In a race against time, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has deployed its search and rescue vessel 'Ocean Shield' off the coast of Western Australia to track down the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370's submerged "black boxes" in a vast portion of the Indian Ocean.
Having departed Perth on Monday, the vessel, originally an offshore support vessel constructed by STX OSV for DOF Subsea until it was purchased by RAN in 2012, has been fitted with a towed pinger locator on loan from the United States Navy.
Local Australian media has been reporting that the black boxes only have an estimated battery life for another 7-10 days, adding significant pressure to the 'Ocean Shield's search operations.
Displacing 6,500 tonnes and measuring 105.9 metres x 21 metres x 6.6 metres, the vessel is powered by twin Rolls-Royce stern azimuthing thrusters. For added manoeuvrability, the vessel also features twin 1,800kW bow tunnel thrusters, as well as a retractable 1,500kW bow azimuthing thruster.
In 2016, once RAN's new Canberra-class vessels become fully operational, the 'Ocean Shield' is to be transferred to the Australian Customs and Border Protection fleet, where it will replace her sister ship 'Ocean Protector'.
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