

Leaking from the pipes.

Kjersem: Sometimes, it is a little bit strange,

Because you don't remember names of all your relatives,

But you remember the numbers of valves down in the engine room.

[ laughs ]

Narrator: But as the test nears the end,

Something catches trond's eye.

Kjersem: You see on the clamp, there, is some drop.

Narrator: If the hydraulic pipes were to fail at sea,

High-pressure jets of oil could seriously injure the crew.

Kjersem: It's probably from the --

Maybe from the boost connection. Man: Ah!

Narrator: Thankfully, it's a quick fix.

A twist of the wrench, and the system is sealed.

Luckily, it worked out fine, so thumbs up.

Narrator: With the hydraulic system up and running,

The team now faces their next big challenge.

They must install one of the ship's biggest components --

Three 16-foot hatch doors, each weighing 8 tons.

It's basically three doors on the port side of the vessel,

And it's closing up what we call the hangar.

Narrator: The ship will have two large openings

On either side of the hull.

These allow the crew to launch the ship's onboard submarine

And research boats.

The largest opening, on the port side,

Measures 72 feet long and 16 feet high

And needs to be filled by three 8-ton hatch doors.

Craning these into position will be a fierce challenge.

The team will work slowly and support the door with guy-lines.

But a big gust of wind

Could blow the door into the hull

And cause serious damage.

♪

There are now just six weeks

Until the ship must be seaworthy.

Aage and the team are under intense pressure

To install the three hatch doors in three days.

Aage makes his own final checks for this difficult lift.

It's very important that the lift go coming up controlled

And gently.

So cross the fingers.

Narrator: The team begins the installation

Of the first hatch door.

And now it's ready to lift.

♪

Narrator: The crane operator guides the 8-ton hatch door

Over the rear of the vessel.

Aage heads onboard to oversee the tricky installation.

Linningsvoll: Now it's looking good.

The hatch is coming in now.

Narrator: Now the team must precisely guide the hinges

Into their housing and use bolts to secure them.

Linningsvoll: It has to fit perfectly.

If not, the water comes in on deck, here,

And that is not good.

Narrator: The team uses manual winches

To raise the base of the hatch door

So they can inch the door in at an angle.

[ indistinct radio chatter ]

After 20 minutes of minute adjustments,

The door is in position.

The team pushes the bolts through

To secure the door into place.

So, finally, the hatch is in position.

It actually looks good, and the operation went smooth.

The plan was to do one hatch per day,

But I think I will try to do the second one.

Narrator: With the first installation

Running without a hitch,

Aage decides to proceed with the second ahead of schedule.

Looks like they are ready to lift the second hatch,

And, hopefully, it will work out as smooth as the first one.

Narrator: The lift goes according to plan,

But just as they position the hinges, their luck runs out.

The crane loses all power

And leaves the door dangling precariously.

To make matters worse, the tide is falling,

And the ship is descending with it.

This slowly drives the top edge of the hatch opening

Down into the hanging door.

♪

♪

Narrator: In brattvaag, norway,

This team of engineers is racing to build

The largest ice-busting polar research ship in the world.

Project lead aage and his team are pushing to install

Three 8-ton hatch doors in three days.

It has to fit 100%.

Narrator: But just as they attempt to fit the second hatch,

Ahead of schedule,

The crane loses all power.

And, worse still, the tide is falling.

With the yard's crane powerless,

The position of the hatch door remains constant.

But as the tide falls, so, too, does the ship.

This forces the top of the hatch opening

Down into the suspended door.

If the team doesn't get the crane working soon,

The sinking ship will drive the hatch hinges up

Through their housing and rupture the steel hull.

To buy some time,

The team onboard uses manual winches called chainfalls

To lower each corner of the door by hand.

Over the next hour, the team works tirelessly,

Slacking the chains in an attempt

To lower the hatch door with the tide.

With just inches to spare before the winches run out of chain,

The crane kicks back into action.

We got the message that the crane is back in operation,

And that is very good.

Narrator: With power restored to the crane,

The team quickly bolts the second door in place.

A day ahead of schedule, the team presses on with

Lifting the third hatch door into position.

It's coming in.

Narrator: With the other hatches in position already,

The real test now is to see if the last hatch fits.

The problem is that if it has not been fit,

Then we have the risk that we have to take

All three hatches out again, and that will, of course,

Cause delay due to extra work, money.

