French ship Pourquoi Pas? (2005)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Pourquoi Pas?

Pourquoi Pas ? (English: Why Not?) is a research vessel built in Saint-Nazaire, France by Alstom Marine^[1] for IFREMER and the French Navy^[2] and primarily used by Service hydrographique et océanographique de la Marine (SHOM).^[3] Pourquoi Pas ? was ordered in December 2002 and completed in July 2005.^[4] The 66 million euro cost was financed by IFREMER (55%) and the French Navy (45%).^[5]

Pourquoi Pas ? in Brest after her delivery
History
France
Namesake	Pourquoi Pas ? IV
Launched	14 October 2004
Identification	IMO number: 9285548 MMSI number: 228207600 Callsign: FMCY
Status	Active as of 2025
General characteristics
Class & type	research vessel
Displacement	6600 tonnes
Length	107 m (351 ft)
Beam	20 m (66 ft)
Draught	6.9 m (23 ft)
Propulsion	Diesel-electric with a Class II dynamic positioning system.
Speed	14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph)
Endurance	64 days at 11 knots
Boats & landing craft carried	ROV
Capacity	1000 m² laboratory, 40 scientists
Complement	18 to 33 men
Sensors & processing systems	Dual multibeam sonars capable of mapping seafloor up to 6000 metre depth with a swath width of up to 20 km 2 Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) capable of measuring currents at depth of up to 1000 metres Sub-bottom profiler for study of the upper layers of seafloor sediment

Name

She is named after explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot's famous ship.^[4] A space is required immediately before a question mark in French orthography, and accordingly, in French Pourquoi Pas ? is the correct way to write the name.

Use

Pourquoi Pas ? is used on average 130 days per year by the French Navy and the rest by IFREMER.^[3] It was designed for hydrography, geoscience, and physical, chemical, and biological oceanography, as well as to launch small submarines such as the crewed submersible Nautile and the ROV Victor 6000.^[4] Since 2010, the ship has been used in a series of annual cruises MoMARSAT maintaining the EMSO-Azores observatory at the Lucky Strike hydrothermal field.^[6][7]

Notable missions

Pourquoi Pas ? has been used for the 2007 deployment and connection operations for the ANTARES neutrino telescope.^[8] In 2008, Pourquoi Pas ? was used for the initial testing and operations of the PERISCOP, a pressurized deep sea fish recovery device.^[9] In June 2009, she was used to assist the recovery of Air France Flight 447.^[10][11] In November 2020, the ship was used to find the wreckage of an Aquilon fighter jet that had disappeared in June 1960.^[12] In April 2024, scientists on board the Pourquoi Pas ? discovered 6 new seamounts in the North Pacific off Mexico.^[13]

External links

• France portal
• Transport portal

• (in French) Pourquoi-Pas ? site at IFREMER
• (in French) Netmarine
• BBC article about the PERISCOP

An ROV aboard the Pourquoi Pas ?