Chilean icebreaker Almirante Viel
# Chilean icebreaker Almirante Viel

Almirante Viel is a Polar Class 5 icebreaker currently under construction in Chile. Previously referred to with the project name Antartica 1, it will replace the 1969-built second-hand vessel Almirante Óscar Viel acquired from Canada in 1994 and decommissioned in 2019. Accounts differ as to when construction of the ship began. The Santiago Times reported the first steel was cut in May 2017, while Jane's Navy International reported construction began in August 2018.

Almirante Viel will be 111 metres (364 ft 2 in) long, and have beam and draft of 21 metres (68 ft 11 in) and 7.2 metres (23 ft 7 in). She will displace 13,000 tons. Her maximum speed will be 15 knots (28 km/h).

She will have the capacity to house 150 crew and researchers or passengers.

She will be able to sail through one-year ice, one meter thick, at 2 knots (3.7 km/h).

Maritime Executive reports that when completed, in 2022, she will be comparable to Argentina's ARA Almirante Irízar.

