The ice conditions that can reasonably be expected to prevent a lifeboat from making way, or to slow its progress drastically, are quite modest. Displacement type lifeboats of the sort tested are not suitable means of evacuation in pack ice conditions that approach the performance limits delineated here. In areas with such environmental conditions, another means of evacuation is required, whether in place of the conventional displacement type lifeboat, or to complement it. We have begun a field trial program to examine lifeboat operability in ice.
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