She's a 274-foot ship that carries a crew of 20 and up to 30 scientists. They're still fitting her out...there's lot's of exposed stuff and bare lab spaces. We heard that all the crew quarters are in disarray because all the upper bunks are being lowered 6". Officers and senior scientists have single quarters, crew and flunkies have doubles and have one head per two double quarters. There is a rather nice lounge near the messroom with TV, etc. It was interesting to note how the book shelves in the lounge had swing-down bars to keep books from falling out.
Their computer facilities are rather nice. There's an ethernet from the senior scientists facility, through the labs, to a electronics room. There are two DECstation 5000/200s--named Atlantic and Pacific, and there are three HP9000/300s, and a bunch of PCs. I asked about data collection in the labs and was told that it's still being set up. The electronics room also had the echo locating and bathemetric gear. (and remote engine controls!)
Adjacent to the electronics lab is a reefer and a small lab. A much larger lab is on the other side of the ship. In total, there are 4000 square feet of lab space.
They don't support manned submersibles, but can drop and retrieve deep probes. I don't recall if they support RPVs.
There are good controls for positioning. There are two Z-drives in the stern and a in-hull thruster at the bow. They can plug GPS and echo location equipment into the engine controls for automatic station-keeping. All engine controls are electronic and can be operated from either the bridge and the electronics lab, On the bridge there are three engine control stations--port and starboard wings and at the center.