The commissioning of the domestically manufactured icebreaker Almirante Viel marks the latest addition to a series of new ships acquired by South American navies to enhance their presence in Antarctic waters.
According to the Chilean Ministry of National Defense, the new icebreaker Almirante Viel was “the first vessel of its type built in South America” and was “fully constructed” by the Chilean state-run shipyard ASMAR.
The icebreaker, the tugboat vessel Lientur(ATF-60) and the patrol vessel Marinero Fuentealba (OPV-83) will constitute the Chilean Navy’s “Antarctic trinomial” for future Antarctic operations, according to Santiago. With a crew of 13 officers and 59 sailors, the icebreaker can break ice sheets “up to one metre thick”, the shipyard claimed.