![]() NOAAS Rude (S 590) | |
History | |
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Name | USC&GS Rude (ASV 90) |
Namesake | Captain Gilbert T. Rude (1881-1962), a U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Commissioned Corps officer |
Builder | Jackobson Shipyard, Oyster Bay, New York |
Launched | 17 August 1966 |
Completed | December 1966 |
Commissioned | 29 March 1967 |
Fate | Transferred to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 3 October 1970 |
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Name | NOAAS Rude (S 590) |
Namesake | Previous name retained |
Acquired | Transferred from U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 3 October 1970 |
Decommissioned | 25 March 2008 |
Identification | IMO number: 6728185 |
Honors and awards | |
Fate | Transferred to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency August 2008 |
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Name | US EPA Lake Explorer II |
Acquired | Transferred from NOAA August 2008 |
In service | 1 October 2009 |
Homeport | Duluth, Minnesota |
Identification | IMO number: 6728185 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | S1-MT-71a |
Type | Rude-class hydrographic survey ship |
Tonnage | 150 gross register tons (domestic tonnage) |
Displacement | 220 tons (ITC tons) |
Length | 90 ft (27 m) |
Beam | 22 ft (6.7 m) (moulded) |
Draft | 7.2 ft (2.2 m) |
Installed power | 850 shp (0.63 MW) |
Propulsion | Two Cummins 425 hp (0.317 MW) geared diesel engines, 2 shafts, 3,900 US gallons (15,000 L) fuel |
Speed | 10 knots (19 km/h) (cruising) |
Range | 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km) |
Endurance | 5 days |
Boats & landing craft carried | One launch |
Complement | 11 (4 NOAA Corps officers, 1 licensed engineer, and 6 other crew members) |
Notes | 120 kilowatts electrical power |
NOAAS Rude (S 590) was an American Rude-class hydrographic survey ship that was in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 to 2008. Prior to its NOAA career, it was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1967 to 1970 as USC&GS Rude (ASV 90). It was named for Gilbert T. Rude, former Chief of the Division of Coastal Surveys of the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
In 2008, NOAA decommissioned Rude and transferred her to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Renamed US EPA Lake Explorer II, she entered EPA service as a research ship in 2009.
Rude (pronounced "Rudy") was built as an "auxiliary survey vessel" (ASV) for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey at the Jackobson Shipyard in Oyster Bay, New York. It was launched on 17 August 1966 [1] and commissioned into Coast and Geodetic Survey service on 29 March 1967 [1] as USC&GS Rude (ASV 90). [2] When the Coast and Geodetic Survey merged with other United States Government organizations to form NOAA on 3 October 1970, it became a part of the NOAA fleet as NOAAS Rude (S 590).
Rude′s hull was 90 feet (27 m) long, the smallest in the NOAA fleet. It had a total of 11 bunk spaces. The ship's mess room could seat seven. It carried a complement of four NOAA Corps officers and seven other crew members, including one licensed engineer.
Rude′s deck equipment featured one winch and one telescoping boom crane. This equipment gave Rude a lifting capacity of up to 7,500 pounds (3,400 kg). It also had 500 feet (150 meters) of cable that could pull up to 250 pounds (110 kg).
For its primary mission of inshore hydrographic surveys, Rude had a differential global positioning system (DGPS), a multibeam sonar system, and side-scan sonar (SSS). It also was equipped for diving operations to allow human investigation of submerged obstacles. It had a 19-foot (5.8 m) fiberglass launch for utility or rescue operations.
The Coast and Geodetic Survey acquired Rude and a sister ship of identical design, USC&GS Heck (ASV 91), later NOAAS Heck (S 591), to conduct wire-drag survey operations together, replacing the survey ships USC&GS Hilgard (ASV 82) and USC&GS Wainwright (ASV 83) in that role. Like Hilgard and Wainright before them, Rude and Heck worked together under a single command conducting wire drag surveys, clearing large swaths between them with a submerged wire.
