NOAAS Fairweather (S 220)

NOAA Ship Fairweather (S 220), originally operated by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as USC&GS Fairweather (MSS 20), is an oceanographic research ship operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Fairweather primarily conducts hydrographic surveys in Alaskan waters, but is considered a multi-mission-capable vessel and has conducted fisheries research cruises. She is the sister ship of the NOAAS Rainier (S 221) and of the retired NOAAS Mount Mitchell (S 222).

NOAA Ship Fairweather (S 220)
History
United States
Name: USC&GS Fairweather (MSS 20)
Namesake: Mount Fairweather in Alaska
Builder: Aerojet-General Shipyards, Jacksonville, Florida
Laid down: 12 August 1963
Launched: 15 March 1967
Acquired: January 1968
Commissioned: 2 October 1968
Fate: Transferred to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 3 October 1970
United States
Name: NOAAS Fairweather (S 220)
Namesake: Previous name retained
Acquired: Transferred from U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 3 October 1970
Decommissioned: 1989
Recommissioned: August 2004
Homeport: Ketchikan, Alaska
Identification:
Status: Active
General characteristics
Class and type: Fairweather-class oceanographic research ship
Type: S1-MT-63a
Tonnage: 1,591 tons
Displacement: 1,800 tons
Length: 231 ft (70.4 m)
Beam: 42 ft (12.8 m)
Draft: 15.5 ft (4.7 m)
Ice class: A1 ice strengthened
Propulsion:
  • 2 Detroit Electro-Motive Diesel engines,
  • twin screw, controllable pitch propellers, 2400 shp
  • Bow Thruster (variable pitch)
  • Bridge Wing Controls (Engines, and Thruster) Port and Stbd
Speed: 12.5 knots
Range: 6,000 nautical miles
Endurance: 22 days
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 Four 28ft All-American Marine survey launches, One 23ft Zodiac FRB, One 23ft AMBAR Jet Boat
Complement:
  • Commissioned Officers: 11
  • Mate: 1
  • Licensed Engineers: 4
  • Crew: 35
  • Scientists: 6 (Max)

Overview
NOAAS Fairweather (S 220) in Alaskan waters with Mount Fairweather in the background.

Fairweather is named for Mount Fairweather in Alaska. She was constructed for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey as a "medium survey ship" (MSS) by Aerojet-General Shipyards at Jacksonville, Florida. She was laid down on 12 August 1963[1] and launched on 15 March 1967. The Coast and Geodetic Survey commissioned her as USC&GS Fairweather (MSS 20) in a joint ceremony with her sister ship USC&GS Rainier (MSS 21) at the Pacific Marine Center in Seattle, Washington, on 2 October 1968.[2][3] When NOAA was established on 3 October 1970 and took over the Coast and Geodetic Survey's assets, she became part of the NOAA fleet as NOAAS Fairweather (S 220). Deactivated in 1989, the ship remained inactive at NOAA's Pacific Marine Center in Seattle for thirteen years. In 2002, she began a refit at the Cascade General Shipyard in Portland, Oregon, and she was recommissioned in 2004 to aid with the backlog of critical surveys in Alaskan waters. Her home port is Ketchikan, Alaska.

Crew

Fairweather, like all NOAA ships, is operated by commissioned officers of the NOAA Corps and civilian wage mariners. Fairweather has a complement of 51 people, with additional berthing capability for visitors and scientists. The ship generally spends over 150 days per year at sea.

According to NOAA Fairweather is the "happiest ship in the fleet" [4]

Equipment and mission

Fairweather has two Kongsberg Gruppen multibeam echosounders, models EM710 and EM2040. Her four survey launches have Kongsberg EM2040 multibeam echosounders. In addition, Fairweather can tow an L3/Klein System 5000 sidescan sonar, and her launches can be equipped with additional hull-mounted L3/Klein System 5000 sidescan sonars. These sidescan sonars are used for near-shore Arctic survey operations. Additionally, Fairweather's personnel routinely establish horizontal and vertical control instruments, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) base stations and tide-level measuring devices, in the remote areas in which the ship works. Using this technology, the crew of Fairweather can map the ocean floor fully. These data are primarily used to update NOAA's nautical charts, but are increasingly used in other areas such as tsunami displacement modeling, flood mapping, and the mapping of fish habitats.

Service history

On 30 April and 1 May 2017, the NOAA research ship NOAAS Oscar Dyson (R 224) surveyed an area in the Bering Sea off Dalnoi Point on the northwestern tip of St. George Island in the Pribilof Islands in a search for the wreck of the 92-foot (28.0 m) crab-fishing boat Destination, which had capsized and sunk in the area with the loss of her entire crew of six men on 11 February 2017. She did not find the wreck, but her survey narrowed the search area for Fairweather, which discovered the wreck in about 250 feet (76 m) of water during a survey on 8 and 9 July 2017.[5] [6]

References
  1. Invitation to keel laying of Coast and Geodetic Survey Ship FAIRWEATHER on August 12, 1963
  2. Invitation to joint commissioning ceremony of ESSA Ships FAIRWEATHER and RAINIER on October 2, 1968
  3. APPENDIX E: CLASS II HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEY SHIPS, p. 8.
  4. http://www.moc.noaa.gov/fa/index.html
  5. Bernton, Hal (11 February 2019). "No return: The final voyage of the crab boat Destination". Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  6. Andrews, Laurel (21 July 2017). "Wreck of fishing boat that sank in Bering Sea found by NOAA searchers". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 25 January 2021.

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