RV Roger Revelle

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Roger Revelle was built by Halter Marine Inc., Gulfport, Mississippi. She was laid down on 9 December 1993 and launched on 20 April 1995. She was delivered to the U. S. Navy 11 June 1996, as RV Roger Revelle (T AGOR 24), a Thomas G. Thompson class oceanographic research ship. Her maiden voyage was from Gulfport to San Diego, California, the following month. She is a sister ship to the R/V Thomas G. Thompson (UW), NOAAS Ronald H. Brown (NOAA) and R/V Atlantis (Woods Hole), all built upon the same design. The Revelle underwent a $60 million refit between 2019 and 2020, where over six miles of cable were replaced. The refit overhauled the power systems, ballast management, bow thruster (to a new retractable ZF thruster), refurbished the A frame, and added a scientific gondola.

Markey DUTW 9 11 traction drum winch with dual storage drums. Normally 15,000 m of 9/16" 3 x 19 trawl wire is on one storage drum and 10,000 m of 0.680" electromechanical cable on the other. Wires over the side lead to A frame or main deck crane. Capable of fiber optic cable through A frame. Markey DESH 5 hydrographic winch, with 10,000 m of 1/4" 3 x 19 hydrographic wire, or 10,000 m of 0.322" three conductor electromechanical CTD cable on Lebus grooving. Wire drums are interchangeable, one is stowed while the other is in use. Wires lead over starboard side via retractable hydroboom. CAST 6/Allied Crane CTD Handling System with 10,000 m of 0.322" three conductor electromechanical CTD cable on Lebus grooving. Wire leads over starboard side via Allied crane articulating boom. Assorted portable winch and wire combinations available for cruise specific requirements.

Primary, North American cranes (3) on starboard quarter, main deck and on port side, 02 level. Morgan Marine cranes (2), normally on foredeck and at other locations to suit mission. Fritz Culver A frame at stern, retractable hydroboom on starboard side by staging bay door. Blue Extension crane on starboard 01 aft of rescue boat davit. Extensive (~3,000) bolt down fittings for securing removable equipment on all decks and inside laboratories (2' X 2' pattern). 1" sockets outside, 1/2" sockets inside. Uncontaminated seawater supply to all labs (except computer lab). Through hull instrument well in staging bay, nominal 24" diam. tube. Two installed Price A300 compressors provide 1850 psi air for seismic work.

Shipboard computer systems consists of a cluster of Linux (CentOS) servers capable of up to 20 Terabytes of available and expandable cruise data storage in RAID6 configuration. The cluster provides email, intranet, NAS, DHCP, proxy, SAMBA, Active Directory, data processing, and data procurement services. Internet is provided using a combination of UNOLS designed proprietary satellite system (C Band), shore cellular network (3G, 4G/LTE), and/or Inmarsat FleetBroadband (L Band). In addition to the cluster, there is a wide array of data acquisition computers hooked up to a modular display array. All live processed data from the ship's standard set of acquisition systems is displayed on the array, and provide live feedback of the ship's underway data. There are repeating displays in the main lab, and hydro lab that shows MET and navigation data. The various Windows, Linux, and Mac acquisition machines perform data acquisition, archiving and processing functions on many of the permanently installed data collection systems. All data is centralized in the cluster.

The Revelle's first research cruise was for the 1996 CalCOFI cruise, which she commonly undertakes on an annual basis. The Revelle is capable of deploying a 36 niskin rosette and has participated in several sections of the NSF GO SHIP and GEOTRACES hydrography programs. She is large enough to accommodate for an ROV and associated equipment, thereby also making her capable of engineering cruises and exploration for hydrothermal vents. This included portions of the NOAA vents program (1980 2013). With a large operational range, she is used to deploy floats (ARGO, GO BGC, SOCCOM, etc.) in remote areas.