In 1978, Rude and Heck came to the assistance of the burning research vessel Midnight Sun, rescuing Midnight Sun′s crew and scientists and saving the vessel from total loss. Rude′s crew took aboard all 20 of Midnight Sun's crew members and scientists, who were afloat in life rafts near Midnight Sun, administered first aid to them, and transported them to shore. Heck's crew, meanwhile, fought the fire aboard Midnight Sun for 20 consecutive hours and saved Midnight Sun from sinking. For their efforts in saving Midnight Sun and its crew, the crews of Rude and Heck received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal in 1978. [3]
Electronic technologies eventually arrived that allow a single vessel to do the same surveying work using sidescan and multibeam sonar that formerly required two vessels working together using the wire-drag technique. In 1989, Rude and Heck began working independently thanks to the improved technology, and Heck was decommissioned in 1995 and sold in 2001.
Rude remained in commission and was sometimes called upon to assist the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy in search, rescue, and recovery operations. It located the wreckage of TWA Flight 800 off Moriches, New York in 1996, receiving a Department of Commerce Gold Medal that year for its efforts, and later located the plane wreckage of John F. Kennedy Jr. off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts in 1999. [3] [4]
Rude was decommissioned on 25 March 2008 [4] and placed in reserve in NOAA′s Atlantic Fleet.
Department of Commerce Silver Medal, 1978
In a ceremony on 23 October 1978 in Washington, D.C., Rude and Heck were awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for "rare and distinguished contributions of major significance to the Department, the nation, and the world." [5] for their assistance to Midnight Sun. [5] The program for the ceremony cited the ships' achievements as follows:
LCDR Robert V. Smart, LTJG Kenneth G. Vadnais, ENS Samuel P. De Bow, Jr., Messrs. William N. Brooks, Johnnie B. Davis, James S. Eamons, Kenneth M. Jones, Frank Krusz, Jr., Anthony W. Styron, and Eijah J. Willis of the NOAA Ship RUDE and LCDR Thomas W. Ruszala, LTJG Charles E. Gross, and Messrs. Mark Aldridge, Horace B. Harris, Charles J. Gentilcore, Dennis S. Brickhouse, Robert T. Lindton, Arnold K. Pedersen, Joseph Wiggins, and James P. Taylor of the NOAA Ship HECK are recognized for rescuing the crew and scientists from the burning vessel M/V MIDNIGHT SUN and saving the vessel from total loss. The crew of the NOAA Ship RUDE safely took aboard all 20 crew members of the burning vessel who were afloat in life rafts near the vessel. First aid was administered, and the crew members of the disabled ship were transported safely to shore. The crew of the NOAA Ship HECK displayed outstanding seamanship through their efforts over 20 consecutive hours to fight the fire. The actions of the two ships' crew members demonstrated superior performance and exceptional courage in a maritime emergency beyond the call of duty. [5]
Department of Commerce Gold Medal 1996
In a ceremony on 4 December 1996 in Washington, D.C., Rude was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for "rare and distinguished contributions of major significance to the Department, the nation, and the world." [6] for its response as a part of the NOAA TWA Flight 800 Disaster Response Team. [6] The program for the ceremony cited the team's achievements as follows:
The NOAA TWA Flight 800 Disaster Response Team is recognized for their crucial role in providing precise map mosaics of the Atlantic Ocean debris fields off Long Island, New York. The mosaics were instrumental in victim recovery, salvage and investigative efforts. Within hours after the disaster, the NOAA team arrived on the site and began surveying the ocean floor with highly sophisticated side scan sonar equipment. The team utilized the sonar data to produce precisely located graphic descriptions of the debris fields. Without the products and services provided by the response team, the recovery of the victims and the wreckage would have been a nearly impossible task. [6]
In August 2008, NOAA transferred the ship to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the NOAA Marine Operations Base at Norfolk, Virginia. [7] The EPA renamed her UIS EPA Lake Explorer II and earmarked her for environmental research operations on the Great Lakes. [7]
