RRS Discovery

At 3,008 gross tons, RRS Discovery is the 51,489th largest of the 84,014 vessels in this registry that report a tonnage. The median across that set is 5,994 GT, so this hull is about 2.0 times smaller than the typical vessel on record here. The largest measures 499,167 GT.

Among the 612 research / surveys held here, it ranks 195th by tonnage — larger than 60% of that group. Their median tonnage is 2,180 GT, and the largest tenth begin at 9,452 GT. The flag most often flown by this group is United States (90 ships). The yard that appears most often against it is Wärtsilä, with 36 hulls on record.

United Kingdom is the country of registry for 2,394 vessels in this directory, of which RRS Discovery is the 959th largest by tonnage. The most common class under that flag is vessels this registry holds no type classification for (1,835 ships), and the median vessel measures 2,515 GT. Browse every ship flagged United Kingdom.

Narrowing to both dimensions at once, this registry holds 25 research / surveys flying the United Kingdom flag, of which 7 are larger by tonnage.

RRS Discovery was built in 1962, making it 64 years old. It is one of 285 hulls in this registry delivered that year, a cohort whose median tonnage is 924 GT; within it this ship is the 32nd largest. Across the whole of the 1960s the registry holds 4,074 vessels, median 844 GT. The median build year across the entire registry is 1995.

The registry attributes 45 vessels to Hall, Russell & Company, with a median tonnage of 1,018 GT, delivered between 1883 and 1990. See the rest of that yard’s output.

At 79.6 m overall, RRS Discovery is 8.6 m longer than the 71.0 m median for research / surveys on record, with a beam of 14.0 m and a draft of 4.7 m.

IMO numbers are issued in broadly chronological blocks. Within 500 either side of 5090660 this registry holds 17 other vessels, whose median build year is 1956 and which range from 1936 to 1962. That places this hull’s registration in the same part of the series, consistent with its recorded build year of 1962.

Its IMO number, 5090660, carries its own check digit. The first six digits are weighted seven down to two and summed — 5×7 + 0×6 + 9×5 + 0×4 + 6×3 + 6×2 = 110 — and the last digit of that total, 0, must equal the seventh digit, 0. It does, so this number is well formed.