A polar research ship named after the broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has completed “ice trials” during its maiden voyage to Antarctica.

These trials saw the ship tested through ice at every power level to measure its performance against expectations, with the vessel’s captain saying the team were “really pleased” with its performance.

The team carrying out the trials also performed a range of manoeuvres including reversing, turning and impact tests going into the ice at different speeds, in icy areas of sea around the Antarctic Peninsula and Bellinghausen Sea.

Most manoeuvres were done in fast ice – which is attached to the coast and not moving – allowing the team to calculate accurately the amount of energy needed to break the ice, while tests were also conducted in open and closed pack ice.

Harwich and Manningtree Standard: The ship testing its capabilities of breaking through ice (BAS/PA)The ship testing its capabilities of breaking through ice (BAS/PA)

BAS’s Ralph Stevens, captain of the RRS Sir David Attenborough, said: “Overall, we’re really pleased with the ship’s performance in ice trials – in some trials it actually performed better than we expected.

“The trials did highlight some issues with the ship which need to be addressed but this was expected – the SDA is a bespoke ship with a complex design, and the purpose of trials is to find the things that don’t work so well.”

After the trials, the ship encountered unprecedented sea ice conditions – of second-year sea ice covered in a thick 5ft (1.5m) layer of snow – which hampered efforts to reach Stange Sound to deliver key science cargo to support the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration.

The RRS Sir David Attenborough is a Polar Ice Class 5 ship, which means it is able to break through ice 3ft (1m) thick at a speed of three knots (3.5mph/5.6kph) using its 15,000 tonne weight to break through, the team said.

It set sail on its maiden voyage in November and will return to the UK in June for several weeks in refit to rectify issues identified in the ice trials and finish commissioning science equipment, and carry out science trials at sea.