NLV Pole Star

The NLV Pole Star at the Glasgow River Festival 2007
Career (UK)
Name:	NLV Pole Star
Operator:	Northern Lighthouse Board
Port of registry:	Leith
Builder:	Ferguson Shipbuilders, Port Glasgow
Laid down:	28 July 1999
Completed:	15 September 2000
Homeport:	Oban
Identification:	ZQQC5
Status:	in service
General characteristics
Class and type:	Lloyd's + 100A1, LA, + LMC, UMS
Type:	Buoy / Lighthouse Vessel
Tonnage:	Gross Tonnage: 1174 Tonnes NET (Registered): Tonnage 352 Tonnes
Displacement:	1,174 tonnes
Length:	o/a: 51.52 m; B.P: 44.00 m
Beam:	12 m
Height:	Air Draught 25 m
Draught:	3.2 m
Depth:	to Upper Deck: 5.00 m
Propulsion:	Cummins Wartsila CW8L170 - 3 x 920 kW AC Diesel-electric dynamic positioning system, 2 x azimuth thrusters, 2 x tunnel bow thrusters
Speed:	12 knots
Boats and landing craft carried:	Workboat: Sea Rover 5.5 m
Capacity:	15 x Single Berth Cabins, 2 x Twin Berth Cabins
Complement:	6 x Officers, 9 x Ratings
Notes:	[1]

NLV Pole Star is a lighthouse tender operated by the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB), the body responsible for the operation of lighthouses and marine navigation aids around the coasts of Scotland and the Isle of Man.

Pole Star was completed in 2000 by Ferguson Shipbuilders on the River Clyde. She is the fourth NLB vessel to carry the name and replaced the 37 year old NLV Fingal. In memory of this vessel, Pole Star has a workboat onboard named Fingal.^[2]

Pole Star was joined by a new vessel, NLV Pharos in March 2007, which replaced the previous vessel of the same name.^[3] Although the headquarters of the NLB is in Edinburgh, both vessels can be serviced by a workbase in Oban on the west coast.

From March 2008, Sean Rathbone has been Master of the Pole Star.^[4]

References

1. ^ "NLV Pole Star". Northern Lighthouse Board. Archived from the original on 2008-03-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20080327013509/http://www.nlb.org.uk/resources/mvpolestar.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-02. 
2. ^ "News Archive". The Orcadian. September 10-17 2000. http://www.orcadian.co.uk/archive/2000/archive2.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-02. 
3. ^ "NLB Ships through time". Northern Lighthouse Board. http://www.nlb.org.uk/StandardPage.aspx?id=457. Retrieved 2010-10-08. 
4. ^ "Managing Board Minutes" (PDF). Northern Lighthouse Board. 17 November 2008. http://www.nlb.org.uk/theboard/Managing%20Board%20minutes%2017November%202008.pdf. Retrieved 21 February 2010. ^{[dead link]}