MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile's brand new icebreaker receives combat flag

This flag “has a deep meaning for all of us who have the privilege of wearing the naval uniform,” Captain Henríquez said

The Chilean Navy's icebreaker AGB-46 Almirante Viel received her combat flag during a cermony at the Talcahuano Naval Base. Viel Captain Juan Pablo Henríquez took delivery on Tuesday of the symbolic item from Chilean Maritime League President Admiral (ret.) Edmundo González.

“Today we have the honor of receiving the most sacred, the most sublime, the most loved and respected, the flag of our homeland, the combat flag, which has a deep meaning for all of us who have the privilege of wearing the naval uniform and serving on the decks of the Chilean Navy units, since it is in the combat flag where the deepest values of patriotism, honor, loyalty and service to the homeland are concentrated,” Henríquez said.

“This flag is the most sacred thing that can be on a ship of our Navy, since it represents before God, the value of an oath that all of us as seamen took before her one day, to serve her with honor, passion and dedication, and if necessary, to surrender our lives to her rather than lower her in the face of the enemy,” he added.

Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Juan Andrés De la Maza explained that “the combat flag flies in case of crisis or conflict, which hopefully will never happen, but also on five occasions during the year: May 21, October 8, September 18 and 19 and, of course, on the ship's anniversary day, which in this case is July 3.”

“With this ceremony we close a cycle since it departed in 2017 with the cutting of the first plate of the icebreaker; subsequently, on December 22, 2022, it was launched into the water, and on July 3 just last it was incorporated into the naval list with the formal delivery by Asmar to the institution,” he added.

The AGB-46 is the first Antarctic scientific vessel built in Chile. She will perform logistic tasks, search and rescue operations, scientific research and bring supplies to Chilean scientific stations in Antarctica.

The AGB-46 Almirante Viel has a length of 111 m, 21 m beam, 7.2 m draft, 10,500 tons displacement and will be capable of operating at a temperature of -30°C. It will have a range of 14,000 nautical miles, an operating range of 60 days and a maximum speed of 15 knots. It will have a crew of 86 and will be able to carry 34 scientists on each voyage from Punta Arenas, in the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region.

The state-of-the-art icebreaker built between 2018 and 2024 at the Astilleros y Maestranzas de la Armada (ASMAR) in Talcahuano will be a part of the “Antarctic trinomial”, also made up of the Maritime Zone Patrol Vessel OPV-83 “Marinero Fuentealba” and the Fleet Tug ATF-60 “Lientur.” To date, it is the largest Antarctic scientific vessel built in South America, at a cost of US$ 210 million.

She replaced the old vessel of the same name (AP-46) that operated between Jan. 14, 1995, and Feb. 11, 2019. Built at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard in Montreal, Canada, in 1969, she had served the Canadian Coast Guard under the name Norman McLeod Rogers before joining the Chilean Navy in early 1994. The new Viel was commissioned at Talcahuano Naval Base on July 3 this year.