 MV Saturn arriving at Gourock in May 2009 |
|
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | MV Saturn |
| Operator: | Caledonian MacBrayne |
| Port of registry: | Glasgow |
| Builder: | Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Troon |
| Yard number: | 552 |
| Launched: | 1977 |
| Maiden voyage: | 1978 |
| Identification: |
IMO number: 7615490[1] |
| Status: | in service |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 851 GRT |
| Length: | 69.5 metres (228 ft) |
| Beam: | 13.8 metres (45 ft) |
| Draft: | 2.45 metres (8 ft) |
| Depth: | 4 metres (13 ft) |
| Installed power: | 2 x 4SCSA 8 cylinder oil engines, 1000 bhp each |
| Speed: | approximately 12 knots |
| Capacity: | 510 passengers, 40 cars |
| Crew: | 10 |
| Notes: | [2] |
MV Saturn is a ship in the fleet of Caledonian MacBrayne. She operates as a car and passenger ferry in the Firth of Clyde area in Scotland.
Contents |
Layout
Saturn incorporates a large open car deck towards the stern, with passenger accommodation and services towards the bow across three decks. The design is of the roll-on/roll-off type, with cars driving on via either the stern ramp or via one of the ramps amidships that lower to port and starboard respectively.
The ship houses two passenger lounges, one with a cafeteria. There is crew accommodation on the upper deck and open-air passenger areas.
Unlike her quasi-sister ships, MV Jupiter and Juno, the ship's bridge is one deck above the top passenger deck. Passengers therefore have access right round the front of the ship, allowing views directly over the bow.[3][4]
Service
MV Saturn is an evolution of the design used the earlier MV Jupiter and MV Juno, that launched in 1974. Together with her sister ships, Saturn formed part of the new generation of car ferries built in the 1970s to serve the routes on the Firth of Clyde. These ships came to be nicknamed the "Streakers" because of their greater speed (compared to what had served the area’s routes previously) and superb manoeuvrability (due to her novel propulsion units, which greatly reduced loading and unloading times at each end of her route).[3]
Saturn has primarily operated the Weymss Bay – Rothesay crossing on the Upper Firth, (for much of her first decade of operation, the phrase "Rothesay Ferry" was emblazoned on her hull), but has also operated the Gourock - Dunoon route slightly further upriver from time to time. She has also been found assisting on the Ardrossan - Brodick route during summer.[4]
Replacement
Just as the 1970s saw the Saturn and the other Streakers replace an earlier generation, so they in turn are being replaced by a new generation of CalMac ferries designed for the Upper Firth. MV Argyle and MV Bute are now in service on the Rothesay route.
Footnotes
- ^ "Search results for "7615490"" (Click on link for ship data). Miramar Ship Index. R.B. Haworth. http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz/ship/list?search_op=OR&IDNo=7615490.
- ^ "Ships of Calmac website". Ships of CalMac. http://www.shipsofcalmac.co.uk/. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
- ^ a b McCrorie, Ian (1980). Ships of the Fleet -- Caledonian MacBrayne. Caledonian MacBrayne. ISBN 0-9507166-0-X.
- ^ a b McCrorie, Ian (1985). Hebridean and Clyde Ferries of Caledonian MacBrayne. Caledonian MacBrayne.
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