The ship tested herself against various depths and types of ice, assisted by scientists Icebreaker HMS Protector sailed closer to the North Pole than any other Royal Navy ship in history on her first patrol of the Arctic. The survey and research ship crunched her way through polar ice to within 1,050 kilometres of the top of the world as she gathered data about the ocean and environment. Only submarines – such as HMS Trenchant which punched through the ice at the Pole in 2018 – can travel further north than the position the Plymouth-based survey ship reached: 80°41.5 North in the Greenland Sea. Protector completed the most extensive overhaul in her decade-long career in the Royal Navy in January, since when she’s been conducting extensive trials and training – all intending to deploy to Antarctica in the autumn.