HMS Endurance completes repairs

The Royal Navy ice breaker entered Argentina?s main naval base of Puerto Belgrano in early March after damaging its rudder while in Antarctica in February. It was the first time since the end of the 1982 conflict between Argentina and the UK that a Royal Navy ship had entered the Argentine naval base.

HMS Endurance severely damaged its steering system while carrying out logistical and scientific tasks in Antarctica. The damage reduced the vessel’s capacity to manoeuvre safely. The duration of the repair work was scheduled to last about 20 days and was carried out by a joint team of Argentine naval technicians and British specialists.

However work on the repair was delayed last month when shipyard workers went on strike and surrounded the naval base with pickets.