Narrator: The moment of truth.

[ indistinct shouting ]

It slots in perfectly.

Yeah, it looks like the hatch is in the correct position.

Well, we are very happy now that everything went smooth.

So this is very good.

Narrator: With the doors in place,

The hull is finally watertight.

The team can begin painting the vast science

And helicopter hangars.

♪

This record-breaking research vessel

Will have enough cabins to accommodate 90 people

On polar expeditions lasting up to 90 days,

But the ship's crew will stay onboard for even longer.

Baadnes: The crew is staying half the year

Onboard this vessel,

And, for us, it's basically our second home.

Nils baadnes is the ship's captain

And wants only the best for his crew.

He makes a rare visit onto the ship

To ensure the crew cabins are of the highest standard.

Baadnes: Of course, we have passenger cabins

And scientists' cabins, as well,

But the crew are here for longer,

So it's important to get the standard good.

Narrator: And he is a harsh critic.

I can see a little bit vibration here,

So that has to be fastened.

Narrator: These cabins will include soundproofing,

Triple-glazed windows,

Led lighting, and all the modern conveniences.

Oh, this is the bathroom around here.

There's still some installing to do.

Narrator: With the inspection complete,

Captain nils has concerns.

There is still a lot of work to do.

The ship has to be seaworthy in a short period in time,

And they need to get this sorted.

Narrator: With all hands on deck to get the cabins finished,

The team's next challenge is even tougher --

Installing the captain's one-of-a-kind

23-foot-long bridge deck window.

♪

♪

Narrator: In brattvaag, norway, an army of engineers

Is battling to construct an ice-busting research ship

In the depths of winter, and workers are gearing up

To begin the next stage of the build --

Installing the ship's 350 windows.

Today, they will be fitting one of the largest panes of glass,

The mammoth 23-foot-long bridge deck main window.

Baadnes: They're preparing the window for lifting,

So we've been waiting for this for quite a while now.

This glass has been special-built for this ship.

It takes months to produce this glass.

It's a critical operation to install it.

Narrator: The team must lift this 23-foot-long,

1-ton, curved sheet of glass in one piece.

To do that, a crane and a robotic suction mount

Must work together.

First, the robotic arm,

Equipped with 16 suction plates made of rubber,

Connects to the glass.

Next, the crane lifts the robotic arm.

[ mechanical whirring ]

Workers then guide the window into its steel frame,

89 feet above the hull's base line,

With pinpoint accuracy.

One wrong move, and the whole piece

Could shatter against the ship's frame.

[ glass shatters ]

Baadnes: This is the tool they are going to use

For the installment of the window.

Narrator: This ingenious suction mount,

Specifically built for this installation,

Uses 16 vacuum-powered suction cups to lift

And precisely maneuver glass weighing up to 3 tons.

This is perfect for installment on this type places,

As we have on the bridge.

Narrator: But even with this high-tech robotic arm,

The team must take every precaution.

Baadnes: The wind can take the glass as a sail,

And it can turn around and damage the glass.

Narrator: The team on the ground uses guy-lines

Connected to the suction mount

And keeps in constant communication

With the crane operator,

In a crucial effort to keep the glass steady

If the winds increase.

And the higher they go...

[ indistinct chatter ]

...The windier it gets.

♪

The glass has just gone over the edge,

So let's go up there and have a look at the final installment.

Narrator: The team finally has the glass up to the bridge deck.

But now they face the difficult task

Of maneuvering it perfectly onto its frame.

They have to tilt the tool to get it in the last stage.

This is a very critical operation now.

They're going to slide it in.

It will take some tweaking to get it in place.

Narrator: Every window on the ship

Must be installed with millimeter precision.

This is an expensive ship. Everything has to be perfect.

Narrator: But even in the dock,

Which is a controlled environment,

The ship naturally rocks slightly from side to side.

The crane's stationary location on land

Makes positioning the glass

On a moving target incredibly difficult.

Because if the window touches the frame,

It has a risk of actually shattering and breaking.

Narrator: They use a laser to precisely examine

All dimensions before inching the glass in towards the frame.

It's a tense moment because they don't have a second chance.

Narrator: It's a painstaking process,

But finally, they slot the glass into position.

Success!

It fits perfectly.

The big window is in the bridge.

It's a big relief for everyone.

