Respect joins the fleet at ship handling centre

Solent Governors Alison Colley and Dr Joan Stopp officially named the latest vessel to join the country’s largest fleet of scale manned models at the University’s world-renowned ship handling centre.

Respect is a 10.95-metre model representative of a Suezmax oil tanker ship - used for training ship’s officers and marine pilots typically simulating vessels in the Suez Canal.

This is the University’s second ship model designed and built by Gosport-based QinetiQ and follows the delivery of Eternity our Aframax 1:25 scale ship model last year.

Respect joins the existing fleet of 11 vessels that are used for training ship’s officers and pilots in the art and practice of ship handling on Solent’s purpose built 10-acre inland freshwater lake at Timsbury Lake near Romsey.

Commenting on the new model, Solent University’s Dean of the School of Maritime Science and Engineering, Syamantak Bhattacharya, said: “This valuable addition to the fleet demonstrates the continued investment in our world class maritime facilities and training.

“With ships getting larger and waterways and ports more crowded, scale model training has never been so important.”