After acquiring Lake Explorer II, the EPA converted it for use as a research vessel. The EPA retained all of the ship's navigation equipment, its A-frame, and its accommodations of 11 bunks located in four double stateroom and one triple stateroom. [7] However, the EPA removed all of its NOAA science equipment and installed new equipment appropriate to its new environmental research role, including a winch and an additional frame. [7]
On 22 September 2008, while Lake Explorer II was moored in the Elizabeth River at the NOAA Marine Operations Base at Norfolk, still without its new name painted on its side, it suffered a fracture in a stern tube which ran through its center fuel tank, causing it to spill an estimated 1,400 U.S. gallons (5,300 liters) of diesel fuel into the river. [8] [9] Its crew contained the leak, and a combined effort by the U.S. Coast Guard, Norfolk Fire Department, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, and an oil spill response organization the EPA hired contained and cleaned up the spill. [8] [9]
During the summer of 2009, Lake Explorer II was hauled out of the water at a shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, for upgrades to its structural components. [7] A major part of this phase of its conversion was the installation of a new tank to hold all sewage generated aboard the ship, to ensure its compliance with strict zero-discharge standards for sewage on the Great Lakes. [7] While it was out of the water at Portsmouth, the shipyard also replaced shaft tubes, replaced or rebuilt sea valves, painted its bottom with new anti-foul paint, and conducted a routine out-of-water inspection of its equipment and hull. [7]
In EPA service, the ship has a crew of four – a captain, first mate, chief engineer, and first engineer – and can embark up to seven scientists. [7]
On 1 October 2009, with the conversion complete, Lake Explorer II and its crew departed the NOAA Marine Operations Base at Norfolk and, after a two-day transit in Atlantic Ocean waters, arrived in New York Harbor on 3 October 2009. [7] Following a stay at New York City, the ship proceeded up the Hudson River to Albany, New York, where it entered the New York State Canal System. [7] Over the course of four days, it navigated the Erie Canal and Oswego Canal, passing through 30 locks, before entering Lake Ontario at Oswego, New York. [7] Lake Explorer II then crossed Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior, passing through nine more canal locks along the way, before arriving at its new home port, Duluth, Minnesota, on 16 October 2009, completing a 15-day journey of 1,580 miles. [7]
Operated throughout the Great Lakes by the EPA's Mid-Continent Ecology Division, Lake Explorer II conducts research surveys designed to develop a comprehensive environmental assessment of coastal conditions in the Great Lakes and demonstrate a new generation of lakewide assessment designs which include nearshore ecosystems in lakewide assessment. [7] [10] Its work includes the use of advanced technologies for sampling aquatic life, water quality, and sediments, including the deployment of advanced in situ environmental sensing system packages, which make continuous synoptic maps of water and plankton properties, allowing for greater efficiency during extensive research surveys. [7] [10]
After being hauled out of the water for drydocking, upgrades, and the design, fabrication, and installation of a new bulbous bow at Great Lakes Shipyard in Cleveland, Ohio, Lake Explorer II was relaunched on 27 October 2014. [11] She got underway to return to Duluth on 28 October 2014. [11]
Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration and drilling and related activities. Strong emphasis is placed on soundings, shorelines, tides, currents, seabed and submerged obstructions that relate to the previously mentioned activities. The term hydrography is used synonymously to describe maritime cartography, which in the final stages of the hydrographic process uses the raw data collected through hydrographic survey into information usable by the end user.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, known informally as the NOAA Corps, is one of eight federal uniformed services of the United States, and operates under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a scientific agency overseen by the Department of Commerce. The NOAA Corps is made up of scientifically and technically trained officers. The NOAA Corps and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps are the only U.S. uniformed services that consist only of commissioned officers, with no enlisted or warrant officer ranks. The NOAA Corps' primary mission is to monitor oceanic conditions, support major waterways, and monitor atmospheric conditions.
