Late December 2021

Introduction

The research vessel Atlantis (R/V Atlantis) was in port for a few days last month. She is an interesting ship and is a current example of a long line of oceanographic research vessels. The United States Navy owns the Atlantis, and she is known officially as the RV Atlantis (AGOR – 25). She is operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for the benefit of the oceanographic commuity.

The Atlantis has three sister ships: the R/V Thomas G Thompson, operated by the University of Washington, and the R/V Roger Revelle, by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Only the Atlantis is equipped to operate the deep submersible Alvin. The third sister, the NOASS Ronald H. Brown, is operated by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

It was an unexpected port call. The Alvin suffered some damage during its 5,075th dive, to a record depth of 17, 513 ft. She came into port to allow the submersible to be evaluated.

By the way, the deepest part of the Atlantic is a bit northeast of San Juan, in the so called Puerto Rico Trench. The deepest part of that feature, the Milwaukee deep, has a depth of 5.373 miles (28,370 ft.)

Details of Current Atlantis

The Atlantis was launched in 1997 and modified to support the Alvin that same year. She has a length of 274 ft, a beam of 52.5 ft, and draws 19 ft. The Atlantis has a crew of 22 and room for a science party of 34 (without Alvin) and 24 (with Alvin). She is equipped with lab spaces, undersea mapping facilities, and precision navigation technologies. The lab spaces include a variery of wet chemcal, computer, and electronic facilities.

The Atlantis performs missions for both the US Navy and research funcded by the National Science Foundation. In the last year or so, Atlantis completed 13 projects funded by the navy, and 14 by the NSF. There are 32 pending NSF projects. The NSF projects included studying and mapping undersea volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean.

The First Atlantis

The sailboat R/V Atlantis served the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1931 to 1996. She was built specifically to support research in marine biology and geology and physical oceanpgraphy. The design of the 460 ton ketch favored stability over a speed. She carried a crew of 17 with room for five scientists. She sailed over 700,000 miles while under the control of the WHOI.

In 1966, she was sold to Argentina. After a refurbishment, she was renamed El Austral and, crewed by the Argentine navy, did oceanogrphic research for CONICET, the Argentine equivalent of the NSF. In 1996, she was transferred to civilian status, refurbished again, and renamed Dr. Bernardo A. Houssay. To date, she has sailed over 1,300,000 miles in support of marine research and is the longest serving research vessel.

She is the namesake for both the current R/V Atlantis, and also the space shuttle Atlantis.

Atlantis II

Built in 1962, the R/V Atlantis II served the WHOI until her retirement in 1996. She supported the Alvin‘s expeditions, including, most famously, Dr. Robert Ballard’s exploration of the HMS Titanic.

The Atlantis II – Alvin combination had other adventures. In 1966, the Alvin found a 1.45 magaton hydrogen bomb. It was at a depth of 2,990 ft and subsequently revovered. A year later, the Alvin, at a depth of 2,000 ft, was attacked by a swordfish which became entangled in the submersible’s skin. After an emergency surface, the crew untangled the fish and ate it for dinner. That happened on July 6, 1967.

The R/V Atlantis II was retired in July, 1996. After sitting idle for a while, she was sold to an advenure company. She is apparently still on the market. Follw this link to see a yacht broker’s description of her. Maybe you can make an offer. If successful, bring me along on one of your trips.

Conclusion

I have a suggstion for the US Navy and the WHOI. I suggest they do a survey of the South China Sea and produce a detailed map the the ocean bottom there. Why? Beacuse last October the USS Connecticut, a nuclear-powered Seawolf – class fast attack submarine, collided with an unknown undersea object in that body of water. Of course, it is possible such maps are readily available. Perhaps that explains why the Commander, Executive Officer and Chief of the Boat were all relieved of duty. I suspect we’ll never know for sure.

Notes and Sources

The image of the Atlantis at port here in San Juan is mine. All the other images were culled from the web and are in the public domain, as far as I know.

I used several Wikipedia articles for the bulk of my information.