Narrator: The team now has just four weeks to go

To finish the ship.

They work around the clock to install and seal

The remaining bridge deck windows,

Equip the cabins with electric wiring,

Air-conditioning, and furnishings.

♪

To investigate if the team has fixed the crew cabin issues,

Captain nils returns to the site with yard foreman sven.

If captain nils isn't happy with the cabins this time,

Fixing the issues could add weeks to the build.

No damages.

Nice and cold inside.

And the sea fastening on this door will come later.

This time, the captain seems pleased with the results.

This is a big improvement since last time here.

We were in the same cabin.

So the quality is good.

There is no damages, so...

The crew will be very happy with these cabins.

Narrator: The cabins may be done,

But now the team faces a far bigger challenge.

They must fire up the four

3,600-horsepower diesel electric engines

For the first time.

If it goes really bad, the whole thing can just explode.

♪

♪

Narrator: In the norwegian fjords,

This army of engineers

Has just two weeks to complete construction

Of the world's biggest polar research vessel.

Having battled through the harsh norwegian winter,

They now face their biggest challenge.

They must ensure that this vessel can run

Under its own power.

♪

In the heart of the ship,

The team prepares to ignite the engines for the first time.

Chief engineer trond oversees the startup.

Kjersem: So, today is a big day.

It's really a milestone when you start the engines

In a new build.

We want to hear that the vessel is coming alive.

Narrator: The pressure's on to make sure everything goes to plan.

Without the engines, we wouldn't have anything.

That creates the power that the vessel needs to operate,

And to make sure that we meet delivery on time,

This needs to happen today.

Narrator: And this ship doesn't have just one engine,

It has four 3,600-horsepower diesel electric powerhouses.

Each costs a staggering $900,000

And produces enough energy to supply 80 homes every day.

Kjersem: On this vessel, we have two engine rooms

With two engines in each.

We can have accidents or fire

And flooding occur in one of the engine rooms,

And still we are able to sustain ourselves

With the second engine room.

Narrator: Trond and his team will start two engines today.

It's a risky operation because the engines have been dormant

Since they were last tested two years ago.

Kjersem: If you have water inside the cylinder

And you start cranking it,

The valves and timing gear can explode.

Narrator: Workers exit the engine room,

To leave only essential crew.

It's a bit nerve-wracking.

-Man: All done? -Man #2: Yes.

Narrator: It's time for the rev ocean to rev up.

[ engine squealing ]

[ engine shuts off ]

After just a few seconds, the engine cuts out.

As you could see, the first attempt

Didn't work out all that well.

Narrator: Engineers are under pressure to diagnose the problem,

While up in the control room,

Technicians analyze data to work out a solution.

The clock is ticking.

It would be not so good if we didn't get them running

Because it will have a knock-on effect

On the rest of the testing that we are waiting to follow now.

Narrator: After a tense 10 minutes,

The team figures out what caused the shutdown.

Now we just got the message from the electronics guy

In the engine control room.

There seems to be a problem

With one of the pickup sensors for the overspeed system.

The overspeed sensors are in case the engine

Is running faster and faster

And going over the speed limit for this engine.

If that happens, if it goes really bad,

The whole thing can just explode.

Narrator: They reset the sensors and clear the fuel lines

Then press the starter button again.

If it don't start now, well, I'm going home.

[ chuckles ]

[ engine squealing ]

Narrator: Success!

The engine springs to life.

We've got the first one running, which is really amazing.

Narrator: With engine number one getting a clear bill of health,

They start engine number two.

[ engine squealing ]

Engine number two started on the first attempt.

That's the way we like it.

It's a huge milestone, not only for me,

But also for the team,

The project director, and the owner.

Narrator: With the two engines in the main room up and running,

Workers fire up the remaining engines

And put the finishing touches on the internal spaces.

Now this tough ice-busting vessel

Is ready to tackle frozen arctic waters.

Linningsvoll: This has been one of my biggest challenges,

And I am very honored to be a part of this beautiful vessel.

Baadnes: This is probably the best ship on the sea today,

So I'm very lucky to be chosen to be captain on this vessel.

Narrator: With the first polar expedition scheduled for 2021,

This ice-slicing megaship

Will now sail some of the most dangerous seas on earth,

On a mission to uncover the secrets of our oceans.

Having dedicated my life to fixing the ocean,

I now finally think that we have a fighting chance.

♪