A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the purpose, modified for the purpose or temporarily put into the service as a vessel of opportunity, and may be crewed, remotely operated, or autonomous. The size and equipment vary to suit the task and availability.
The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which operates a wide variety of specialized ships and aircraft to carry out the environmental and scientific missions of NOAA.
NOAA Ship Rainier is a survey vessel in commission with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Her primary mission is to chart all aspects of the ocean and sea floor, primarily in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. The ship is home-ported at the NOAA Marine Operations Center - Pacific in Newport, Oregon.
NOAAS Mount Mitchell was an American survey vessel in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1970 to 1995. Prior to her NOAA career, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as USC&GS Mount Mitchell from 1968 to 1970. In 2003, she returned to service as the private research ship R/V Mt. Mitchell.
USS Oceanographer (AGS-3) was a survey ship of the United States Navy during World War II that produced charts chiefly of passages in the Solomon Islands area of the Pacific Ocean. Upon transfer to the Navy, she had initially briefly been named and classed as gunboat USS Natchez (PG-85). Before her World War II Navy service, she had been USC&GS Oceanographer (OSS-26), a survey ship with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1930.
The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, known from 1807 to 1836 as the Survey of the Coast and from 1836 until 1878 as the United States Coast Survey, was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It existed from 1807 to 1970, and throughout its history was responsible for mapping and charting the coast of the United States, and later the coasts of U.S. territories. In 1871, it gained the additional responsibility of surveying the interior of the United States and geodesy became a more important part of its work, leading to it being renamed the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, one of the eight uniformed services of the United States, has the authority to issue various awards and commendations to its members. These include individual honor awards, unit honor awards, service awards, training ribbons and qualification insignia. NOAA Corps awards and decorations include:
NOAA Ship Surveyor was an oceanographic survey ship in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 until 1995. Prior to her NOAA career, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1960 to 1970 as USC&GS Surveyor. She was the second and last Coast and Geodetic Survey ship named Surveyor and has been the only NOAA ship thus far to bear the name.
USC&GS Wainwright. was a survey ship in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1942 to 1967.
USC&GS Hilgard. was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1942 to 1967.
Gilbert T. Rude (1881–1962) was an officer in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey—one of the ancestor organizations of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) -- and the United States Navy. He served as Chief of the Division of Coastal Surveys in the Coast and Geodetic Survey. A NOAA ship was named for him.
NOAAS Discoverer, originally USC&GS Discoverer, was an American Oceanographer-class oceanographic research vessel in service in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1966 to 1970 and in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 to 1996.
NOAAS Heck was a Rude-class hydrographic survey ship in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 to 1995. Prior to her NOAA service, she was in commission from 1967 to 1970 in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as USC&GS Heck.
NOAAS Whiting, was an American survey ship that was in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 to 2003. Previously, she had been in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1963 to 1970 as USC&GS Whiting.
NOAAS Ferrel was an American hydrographic survey ship that was in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 to 2002. Prior to her NOAA career, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1968 to 1970 as USC&GS Ferrel.
Rear Admiral Don A. Jones was an officer in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps, its successor, the Environmental Science Services Administration Corps, and the ESSA Corps's successor, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps. He served simultaneously as the second and last Director of the ESSA Corps, one of only two people to hold the position, and as the seventh and last Director of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Rear Admiral Sigmund R. Petersen is a retired career officer who served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps, its successor, the Environmental Science Services Administration Corps, and the ESSA Corps's successor, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps. He served as the fourth Director of the NOAA Corps.
Captain Nicholas Hunter Heck was a career officer of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps. A leading geophysicist of his time, Heck made important contributions in the study of seismology and oceanography. He also revolutionized hydrographic surveying by developing the wire-drag surveying technique and introduced radio acoustic ranging into Coast and Geodetic Survey hydrography.