Cruise Report (07/12/2018 – 26/12/2018)
AX081218 – Maersk Vilnius
Technical rider: Chris Jacobs
On 07 December 2018, the Maersk Vilnius departed Cape Town and arrived at Newark on 26 December 2018. During the voyage, only expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) were deployed. Going at an average speed of 15 knots, XBTs were deployed every 54 mins so as to provide a drop every 25 km. This provided a high density, high resolution section of the AX08. The equipment used was AutoLauncher ALX07, Dell laptop (#CD0001713546) with its corresponding serial box.
Very little to no problems were encountered during the voyage, except for major swells nearing 39°N and inclement weather from 23 to 25 December 2018. The inclement weather caused odd profiles to be observed on for a few drops until the storm passed. Other than this, the odd profile was also observed due to wire break and severe winds which caused spiking. In the event of this occurring, a re-drop was done so as to obtain a proper temperature profile.
General Comments
The Maersk Vilnius is an ideal vessel for all types of deployments with the captain and crew being more than willing to assist with the deployments even during the early hours of the morning. A huge thank you to the Captain Ye Htut, Second officer , and crew of the Maersk Vilnius, Timothy Manley for all the effort and assistance, with the deployments and reloading during the early hours of the morning, and for the great hospitality aboard the cruise.