On May 21, 1992, we (Randy, Cindy, and Karin) visited the NOAA ship Ranier at the Pacific Marine Center on Lake Union in Seattle, WA. The PMC is one of two NOAA facilities in Seattle; the other is at Sand Point on Lake Washington. The fresh water moorage is regarded as less damaging on the hulls, yet there is easy access to Puget Sound via the Chittenden Locks.

A flier says that NOAA is one of the seven uniformed services of the US. (The others are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine.)

Over half (12/23) of the NOAA ships are in the Pacific Fleet; and of those, nine are based in Seattle. This sounds impressive, but due to budget restraints, some ships have not left their berth for over a year. The largest (class I--292 to 303 feet, 3440 to 4033 tons) are used for oceanographic and atmospheric research, the mid-size (class II--215 to 231 feet, 1800 to 1920 tons) are used mostly for hydrographic and charting missions, and the smallest (class III to VI, 86 to 175 feet, 295 to 995 tons) are used mostly for fisheries research.

Lt.(JG) Eric Nelson and Ensign Didi Pitts gave us a tour of NOAA ship Ranier.

Ranier is a Class II vessel outfitted for NOAA's mission of gathering measurements to be used for hydrographic charting. She is 231 feet long with a 42 foot beam, 14 foot draft, and 1800 ton displacement. Two 1200 HP diesels can drive her at 11 knots for 22 days through variable pitch screws. An additional 200 HP diesel drives the bow thruster.

Ship's complement is 10 officers and 50 crew, divided into a number of sections: quartermaster, engineering, steward, etc. Officers are NOAA uniformed, crew can be civilian. There are few, if any, additional scientific staff, as officers and crew are trained for these duties.

Although side-scan seafloor survey work is done by NOAA in deep water, most of Ranier's work is done right up to the shore line (sometimes past the low-water shore line if the tides permit). This work has to be done with smaller craft carried on board. When at a survey site, up to six 30 foot boats collect data for nearly ten hours at a time. Before data collection can start, a number of precisly located microwave control stations are installed. (This is generally the most hazardous part of the survey.) In addition, a number of stations are installed to note the local tidal hight (to be used in the data reduction). The tidal stations have long lines that run to 50 foot depths. This is necessary because tides in parts of Alaska run 30'! The current tidal recording stations are mostly analog, but they're shifting to digital recording units.

The survey boat position is computed by noting the distance to the microwave stations (this gives results even when GPS doesn't work due to escarpments blocking satellite reception (a common problem in Alaska)).

The boats follow tracks that cover the survey area with "complete ensonification". Generally tracks are 10 meters apart and navigation is held to within 1 meter. A depth is recorded every 1 to 2 seconds. There is a HP9000/350 aboard each boat to compute position and record sonar information. A graphical display, updated every second, shows the status of the signals from microwave stations and course information. A coxswain pilots the boat, a sonar technician watches for "interesting returns", and a junior officer supervises the operation.

When interesting things appear, additional sonor sweeps may be ordered. Divers may also be sent down to investigate. Significant changes from previous charts are sent immediately to the Coast Guard to allow for Notices to Mariners to be issued.

When the boats return in the late afternoon or evening, the data reduction starts. The computer crew works through the night to process the data. Again, lots of HP gear was seen on board. Preliminary charts are plotted on mylar (and the digital data are eventually sent or carried to on-shore bases for further processing).

It's interesting to note that measurements are done in meters and converted to feet and fathoms on the final charts. NOAA has gone metric.

The bridge is comparable to the USCG Morganthau or the R/V Laney Choest or R/V Thomas Thompson. A panoply of navigation and communication gear is found therein. They all have remote engine control including controls on the bridge wings, etc. One piece of old-fashioned gear is a voice tube that runs to the deck above bridge where a lookout is posted.

As we toured the ship we found that times have changed..for instance there used to be a small galley off the captains cabin and another off the wardroom. Nowdays all food is cooked in the main galley, the wardroom galley is used as a staging area and the captain usually eats with the officers. I was told that the rank and protocol is relaxed with respect to the other uniformed branches.

As we left, Lt. Nelson assured us that, although most ship's complements will claim their ship the best, he knew it was so for his ship. (Even if they make port of call in Dutch Harbor, AK instead of Honolulu, HI.) I later talked to a student of mine who works at NOAA Sand Point. His shipboard duty was on one of the deep ocean ships doing seafloor mapping. He agreed that the Ranier is a good ship. Although they call on Dutch Harbor instead of Honolulu, they do so every few weeks instead of every month. Furthermore, since they're doing coastal mapping, if they finish early for the day, they can go fishing or go ashore for a picnic.