2015: When Their Ship Comes In

Few realised it at the time, but the welcoming of Atlantis also signaled the end of a golden era for U.S. research vessels. Between 1989 and 1997, 10 large- and intermediate-scale ships were either built or retrofitted by the Navy, the National Science Foundation (NSF), or private institutions.

In the last decade, only four ships have been added to the US research fleet, which has diminished from 33 to 21.

Ships in the national oceanographic research fleet are owned by several departments of the federal government, primarily the Navy and NSF, or by individual academic institutions. But each ship is operated by an institution, such as WHOI, which is responsible for maintaining the vessel and providing the crew. The host institution does not control where the ship goes or who gets to use it. That task falls to the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System, or UNOLS, a consortium of 61 universities and institutions involved in oceanographic research. At present the UNOLS fleet includes 21 ships at 16 institutions. Knorr, Atlantis, and Oceanus are UNOLS vessels, the first two owned by the Navy, the last by NSF. The Navy-owned ships have both a name and a designation as a numbered Auxiliary General-purpose Oceanographic Research (AGOR) ship. The current Atlantis, for example, is also known as AGOR-25.

By the early 1980s, funding for oceanography had dropped low enough to put the U.S. research fleet at risk. Millions of dollars were spent to build four new research ships, including Atlantis, and to overhaul six others, including Knorr and Oceanus, both of which had been built by NSF. For comparison, the space shuttle Endeavour cost USD1.7 billion.

In July 2002, the Navy was ready to proceed with plans for four new ships-but the ships would be the smaller, Ocean Class, size. The Navy is expert in building warships, not research ships. Research vessels must accommodate people who've never been to sea before and who may have physical disabilities. Deck spaces must be flexible to fit a variety of scientific missions. Labs must be outfitted to handle hazardous chemicals and store specimens, from microscopic to massive. The Navy, NSF, and NOAA mandated a UNOLS-sponsored committee to devise Scientific Mission Requirements, or SMRs, for each class of ship. The guidelines then are fashioned into specifications that architects and shipyards will use in the formal design process with very little additional input from the scientists.

Soon after the Navy announcement that it would build new ships, UNOLS invited 70 people involved with to establish the SMRs for the new class of ship. How would they develop guidelines for a ship they thought would be too small to meet their needs? What would they have to give up? What were they willing to give up?

Even minor details could affect the design in major ways. Increasing the number of scientists on a ship, for instance, means more berths, and more storage space for food, water, and gear. Each additional person could add up to 50 tons to the ship's displacement, according to Pittenger and Suchy.

A year later, in March 2003, UNOLS approved the 60-page final draft and sent it to the Navy, NSF, and other interested parties. The science community, through its grassroots process, had spoken. From here on, the design and development of these new ships would be largely out of its hands.

The final SMR document recommended a ship with berth and workspace for 25 scientists. It included provisions for adequate deck space, and necessary cranes, winches, and cables to manoeuvre scientific equipment. It called for features such as anti-roll tanks, so the ship could venture into the roughest waters of the North Atlantic and Southern Ocean; and a Dynamic Positioning system to keep the ship on a target point in up to 8-foot seas and 35-knot winds. It suggested low noise and vibration to prevent interference with sensitive sonar and other instruments; and a relatively fuel-efficient engine to reduce operating costs down the line. It requested living features such as ample portholes to provide natural light; pleasant (i.e., non-military) colour of walls, floors, and furnishings; sleeping and recreational spaces suitable for people who are not experienced sailors; passageways wide enough to accommodate people with disabilities; and alarms that can be noticed by blind or deaf workers. And it envisioned flexibility to adapt to tools and technologies not yet invented.

The group asked for ships that could do what a Global Class ship could do, even though they were smaller. It was like asking for all the features of a Cadillac, even though the group knew they were getting a Camry.

The NSF and NOAA had lobbied successfully for the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a system of instrumented moorings and cabled networks working in concert with autonomous underwater robots that would be placed at key locations in oceans around the world. The multimillion-dollar, multi-agency project has the potential to transform ocean-based science by relaying continuous streams of data via satellite to scientists on land, instead of intermittent data collected from scientists based on ships.
Many UNOLS institutions, including WHOI, have played key roles in OOI since the initiative began, while also seeking to maintain funding for ship-based research. Large research ships will be needed to deploy, maintain, retrieve, and gather data from the hundreds of instruments OOI will require.

UNOLS pressed its case hard, and finally, in July 2009, the Navy announced that despite a bad economy and shifting priorities, it had budgeted USD176 million for two identical Ocean Class research ships, not four as planned in 2002. Each of the new ships, designated AGOR 27 and 28, would incorporate berthing for at least 20 scientists and the ability to stay at sea for up to 40 days and cruise at 11 knots. Other details would be worked out in the formal design phase.

In many ways, the voyage to the new ship is just beginning. The Navy has begun the formal design phases, guided by the SMRs and limited new input from WHOI and Scripps. Two shipyards are vying for the contract.

If all goes according to schedule, WHOI's new ship will be delivered in late 2014 and be operating at full capacity in 2015. It will replace Knorr, one of two WHOI ships that Pittenger knew back in 1997 would be nearing the end of their service lives sometime after 2010. The other ship, Oceanus, will be retired by its owner, the NSF, at the end of 2011.