Boaty McBoatface submarine set for her first mission

Boaty McBoatface is to go on her first mission Credit: ITV

An unmanned submarine christened Boaty McBoatface by the public is set to undertake her first mission in the icy waters of the Antarctic.

The mini sub was named after a poll to help decide the name of a new research £200 million ship was overtaken by pranksters.

Embarrassed officials at the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) overrode the wishes of the public, instead naming the boat Sir David Attenborough.

But they decided to pass the name to a smaller unmanned submarine instead.

Boaty is now set to investigate water flow and turbulence in the dark depths of the Orkney Passage, a 3.5 kilometre (2.17 miles) deep region of the Southern Ocean.

Boaty will set sail from Chile on March 17, travelling together with the research ship James Clark Ross from the Cambridge-based British Antarctic Survey.