The Bulgarian Polar Research Vessel “Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodiy (RSV-421)” is owned by a consortium consisting of the Naval Academy, the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia and the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute. The Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii was ceremoniously christened and commissioned into the Bulgarian Navy inventory on July 27, 2021.
Before the ship’s first polar mission, it was repaired, modernised and refitted in Varna. On December 27, 2022, RSV 421 set sail from Varna Marine Station, marking the beginning of the 31st Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition to the Bulgarian Polar Base on Livingston Island, part of the South Shetland Islands. The ship was loaded with building materials and equipment needed for the construction of a laboratory as part of the Bulgarian Base.
After a 127-day voyage to the Bulgarian base on Livingston Island and back, the first Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) returned home, docking Tuesday May 2nd 2023 at the Varna Marine Station.
In the way back home, the Bulgarian naval Research Vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) crossed the Ionian Sea along its southern boundary with the Mediterranean, sailing eastwards, in the evening hours of April 23, 2023.
Now the Polar ship is docked at Bulgarian port city of Varna (on the Black Sea) after fully completing its participation in the 31st Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition to Livingston Island, Antarctica
With the sailing of the first military Research Vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) to Antarctica, Bulgaria has proven itself to be a Maritime and Polar Nation, said Prof. Hristo Pimpirev last Tuesday, May 2nd, in Varna, when at the local Marine Station he did wait to meet the returning RSV 421 which docked at 10 a.m. After the ship docks, scientists will take the samples collected during the expedition and start examining them.
Thanks and Credit: Bulgarian Research Vessel RSV 421 Returns Home After 127-Day Voyage to Antarctica (spa.gov.sa)