Lt. Cmdr. Briana Welton in Command of NOAA Ship Ferdinand Hassler

The crew of the NOAA Ship Ferdinand R. Hassler (S-250) hosted a change of command on 5 November 2015, while it was moored at its homeport in New Castle, New Hampshire, USA. In front of the crew and guests – including Rear Admiral Gerd Glang, director of the Office of Coast Survey, and Capt. Anne Lynch, commanding officer of the Atlantic Marine Operations Center – Lt. Cmdr. Briana Welton accepted command of Hassler, replacing Cmdr. Marc Moser.

Welton is the new survey ship’s third commanding officer. She has served as Hassler‘s executive officer since May 2014, after having received her commission in 2003. Lt. Cmdr. Welton is one of a growing number of females in the NOAA Corps, one of the nation’s seven uniformed services.  Of the total 320 officers, 91 are women, which is 28.4%.

A commanding officer (CO) of a NOAA survey ship is also the ship’s hydrographer, chief scientist, and senior programme representative. This means that, in addition to being responsible for the safe management of the vessel, the ship’s CO is also solely and ultimately responsible for the completion of the science mission: the hydrographic surveys that are delivered to Coast Survey.

The event marked the end of a successful tour for Moser, who served as Hassler’s second commanding officer, beginning in December 2013. During Moser’s tenure, Hassler achieved significant reductions in survey processing time, which cut an average of 55 days from the time it takes to get newly acquired data on to nautical charts.

Highlighting the importance of working to minimise conflicts with commercial fishing operations during survey projects, Glang thanked Moser for coordinating with the local fishing communities in the Gulf of Maine and adapting survey schedules to try to avoid impacts on fishing operations. Moser also demonstrated his “understanding and commitment to the customs and traditions of a seagoing service, when Hassler intercepted a derelict sailing vessel that had been drifting for three days in the New York Bight,” Glang pointed out. The crew facilitated the vessel’s rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard.

NOAA Ship Ferdinand R. Hassler is a small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) vessel designed for improved stability. Hassler’s officers, technicians, and scientists acquire and process the hydrographic data that NOAA cartographers use to create and update the nation’s nautical charts with ever-increasing data richness and precision.

The ship was named for Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, a visionary scientist who planned the survey of the coast after President Jefferson signed enacting legislation in 1807. Hassler became the first superintendent of Coast Survey, serving until his death in 1843.